Curtis: Time For Red Sox Players To Foot Blame
BOSTON (CBS) - It is time for Red Sox players to look themselves in the mirror.
After every loss it seems like there is a new scapegoat. Last year it was Terry Francona. Then it was the pitching staff pounding boilermakers during games. Then it was Bobby Valentine. Now, it's the umpires.
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Since September 1, 2011 the Red Sox are 62-76, with all games played with relatively the same team. That is not Tito's fault, not Bobby V's fault, nor the men in blue. Rather, it is the fault of the 25 guys on this roster.
It is laughable that a collection of highly paid and previously good players can use the same methodology of coping with their mediocrity over and over again.
They go 7-20 last September and endure the worst collapse in the history of baseball... and blame the manager.
They start the season slow again... and blame injuries.
Now they've played 111 games and sit one game under .500 with the second highest payroll in baseball... and now it's the umpires fault.
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At the conclusion of last season it was disclosed that Theo Epstein had been working on an exit strategy for the prior 18 months, and had been relatively detached from day-to-day operations as the team endured their historic collapse.
Yesterday it was written by Dan Shaughnessy in The Boston Globe that Larry Lucchino had yet to sign his contract extension and refused to acknowledge his plans to do so when asked.
So for the better part of the last two seasons the men in charge of baseball operations, Larry and Theo, have been disengaged from their jobs as the franchise has played brutal baseball.
Now the entitled collection of players that make up the Sox roster have taken the leash -- given to them by the absentee bosses -- and blamed everyone but themselves for their continued unacceptable performance.
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Wait and see. At the conclusion of the team's third consecutive October without baseball, the Sox brass will replace the manager and allow the collection of misfit talent to return.
The merry-go-round of mediocrity on Yawkey Way will continue.
But if it makes you feel any better, according to the folks at Fenway there was a record-setting attendance at the old park last night, so the sell-out streak lives as well.
Chris Curtis has produced 98.5 The Sports Hub's The DA Show the last three years. Follow him on Twitter @DAShowProducer.
