Josh Beckett Makes History Throwing 24th No-Hitter In Dodgers History

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Josh Beckett’s career has come full circle from Phenom in the Miami Marlins organization to world series hero to punching bag for the Boston Red Sox fan base. It’s been a tough go around for 34-year-old Texan over these last 2 years as he just picked up his first win in two years not to long ago. Sunday afternoon he added yet another virtuoso performance for his career as he threw the first no-hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers since Hideo Nomo did back in 1996. He went 9 innings, struck out 6 Phillies and gave up 3 walks as he threw the first no-hitter for the Dodgers in over a decade. In a way its kind the combination of his transformation as a pitcher.

Beckett was once a flame throwing right hander who could rush his fastball up to the 96-99 miles per hour range. Now as he has gotten older and experienced a few injuries he has had to transition as a pitcher and not rely so much on the velocity of his fastball but more so the location of it. He can from time to time reach back and get hist fastball up to the 93-94 miles per hour range but it’s not the focal point of what he does anymore. Now its more about location and command of his off-speed pitches that allow him to be successful and you saw that yesterday. He wouldn’t be in a Dodger uniform if they didn’t owe him $17 million but he worked very hard this off-season to go out on his own terms. “I’ll throw the ball until I blowout and hopefully that’s not for a few years” said Beckett.

It took 128 pitches and a 94 mile per hour fastball by Chase Utley to get Beckett into the history books. The former world series MVP has reinvented himself and returned to form as a solid pitcher in this league. He also made history by making the 5th most starts before throwing his first no hitter by throwing his in the 320th start of his career. He finished behind the likes of David Cone (347), Dave Stieb (375), Tom Seaver (395) and Dennis Martinez (400). The circle is complete for Beckett’s reinvention and hopefully now he can sustain some success now that he is healthy again.