KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Tonight, after he pitches, Josh Beckett [stats] no doubt will be happy and eager to clear up yesterday’s mystery thriller about whether he played a round of golf, and how hard he played it, on the Red Sox [team stats]’ day off last Thursday.
For his sake, that post-game press conference better follow one deep, effective start against the Indians.
Another circus sideshow from Beckett, who starred in the beer and fried chicken fiasco last September, is the last thing this team needs right now. Beckett must know that, which is why he will need to fall back on every ounce of his common sense to understand how poorly this development could reflectThe news, reported yesterday onWBZ-FM, was that Beckett and Clay Buchholz played a round of golf last Thursday. That’s hardly a breaking story, for as manager Bobby Valentine said on WEEI, “Golf is as much a part of the pitching culture as the curveball. I know that for sure.”
The problem, of course, is that Beckett missed a start because he had soreness in his lat muscle after throwing 126 pitches in a 4-1 loss to the White Sox in Chicago on April 29. His turn in the rotation, taken by Aaron Cook, was Saturday, two days after the alleged golf outing.
Playing golf with a lat problem?
That makes no sense for a hundred reasons. Either the soreness never was serious, in which case Beckett should not have been skipped, or he displayed an incredible lack of judgment by playing golf.
It would be, in essence, a repeat of Beckett’s mea culpa moment in Fort Myers in February, when for the first time he confronted his role in the clubhouse breakdown last September.
“I had lapses in judgment,’’ he said then, the closest he has come to an apology since the fall.
Playing golf with a lat problem? Yeah, that sounds like a “lapse in judgment.’’
It’s why Beckett needs to explain what did or did not happen, specifically how hard he played that round of golf, because he has to understand that none of this makes him look wise. If he cannot assure us that he knew what he was doing, it once again raises questions about his professionalism and accountability, all the junk from last year that the pitching staff was trying to shove under the carpet this year by focusing on execution and performance.
And that hasn’t exactly happened.
That’s why the Red Sox, with Valentine speaking for them, were treating this topic with a concerted, delicate approach yesterday.
“I haven’t talked to Josh about this yet so it’s really not . . . I’m not sure I can really comment on it other than to say, physical issues I guess, he had a sore lat,’’ Valentine said before last night’s series finale against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. “He wasn’t an injured player. I know that. We’ll take it from there, but I’m sure that Josh wouldn’t do anything that’s going to jeopardize his team or his season. I know that.”
Earlier in the day on the radio, Valentine reacted with more candor.
“Again, I don’t know the specifics of this situation. I don’t know if he was out in a charity match and just putting or if he was wailing away or if he felt that might have loosened him up. I have no idea what the situation actually is, so it’s hard for me to comment on it,’’ Valentine told WEEI. “If that was the case (and Beckett was exerting himself fully), I would say that was less than the best thing to do on the day off.” on him, never mind the team.
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