"The Red Sox and Seattle Mariners were scoreless through six innings last night at Fenway Park, but come on: Did anyone honestly think this one was going to be an "L" for the Sox?

Even when the Mariners broke the deadlock when Mike Carp led off the seventh inning with a home run, the optimism remained in place: The Red Sox were going to win.

To be more specific about this, Josh Beckett was going to win. With the possible exception of Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo getting the shakes any time he is within 15 blocks of Causeway Street, the No. 1 thing you've been able to count on this year is that Josh Beckett is going to deliver the goods any time he is on the mound.

OK, he doesn't always win. Sometimes, things happen. Such as seven days ago at Tropicana Field, when he worked eight shutout innings against the Rays but had to settle for a no-decision in a game the Red Sox won in 16 innings.

Give him a couple of runs, though, and he's just about unbeatable. Last night was one of those occasions: The Red Sox batting order made up for the home run Beckett allowed to Carp by staging a three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh, and the Sox came out of it with a 3-1 victory.

Josh Beckett is 9-3 with a 2.07 ERA. To put this in perspective, consider that when he posted his career year in 2007 — 20-7 in 30 starts — his ERA was 3.27.

So, yeah, he's a lock. Except that he has now had two consecutive starts in which the game was 0-0 after six innings. That means that while he has been pitching great, there has been a guy on the other team who's also been pitching great. For the Mariners last night it was Blake Beavan, a 22-year-old right-hander who was making just his fourth big league start."