The score was 13-1, with Boston having already scored more runs than any team in the first game of a World Series. Their eight doubles also tied a World Series record, one they will share with the 1906 White Sox and the 1925 Pirates. There was still almost a half a game to go, but one began to wonder if Commissioner Bud Selig, in his infinite wisdom, would invoke the mercy rule.

The story here might have been Josh Beckett.

"We've got the best pitcher on the planet going for us tonight," Curt Schilling had said before the game.

Beckett more than lived up to the billing, striking out the first four batters he faced. Over seven innings, he'd strike out nine while giving up a single run. He finished the evening having thrown 93 pitches — 10 fewer than Colorado's ace, Jeff Francis, threw in four innings.

But here's the big news: Beckett walked Ryan Spilborghs in the fifth. That gives him 35 strikeouts against two walks this postseason. Schilling might have a talent for hyperbole, but he spoke the truth: Beckett's the best.

Still, if Beckett was great on Wednesday night, the Rockies displayed the opposite of greatness — they sucked. They couldn't get out of an inning, giving up 11 runs with two outs: one in the first, one in the second, two in the fourth and seven in the fifth.

Francis, a 17-game winner in the regular season and undefeated in the playoffs, was at a loss to explain why. His second pitch of the game, a two-seam fastball to Dustin Pedroia, was supposed to be down and away. Instead, it caught the middle of the plate and Pedroia knocked it over the high green wall.

"When I came out of the bullpen, I didn't feel off in my delivery," said Francis. "I felt smooth."

Could it have been the eight-day layoff, he was asked.

"You can come up with any number of reasons, but we're not going to give any excuses."

The question was put to Clint Hurdle as well.

"You can ask me all series long — I'm not going to be able to give you an answer on that," he said. "We're a no-excuse ballclub."
No excuses, perhaps. On the other hand, giving up all those runs with two outs is inexcusable.

So you wonder: What happened to the team that won 21 of its last 22 games? What were these guys doing for those eight days?

And you wonder about the pitching, too.

"Starting pitching is usually the key to any series," Hurdle said earlier in the afternoon.

If that's the case — if Francis is the best the Rockies have — they've got some very big problems.

On Wednesday they go with Ubaldo Jimenez, a rookie. He was 4-4 with a 4.28 ERA in the regular season. He'll go against Schilling, who has a career record of 10-2 in the postseason.

Upon his arrival in Boston, Jimenez was asked about pitching in Fenway Park. He had heard it was a "fun" place to pitch. Then, in response to nothing, he thought to add: "I don't feel any pressure."

Of course not. There is no pressure in simulated games.

From : FoXNews.com