Bartolo Colon has been one of the biggest surprises this season and is an early candidate for comeback player of the year. Meanwhile in Boston, Josh Beckett has also been surprisingly dominant. In his three previous starts before last night, he was 2-0, giving up only 3 runs in 23 innings and allowing only eight hits.
Colon has only started two games, but has pitched in relief as well. In his last four outings, the first two in relief, he has only allowed 4 runs in 22 innings, giving up seventeen hits while walking only five. The more impressive part is that he is throwing his fastball up to 96 miles per hour at age thirty-seven. When the Yankees signed him this offseason, most people were expecting him to be a long reliever who would spend a lot of time in the minor leagues.
Beckett's brilliant start was unexpected,as he didn't even pitch in the Majors last season and has been injury plagued since his Cy Young season in '05. But when it comes to real surprises, it has to be Colon. He spent all of last season pitching in the Dominican Republic, ballooned up to 260 lbs and at almost thirty-38 years old, he's pitching like twenty-seven. In his two starts, he was not only lights out, but pitched very deep into both games.
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