boston red sox - red sox unity, dedication dissolved during epic late-season collapse - the boston...

8/3/2019 Boston Red Sox - Red Sox Unity, Dedication Dissolved During Epic Late-season Collapse - The Boston Globe

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Inside the collapse

By Bob Hohler

Globe Staff October 12, 2011

With their team in peril and their manager losing his authority, three Red Sox pitchers last month were uniquely

positioned to prevent the greatest September collapse in major league history. All the Sox needed was Josh

Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey to apply the skills and commitment that previously made them World

Series champions.

Instead, Bostons three elite starters went soft, their pitching as anemic as their work ethic. The indifference of

Beckett, Lester, and Lackey in a time of crisis can be seen in what team sources say became their habit of

drinking beer, eating fast-food fried chicken, and playing video games in the clubhouse during games while their

teammates tried to salvage a once-promising season.

The story of Bostons lost September unfolds in part as an indictment of the three prized starters. But the epicflop of 2011 had many faces: a lame-duck manager, coping with personal issues, whose team partly tuned him

out; stars who failed to lead; players who turned lackluster and self-interested; a general manager responsible

for fruitless roster decisions; owners who approved unrewarding free agent spending and missed some warning

signs that their $161 million club was deteriorating.

How a team that was on pace in late August to win 100 games and contend for its third World Series title in

seven years self-destructed is a story of disunity, disloyalty, and dysfunction like few others in franchise history.

This article is based on a series of interviews the Globe conducted with individuals familiar with the Sox

operation at all levels. Most requested anonymity out of concern for their jobs or potential damage to their

relationships in the organization. Others refused to comment or did not respond to interview requests.

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia, portrayed on a Sports Illustrated cover in August as the heart of the RedSox, declined to hold any individual culpable.

I just know that playing in Boston, youre required to play your tail off every day to try to win ballgames for this

city, Pedroia said. Thats what hurt so much as a player, that we not only let each other down in the clubhouse

but we let the city down.

By numerous accounts, manager Terry Francona lost his ability to prevent some of the lax behavior that

characterized the collapse. Team sources said Francona, who has acknowledged losing influence with some

former team leaders, appeared distracted during the season by issues related to his troubled marriage and to

his health.

Francona spent the season living in a hotel after he moved out of the Brookline home he shared with Jacque,

his wife of nearly 30 years. But he adamantly denied his marital problems affected his job performance.

It makes me angry that people say these things because Ive busted my [butt] to be the best manager I can

be, Francona said. I wasnt terribly successful this year, but I worked harder and spent more time at the

ballpark this year than I ever did.

Team sources also expressed concern that Franconas performance may have been affected by his use of pain

medication, which he also vehemently denied. Francona said he has taken pain medicine for many years,

particularly after multiple knee surgeries. He said he used painkillers after knee surgery last October and used

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them during the season to relieve the discomfort of doctors draining blood from his knee at least five times.

Francona acknowledged that he consulted the teams internist, Dr. Larry Ronan, during spring training after one

of his children expressed concern about a pill bottle in his hotel room. Francona said the doctor told him he did

not have a drug abuse problem. Ronan could not be reached.

I went and saw the proper people and it was not an issue, Francona said. It never became an issue, and

anybody who knew what was going on knows that.

Commitment lacking

By all accounts, the 2011 Sox perished from a rash of relatively small indignities. For every player committed to

the teams conditioning program, there was a slacker. For every Sox regular who rose early on the road to take

optional batting practice, there were others who never bothered. For every player who dedicated himself to the

quest for a championship, there were too many distracted by petty personal issues.

The closer the Sox inched toward September, the more their ill temperaments surfaced.

As Hurricane Irene barreled toward Boston in late August, management proposed moving up the Sunday finale

of a weekend series against Oakland so the teams could play a day-night doubleheader either Friday, Aug. 26,

or Saturday, Aug. 27. The reasoning seemed sound: the teams would avoid a Sunday rainout and the dilemma

of finding a mutual makeup date for teams separated by 2,700 miles.

But numerous Sox players angrily protested. They returned early that Friday from Texas after a demanding

stretch in which they had played 14 of 17 games on the road, with additional stops in Minneapolis, Seattle, and

Kansas City. The players accused management of caring more about making money than winning, which

marked the first time the teams top executives sensed serious trouble brewing in the clubhouse.

