In Search of the Elusive Josh Beckett Highlight Video

I keep hoping against hope that one of Josh Beckett's Spring Training starts will be televised, or at least condensed into a highlight video online, and I keep either being extremely slow on the uptake (and a piss-poor Googler to boot), or there just...haven't been any.

Is the Commander working on a new pitch or something else top secret he doesn't want anyone in the league to know about until Opening Day? Is the suspicion he may have tipped his pitches in the second half of last season playing into it? Does he have a clause in his contract limiting the amount of cameras stuck in his face on and off the field during Spring Training?

Does he just hate me personally and want me to be unhappy?!

For whatever reason, my baseball withdrawal this particular spring has focused itself squarely on Beckett. The more elusive he is, the more I'm DYING to watch him pitch, and the more curious I become about why it seems like there's so little footage of him pitching available. I've seen Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and John Lackey. I've seen Jonathan Papelbon and Manny Del Carmen. I've seen video clips of an injured Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching, for Chrissakes.

But our ace remains, largely, shrouded in mystery. Even the one start of his that was supposed to be televised, he was out sick.

Today, breathless reports have been released on his start against Pittsburgh -- words like "dominance" and "overpowering" are being used -- and I have yet to find any footage.

Wallow in the pathos of my life (or lack thereof) with me this afternoon -- I clicked on an article, "Beckett buckles down as season nears" and there was a video clip fronted with a screencap that very much suggested highlight video within:

 

But then when I clicked, it was the ol' bait-and-switch again.

 

Which I'm not totally complaining about -- an interview is good, too, in its own way. I'm especially amused by his unwavering DEATH GRIP on the microphone throughout the segment, as well as Al Leiter's commentary on Beckett's ever-fascinating sunglasses at the end.

But that promising screencap? Turned out to be from a split second of a warm-up toss in the bullpen. That's it.

So far, that I know of, there has been a single Beckett highlight video available from one of his spring starts, from March 8. It is 30 seconds long and shows exactly...three...pitches. 

This will not do at all. 

As a pitching junkie, it is driving me nucking futz that there's been so little opportunity to get a look at our ace in action so far. Especially when he last walked off the field looking so frighteningly mortal, to hear reports of dominance and not be able to actually watch even the highlights is just...argh.

If you know something I don't, help my sorry ass out, wouldja? In the meantime, I'll be resorting to my old fallback, the DVD of Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS. And sighing heavily.

Comments

[Sam]

They showed a few pitches on NESN Sportsdesk just now, kind of a distant camera angle though. Not very satisfying Beckett footage, but it's fresh.

[Pam]

I'm wallowing with you and wondering how we've managed to get this far into Spring Training without seeing him pitch. But if all goes well and he does pitch Monday's game, it is televised by NESN.

[beth]

@Pam THANK GOD.

It helped somewhat to watch the game 5 DVD last night. That game never gets old.