Josh Beckett Sets Likely Season Highlight with One-Hitter, Red Sox Win

COMMENTARY | Josh Beckett threw an impressive one-hitter for the Boston Red Sox Wednesday, taking control of the game against the Tampa Bay Rays early on. It was an important win against a division rival, and continued to show the mastery that Beckett has over his pitches in the 2011 season.

It's quite remarkable how far this team has come since starting out so cold at the beginning of the year. This could also end up being the best pitched game of the year for a team that prides itself on offensive prowess. Beckett and the Red Sox are flying high after another great win; this was another message game that will probably be the highlight for the first half of the season.

The box score for Wednesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays says it all, as Beckett pitched the complete shutout while only giving up one hit, according to ESPN. He also didn't walk anyone and struck out six batters. He did all of this in just 97 pitches, finishing up the game in two hours and 20 minutes. For a team that routinely has three-hour games, that is an accomplishment in itself.

On the other side of the field, Jeremy Hellickson was pitching just as impressively for the Rays, and was able to keep the Red Sox off the scoreboard until the seventh inning. It was then that Kevin Youkilis hit a three-run home run that ended up being the difference in the game. The Rays have the impossible task of trying to compete in the same division as the New York Yankees and Red Sox, and weren't supposed to recover this quickly from losing so many free agents.

While Tampa Bay has definitely been playing good baseball lately, it seems like a very far-fetched assumption to think that they will be in the playoff race by August. The Yankees are just too good on offense, and the Red Sox are clearly on the road to 100 or more wins by the end of the season.

With the win, Beckett improved to 6-2 for the year and lowered his ERA to just 1.86. It appears quite clear that he will be on the American League All-Star team this year, and he is also going to be in the running for the Cy Young Award. He has had some tough no-decisions this year, but that didn't stop the voters from giving the same award to Felix Hernandez last year.

Boston fans have to be pretty happy with how well the year has turned around.