A lot was made of the antics of Boston Red Sox pitcher John Lackey on the mound during Saturday’s win over the Tampa Bay Rays. I want to say this, Lackey is one competitive player as are most major leaguers, and he hates to lose. I get that; I hate to lose too. If you don’t hate to lose, in my opinion there is something wrong with you.
Josh Beckett hates to lose, Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis and Jason Varitek do too. Most of those guys have had on field meltdowns at times over different things. We’ve seen Beckett pissed at umpires, Pedroia just bent out of shape and Youk throw helmets and bats around the dugout that left players scurrying for their lives. I get the competitive fire, I really do. In fact I wish J.D. Drew had a little Beckett, Lackey or Pedroia in him but he doesn’t.
But what Lackey does, start in, start out isn’t good for him, his teammates and their relationship. He constantly shows up his fielders by throwing up his arms and glaring at them when a play goes poorly. He has done it to pretty much everyone on the roster in his season and half in Boston. In fact I agree with Buster Olney (ESPN Insider link) on this, in some clubhouses his antics would get him punched out.
I don’t know what Lackey’s relationship with the position players is. I have heard the guys on the team love him. But when you show up your manager during a nationally televised by game questioning him openly before he gets to the mound there’s an issue. He even turned around and added more to it as left the game.
One thing about Terry Francona and Theo Epstein is that if there is an issue it’s handled privately and we will never know. If I were a teammate of Lackey I’d tell him once cut the crap John or we will have issues. He is demonstrative and there’s a time and place for it but he’s got to cut down on the stomping feet and flailing arms.
As William Tasker at the Flagrant Fan blog said to me in a tweet, “he always looks like someone stole his candy.” Tasker is right, it’s just a childish reaction to a bad situation. He needs to learn to calm down he has a lot of time left in Boston and it’s all under the microscope. And the more it happens, fans and the media will call more attention to it and he could end up alienating his teammates.
Photo credit: AP Photo
