Southern Culture on the Skids

I'm not certain, but I think I saw Ebby Calvin Beckett throw not one but several curveballs for strikes during the first inning of this afternoon's Grapefruit League tilt against the Devil Rays. It was a bit warm here today, and I might have been feeling the effects of my first cold beer of the day, so don't go running off and spreading the news. Beckett didn't get any help from his defense, with errors by both Julio Lugo and Kevin Youkilis costing the Sox an early unearned run, but he did settle in for a tantalizing 7-inning, 3-hit, 0-earned run outing.

Beckett's prediliction for rearing back and trying to throw his redass gas past everybody got him into significant trouble last season, in combination with his thick-headed Texan independent streak. If he's really learning to pitch instead of get by on his God-given talent, a wing and a prayer, then 2007 could be fairly well spectacular for the still-young righty. If, as Mr. Kipling noted, is a mighty, mighty word.

That aforementioned beer, by the way, came courtesy of a neighbor who received a Beer of the Month Club subscription as a gift but...doesn't drink beer. I'm enjoying his largesse while trying to figure out how to break the news to his wife that he's gay. Today's selection was Santa's Butt, a tasty winter porter from England's Ridgeway Brewery. Not exactly apropro for the warmest day of the year, but delicious nonetheless.