It is unclear whether Josh Beckett treated himself to a rib dinner after throwing the 11th no-hitter in Los Angeles Dodgers history on Sunday.
The Dodgers certainly will treat him to as many dinners as he wants, as long as he keeps pitching the way he did during L.A.'s 6-0 win in Philadelphia.
Beckett walked three and retired 23 in a row at one point, throwing 128 pitches in the effort. Neither he nor his teammates adhered to the unwritten rule of leaving him alone after the fourth inning as to not jinx the no-no.
Beckett, who won World Series with the Florida Marlins in 2003 and the Boston Red Sox in 2007, had not thrown a no-hitter before.
Beckett said he joked with his teammates and manager Don Mattingly, but the situation became tense momentarily when Beckett's pitch count reached 115.
"He kind of asked me how I was doing," Beckett said in a postgame TV interview, according to USA TODAY Sports. "I said, 'You come on out there and we'll see how that ends.' "
That Beckett was even in a position to threaten Mattingly was the culmination of a long journey for Beckett back from a career-threatening injury.
He had season-ending surgery last July to treat thoracic outlet syndrome, USA TODAY Sports reported, which is a rare condition that involves pain in the neck and shoulders, plus numbness of the fingers and a weak grip. The surgery removed Beckett's first rib on the right-hand side to relieve pressure on his nerves.
"Surgery has been a blessing for me," Beckett said. "You go through so many stepping stones. You gotta overcome everything. Every new thing is a new step. I overcame a lot."
He said he was thrilled to become part of Dodgers lore and join the likes of Dodgers great Sandy Koufax. While his no-hitter was the 11th in the team's Los Angeles history, as the Los Angeles Times reported, it was the first since Hideo Nomo tossed one in 1996.
USA TODAY Sports reported that the no-hitter was the 21st in the Dodgers' entire history.
My whole career has kind of flown by," the 34-year-old Beckett said. "I don't know what I'm going to do following this year. I'm going to have to play that by ear and talk with my family."
He probably doesn't want to lose too many more ribs.
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