As it turned out, the Sox swept the Saturday doubleheader, but that stormy day marked the beginning of the end

for the 2011 team. It was the last time the team would win two games in a row. After getting two days off, the

Sox spent the rest of the season playing uninspired, subpar baseball, losing 21 of their final 29 games.

Sox owners soon suspected the teams poor play was related to lingering resentment over the scheduling

dispute, sources said. The owners responded by giving all the players $300 headphones and inviting them to

enjoy a players-only night on principal owner John W. Henrys yacht after they returned from a road trip Sept.

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But the gestures made no difference. The hapless Sox became the laughingstocks of baseball as they went

from holding a two-game divisional lead over the Yankees after the Aug. 27 doubleheader - and a nine-game

advantage in the wild-card race over the Rays - to finishing a humiliating third in the AL East.

While the seeds of failure were sown long before the shame of September, other foreboding signs emerged

earlier. In springtime, there proved to be regrettable irony in the entire starting rotation - Beckett, Lackey, Lester,

Tim Wakefield, and Clay Buchholz - donning Sox uniforms and hamming it up in front of the Green Monster for a

video of a country music ditty, Hell Yeah, I Like Beer.

Drinking beer in the Sox clubhouse is permissible. So is ordering take-out chicken and biscuits. Playing video

games on one of the clubhouses flat-screen televisions is OK, too. But for the Sox pitching trio to do all three

during games, rather than show solidarity with their teammates in the dugout, violated an unwritten rule thatplayers support each other, especially in times of crisis.

Sources said Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, who were joined at times by Buchholz, began the practice late in

2010. The pitchers not only continued the routine this year, sources said, but they joined a number of

teammates in cutting back on their exercise regimens despite appeals from the teams strength and conditioning

coach Dave Page.

It s hard for a guy making $80,000 to tell a $15 million pitcher he needs to get off his butt and do some work,


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one source said.

For Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, the consequences were apparent as their body fat appeared to increase and

pitching skills eroded. When the team needed them in September, they posted a combined 2-7 record with a

6.45 earned run average, the Sox losing 11 of their 15 starts.

Wakefield also was part of the problem. Amid a seemingly interminable quest for his 200th career victory, he

went 1-2 with a 5.25 ERA in September, taxing the bullpen as the Sox lost four of his five starts. The 45-year-old

knuckleballer then appeared more interested in himself than the team when he asserted in the final days of theseason that the Sox should bring him back in 2012 to pursue the franchises all-time record for wins (shared by

Roger Clemens and Cy Young at 192).

I think the fans deserve an opportunity to watch me chase that record, Wakefield told Fox Sports, raising

eyebrows on Yawkey Way.

Growing ineffectiveness

Francona, who mutually parted with the Sox after the season, has been careful not to criticize individual players.

He generally downplayed the pitchers drinking in the clubhouse, but he left little doubt that their absence from

the dugout reflected a lack of dedication to the team.

Beckett, Lackey, and Lester did not reply to messages left on their phones and with their agents.

The guys that werent down on the bench, I wanted them down on the bench, Francona said last week in a

contractual appearance on WEEI. I wanted them to support their teammates.

But Franconas troubles ran deeper than the three starters. As he completed his eighth year as manager - a

historic run in which he guided the Sox to two World Series titles - Francona by his own admission grew less

capable of motivating the team. His losing influence with some former leaders came into sharper relief after he

convened a closed-door meeting Sept. 7 after a 14-0 victory the previous night to address the clubhouse

malaise. His players responded by failing to adjust their attitudes or improve their slipshod performances.

In the face of his teams corroded spirit, Francona became increasingly ineffectual, according to team sources.

Francona was burdened not only by the frustration of coping with the least dedicated group of players of his

Boston tenure, but by the likelihood that Sox owners would not exercise his contractual option for 2012.

Francona took strong exception to the suggestion that his problems motivating the players had anything to do

with his commitment to the team.

You never heard any of these complaints when we were going 80-41 [from April 15 to Aug. 27] because there

was nothing there, Francona said. But we absolutely stunk in the last month, so now we have to deal with a lot

of this stuff because expectations were so high.

