Four pitching narratives

With both squads off yesterday, the beat writers wrote about pitching.

Phil Sheridan did a good job boiling down the enigma of Brett Myers: Whether or not the latest version of eye-gate is true, you can't question his desire to help his team, even though he always seems to find trouble like this.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Josh Beckett is dominating without trouble this year. Since he was shelled for all of April, Beckett has gone 12-2 with a 2.17 ERA. His opponents are hitting .208 and slugging .314 off him. This may be the year he wins a Cy Young.

Maybe we shouldn't have reminded him about April. He ended up pitching like it's the fourth month of the year again, giving up seven runs in 5 1/3 innings on nine hits and a walk. The Red Sox now lead the Blue Jays 9-7 in the 8th.

If Beckett does win a Cy Young, he'd be the first Red Sox to do so since Pedro Martinez in 2000. That's who Scott Lauber wrote about today in a touching tale of his lesser known brother Jesus, who never made it to the show. Because of that, Pedro has a soft spot for young players and sacrificed a start in 2002 for Josh Hancock.

Pedro made his first home start as a Phillie tonight. After giving up a leadoff home run in a 22-pitch first inning, Christine predicted Jamie Moyer's first relief appearance. Pedro needed just 16 pitches for the next two innings, but Christine was prophetic because the game was delayed by a thunderstorm.

Moyer took over after the delay and needed just six pitches in the 4th inning and then had a single in the bottom of the inning. The Phillies lead the Diamondbacks 4-1 in the 6th.

Hopefully, old Jamie can get the ball to shut-down reliever Chan Ho Park, whose relationship with Korean fans - and his upcoming documentary - were also featured today. Apparently, he's a god to his fellow Koreans.