2011 Turkey of the Year: Josh Beckett

By KC Downey in Featured, Now!, Red Sox, Top Story ⋅ November 24, 2011 at 2:14pm ⋅ Post a comment

Josh Beckett (Image from LizTheresa.com)

Josh Beckett spent much of his 2011 season pitching well…really well actually. He had his best season as a Red Sox, finishing 13-7 with a career-best 2.89 ERA and 1.026 WHIP.

But when his team needed him most, he tanked.

Plagued by his perceived addiction to eating fried chicken and drinking beer during games he wasn’t pitching (Hell Yeah, He Liked Beer), and his reported disgust for his inability to win the Cy Young because of Justin Verlander’s unbelievable season, Beckett truly faltered in September. He went 1-2 with a 5.48 ERA as the Red Sox slumped to a 7-20 final month and missed the playoffs by a game.

Look, we all know John Lackey sucks. It would have been easy to give him the award, but it’s a given that he’s not very good. Beckett, though, is the team’s ACE. He’s the supposed “captain” of the starting pitching staff, a group of men who had the worst month (4-13, 7.08 ERA in Sept.) in the history of the franchise. He quit on his manager and his team, all while gaining 25 pounds during a grueling 162-game baseball season – otherwise known as “leading by example.”

For that reason, Beckett gave us the pleasure of plastering his face on the “Kramer” turkey from the hilarious “Butter Shave” Seinfeld episode to become Sports of Boston’s first ever Turkey of the Year.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!