-
Muslim, Er, Youth Riots in Sweden
May 24, 2013 | 2 comments
-
Good Luck Quin
May 24, 2013 | 0 comments
-
One of The London Soldier Beheading Suspects British Born
May 23, 2013 | 6 comments
-
The Religion of Peace Strikes London Again
May 22, 2013 | 7 comments
-
Carney Goes Birther on Major Garrett
May 22, 2013 | 7 comments
The Spectacle Blog
Yesterday, newly appointed Boston Red Sox General Manager Ben Cherington announced that pitcher John Lackey would undergo Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow thereby missing the 2012 season. I had planned to comment on this development but John Tomase of The Boston Herald sums things up quite nicely:
No one ever wants to see a player hurt or cut open, but this could be a win-win for all involved.
The Sox remove one of the beer drinkers from their ranks at a time when they’re trying to alter their clubhouse culture. And even though Lackey was by all accounts an excellent teammate — we’re now learning he pitched hurt all season — something needed to change among the starting five, and this is it.
From Lackey’s perspective, he gets a year away from the slings and arrows, a year to get his life in order — he’s reportedly in the midst of a divorce — and maybe even a year to assess the way he’s conducted himself since signing a five-year, $82.5 million contract.
If he comes back in 2013 as a calmer, less combative person, that’s all to the good. And if he regains the stuff that made him an All-Star and proven playoff performer, even better.
The only thing I can add is that Lackey gets to avoid the boo birds on Opening Day at Fenway. However, I’m afraid Carl Crawford won’t be so lucky.
View all comments (11) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/10/26/lackey-red-sox-nation-to-have
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Bob Grant| 10.26.11 @ 12:51PM
Wow, game 6 of the most competitive (and entertaining) World Series in recent memory will be underway tonight and you write about a player's off-season surgery?
This stuff should be limited to some local Boston rag and not here.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Bob Grant| 10.26.11 @ 1:02PM
However,
It's a slight improvement over coverage of some men's doubles match between ...ski/...lov VS ...elli/...ic on day 5 at the French Open.
That's not much of a compliment.
Trinacria| 10.26.11 @ 12:58PM
Judging from his 6.41 ERA, I'd say he's already had a cooling off period (namely, the 2011 season)...
SF_Exile| 10.26.11 @ 1:10PM
As a demented Red Sox fan, I was hopping mad when this acquisition was made. Why? Based on what? I combed the Internet for any stats I could find to contradict what mine own eyes already knew: the guy can't pitch in Fenway. The AL West is not the AL East.
I believe the decision came down to one thing: he was the best free agency offering on the market that year. If the Sox didn't snap him up, the Yankees would. But hey, Dice-K can fill the slot in the rotation! (eye-roll).
JohnD| 10.26.11 @ 1:26PM
Watching the Baltimore Orioles dispatch the overpaid Red Sox was the closest to post season glory this once great franchise has had in 14 years. I am glad one of baseball's overspending teams will have 20 million or so in the dock next season.
Paul McGrath| 10.26.11 @ 3:48PM
After their late-season collapse, their managerial and front office changes, and the controversy over beer-drinking in the clubhouse during games (like this is something new in baseball), one senses that the Red Sox are going to be in the doldrums for a few years.
JohnD| 10.26.11 @ 4:27PM
As a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan, I hope you are right, although we have some housecleaning of our own to do.
Paul McGrath| 10.26.11 @ 10:21PM
I grew up in Detroit in the late sixties and early seventies. (I was twelve when they won the World Series against St. Louis, and to this day can remember the starting line-up, starting pitchers, the pitcher's WL records; even, mostly, the hitters averages.)
Which means, oh yes, I remember the hated Baltimore Orioles. Palmer, Cuellar, McNally, Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson . . . Paul Blair, Belanger . . . Etchebarren, for Christ's sake.
I forget what year it was. Like every night of my life in the summer, I went to bed with the Tiger game on the radio--lights off, covers on, sound down low, Ernie Harwell the announcer--and listened to it until the game was done.
Bottom of the ninth in Baltimore. Tigers ahead 3-1. (Possibly 4-2; memory is less and less exact.) Brooks hits one out. 3-2. Frank hits one out. 3-3. Boog hits one out. Orioles win. Three homers in a row. Tigers lose, 4-3.
What a horrible night for an eleven (?) year old. God, I hated the Orioles. And they chastised the Tigers year after year after year. And don't get me started on Eddie Murray.
Would like to see them come back though. They've had one heck of a great history.
Bob Grant| 10.26.11 @ 4:45PM
If the World Series doesn't involve the Yankees, Red Socks, Phillies, Orioles, or some other east coast team it doesn't exist.
One of the most entertaining Series in years and the discussion revolves around some hurt, overpaid redsox player.
An East Coast Bias?
Clearly!
Bob Grant| 10.26.11 @ 4:46PM
And, yes, I know the Phillies are not a coastal team.
Aaron Goldstein| 10.26.11 @ 6:07PM
You clearly haven't been following my posts on the MLB post-season. At the conclusion of the World Series I will have something to say about it.