Well, the worst possible scenario is upon us. Beckett pitched batting practice last night, then got in front of the microphone and cast aside any doubt that he is a flaming asshole. He couldn’t have said any more wrong things if he had Ozzie Guillen write his post-game comments. From Gordon Edes on ESPNBoston.com:
Question: Any regrets?
Answer: My off day is my off day.
Question: Given that you were skipped a start with what was described as a tight lat muscle, do people have the right to question why you were golfing?
Answer: Not on my off day.
Question: Do you understand the perception that leaves when the team is playing as poorly as it is?
Answer: We get 18 off days a year. I think we deserve a little time to ourselves.
Before I get to ripping his comments, this is the best the media could do? When you hear the audio, the questions sound almost apologetic when asked. This is the one time I honestly wish Shaughnessy was there to really go after Beckett. They all talk tough in their newspapers today, but nobody had the stones to confront him last night.
As for Beckett, the guy is a loser, plain and simple. If God hadn’t blessed him with his right arm, he would probably be bagging groceries or driving a tractor. Eighteen off days? What about the months of November, December and January? And October for that matter when you fall apart in September? And what about the four days between every start? Derek Lowe was quoted last night as saying he plans on golfing today. Beckett is too much of a hillbilly to understand that it wasn’t that he golfed, it was that he golfed while he was supposed to be injured, then couldn’t step up to help out his team while they were playing a 17 inning game.
Would anyone be surprised to find out Beckett grooved every pitch on purpose just to give Boston the middle finger? I wouldn’t. And where is the tough-guy Bobby Valentine who was brought in to change the culture in the clubhouse? After initially saying “If that was the case (and Beckett was driving the ball), I would say that was less than the best thing to do on the day off,” Bobby changed his tune (as he has done numerous times since being hired) and said “I’ve never seen a pitcher get hurt playing golf.” Beckett needs to be traded and Valentine needs to be fired. Not necessarily in that order.
Tonight, we get the Robin to Beckett’s Batman. Mini-Me Buchholz, co-conspirator in GolfGate, takes his 9.09 ERA to the hill tonight. If he has half a brain he will pitch a gem and begin separate himself from Beckett’s shadow. I don’t see it happening and have taped all the windows in the TV room and fashioned a chicken-wire cage around the TV itself. I expect bottles to be flying when Hurricane Denton arrives by eight o’clock.
