It makes me sad that I get sad whenever Tek's in a game lately. Having written that - I despise the vitriol being spewed toward him. Photo courtesy of Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.
Not going to lie…was absolutely sick after Lester got hit last night. It was tough to invest fully in the rest of the game so I’m not going to worry about one crappy loss (and it was crappy – always hate to see them lose like that to the Yanks). I figure I should just be grateful that Lester isn’t hurt as badly as it looked and leave it at that.
Of course, the Boston Globe is already in full “let’s panic the fans” mode. Here’s what Amalie Benjamin tweeted just after it was released that Lester had a contusion not a break:
So … how worried are you all about the Lester injury? #redsox
Then she tweeted moments later:
Meant to point this out earlier: Right leg is the plant leg for a lefty pitcher. Does that change your panic level? #redsox
So I responded with:
Why is @amaliebenjamin hell bent on panicking the fans? Howsabout we just wait and see how Lester’s feeling tomorrow before we freak out?
Amalie responded with:
Not at all. Just wanted to see what the feeling was. We don’t know much at the moment, but it didn’t look very good.
See, I call bullshit. And others (including Bruce Allen from Boston Sports Media Watch) did too. This wasn’t trying to figure out how the fans felt, this was trying to stir up panic in Boston – yet again. In looking for a story on how Lester is doing, I ended up reading CHB’s column today. Most of it is fine, straight-forward even (seems that Jon was walking around the clubhouse after the game – this is a good piece of information to have) but Shaughnessy couldn’t leave it at that. In this article he has to outline how the Sox lost the ’46 WS due in part to Ted Williams having been hit on the elbow before it started; the ’67 Series because the Sox didn’t have Tony Conigliaro; the ’75 Series because Jim Rice was injured and out and (wait for it), the ’86 Series because Tom Seaver got injured at the end of the season in Toronto.
So to make sure his theory of doom holds up (every time the Sox are in the WS they lose when a key player is hurt before the Series starts) he pulls Tom Seaver out of his butt. How pathetic is it that he has to do that just so he can finish this off?  This isn’t a “here is some interesting and relevant information” piece. This is “PANIC! PANIC!!! THE SOX ARE GOING TO LOSE THE WORLD SERIES BECAUSE JON LESTER GOT HIT IT’S IN THEIR HISTORY AND YOU CAN’T DENY IT!!!!”
How many of you out there blame the 1986 World Series loss on the lack of Tom Seaver? Anyone? Anyone?
The Sox aren’t even in the playoffs yet. I mean, seriously, can’t he wait until the Red Sox make it into the playoffs before he starts setting the fans on fire?
No doubt that Lester going down last night made everyone think “There go our playoff chances”. That’s not what I’m complaining about. Once you hear that the injury isn’t serious, why force the issue (Amalie, CHB) and try to make it worse than it is just for the sake of panicking the fans? For readers? For traffic? It certainly isn’t in the name of journalistic integrity.
4:10pm on Fox and they’re back at it…Matsuzaka v Sabathia. Doesn’t look great on paper for the Sox but, hey, neither did last night for the Yanks. Anything can happen and I’m not ready to curl up in the fetal position and rock myself to sleep just yet.
4 comments for “Soon you’ll all believe I’m right”