While Francona coped with his marital and health issues, he also worried privately about the safety of his son,

Nick, and son-in-law, Michael Rice, both of whom are Marine officers serving in Afghanistan.

In the end, only Pedroia and a few other players appeared to remain fully committed to winning, according to

team sources. They said the veterans who no longer actively exerted their leadership included the captain,

Jason Varitek, who was saddled with injuries and ineffective on the field (he batted .077 in September).

The 39-year-old catcher, in a brief conversation, chastised a reporter for calling him at home and otherwise

declined to comment.

Other than Varitek and Wakefield, the only holdovers from Franconas 2004 championship run were David Ortiz

and Kevin Youkilis. Although Ortiz once gathered his teammates in September to try to rally them, his most

memorable act off the field in 2011 was bursting into a Francona news conference to profanely complain about a

scorers decision that could have cost him credit for batting in a run.


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Weeks later, Ortiz committed another disrespectful act by suggesting Francona was hurting the team by failing

to insert reliever Alfredo Aceves in the starting rotation. Reached for this story, Ortiz said of his role in the

collapse, I dont feel like talking about it anymore.

Nor was Youkilis willing to talk after a second straight injury-marred year in which his production suffered.

Youkilis, by nearly all accounts, grew more detached and short-tempered as he tried to play through his

ailments. He also factored in a divisive clubhouse issue as the only player last year who publicly criticized

Jacoby Ellsbury - several others privately chided the outfielder - when Ellsbury missed all but 18 games with rib

injuries.

The episode chilled Ellsburys relationship with the team. As joyful as Ellsburys MVP-caliber season was to

many fans, his interaction in the Sox clubhouse was limited mostly to his friend Jed Lowrie. Ellsbury produced

one of the most sensational seasons for a leadoff hitter in franchise history - he also ranked with Pedroia,

Aceves, and Jonathan Papelbon among the teams hardest workers - but he contributed little to the clubhouse

culture.

Leadership errors

The gift of leadership also eluded Adrian Gonzalez. On the field, Gonzalezs overall production was superb, but

he provided none of the energy or passion off the field that the Sox sorely needed. His most unfortunate act in

September was grousing about the Sox schedule, which required the team to play five getaway games on

Sunday nights.

We play too many night games on getaway days and get into places at 4 in the morning, Gonzalez

complained. This has been my toughest season physically because of that.

Blaming five stressful nights over a six-month season for a tough year smacked of the self-interest that is

uncommon among leaders of championship-caliber teams.

To general manager Theo Epstein, acquiring Gonzalez by trade last winter from San Diego was crucial to

solidifying the middle of the Sox lineup. But Epstein struck out in trying to beef up the bullpen, most notably by

investing $12 million over two years in Bobby Jenks, so far a bust.

The Sox also suffered from the exorbitant signing of Lackey ($82.5 million over five years), as the righthander

logged the worst ERA (6.41) among regular starters in team history.

While Epstein has accepted blame for signing subpar performers such as Lackey and Jenks, the owners share

the responsibility of unanimously approving their signings. But Carl Crawford was a different story.

Ownership was divided over Epsteins push to acquire Crawford as a free agent, sources said. At least one top

executive believed Crawfords skills as a speedy lefthanded-hitting outfielder seemed to duplicate Ellsburys. But

the owners ultimately agreed to gamble $142 million over seven years on Crawford - a lost wager to date.

The owners also indicated in postseason remarks they were generally unaware of how deeply damaged the Sox

had become until after the season. They denied being distracted by their expanding sports conglomerate - from

the Sox and NESN to Roush Fenway Racing and the Liverpool Football Club - but they professed to have no

knowledge about players drinking during games, among other issues.

In the ugly aftermath, the Sox owners privately vowed to correct any lingering problems. And at least someplayers were expected to look in the mirror.

We have to hold ourselves more accountable, Pedroia said. That has nothing to do with the manager or

coaches. On the great major league teams, players police each other, so well get back to doing that.

Bob Hohler can be reached at [email protected]; Globe staffers Nick Cafardo and Peter Abraham contributed

to this report.


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Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.

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