ExScoop
10-18-2011, 10:03 PM
A day after Jon Lester admitted he and other pitchers had an "occasional beer" in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse, WHDH-TV in Boston on Tuesday cited Red Sox employees as saying Lester and fellow pitchers Josh Beckett and John Lackey drank beer in the dugout during games.
Lester said the television report was "completely false" through team publicist Pam Ganley in response to an ESPNBoston.com request for comment later Tuesday.
The sources said that the trio would leave the dugout around the sixth inning, walk back to the clubhouse and fill cups with Bud Light. They would then return to the dugout and watch the game while drinking beer. One Red Sox employee told the station that the pitchers were "bored on nights they weren't pitching and this is how they entertained themselves."
According to the report, another Red Sox employee said: "Beckett would come down the stairs from the dugout, walking through the corridor to the clubhouse and say 'it's about that time.' Beckett was the instigator but Lester and Lackey were right behind him.
"It was blatant and hard not to notice what was going on with all three guys leaving at once."
A Red Sox employee who was contacted by ESPNBoston.com on Tuesday evening to react to the latest story said he had heard complaints about players drinking in the dugout during the 2010 season but did not personally witness it either that season or in 2011. He added, however, that it would not come as a surprise to him if it were true.
Another Red Sox staffer who was in the dugout during every game said he never saw Beckett, Lackey or Lester drinking in the dugout, nor had he heard anything about that happening.
The WHDH report is a far cry from what Lester told ESPNBoston.com on Monday while reacting to last week's Boston Globe report that said that he, Beckett and Lackey drank beer, ate fried chicken and played video games in the clubhouse during games.
"People are making us out to be a bunch of drunk, fried-chicken eating SOBs, playing video games. You can ask my wife, for the last 10 years I don't think I've played a single video game, and Josh and Lack are the same way," Lester told ESPNBoston.com on Monday. "But one person writes an article, and things have gotten blown way out of proportion, almost to another planet. We're getting crushed."
On Monday, Lester had said that once in a while the three enjoyed a "a ninth-inning rally beer."
"Did we drink an occasional beer? Yes," he said. "Did it affect our performance in September? No. This stuff has been going on long before September, and not only in this clubhouse, but 29 other clubhouses too. We ordered fried chicken maybe three times in six months. Other guys who were not playing that day would come in and have a bite to eat.
"But what people are trying to do is a witch hunt. They're looking for any reason to basically tear somebody's head off because we lost, and people right now are saying it's because we did this. I'm not shying away from saying I did it. I admit it, and I'm sure the other guys would say it too."
The Red Sox blew a nine-game lead in the wild-card chase in September. And the collapse continued after the season. Manager Terry Francona walked away and general manager Theo Epstein is reportedly heading to the Cubs.
The Globe report last week also said that the team lacked veteran leadership and called out longtime catcher Jason Varitek. Reached by the Globe on Tuesday, he refuted that characterization.
"We lost because we played poorly and we had some health issues and we probably taxed the bullpen too much. ... We didn't lose because of some issue in the clubhouse. That's a lot of crap," he said, according to the newspaper.
Varitek also said that the report of partying in the clubhouse was exaggerated.
"That's a miniscule issue," he said. "Guys are in the clubhouse all the time," he told the Globe. "I'm in there watching pitches because I can't see what I need to see from the bench. To me, that is not an issue at all."
Despite the collapse and the subsequent dissection of the team, Varitek said he still wants to return.
"I'm a free agent, that's out of my hands," he said, according to the Globe. "But I've bled in this uniform for a long time and I want to continue that. Hopefully that will be the case."
Lester said the television report was "completely false" through team publicist Pam Ganley in response to an ESPNBoston.com request for comment later Tuesday.
The sources said that the trio would leave the dugout around the sixth inning, walk back to the clubhouse and fill cups with Bud Light. They would then return to the dugout and watch the game while drinking beer. One Red Sox employee told the station that the pitchers were "bored on nights they weren't pitching and this is how they entertained themselves."
According to the report, another Red Sox employee said: "Beckett would come down the stairs from the dugout, walking through the corridor to the clubhouse and say 'it's about that time.' Beckett was the instigator but Lester and Lackey were right behind him.
"It was blatant and hard not to notice what was going on with all three guys leaving at once."
A Red Sox employee who was contacted by ESPNBoston.com on Tuesday evening to react to the latest story said he had heard complaints about players drinking in the dugout during the 2010 season but did not personally witness it either that season or in 2011. He added, however, that it would not come as a surprise to him if it were true.
Another Red Sox staffer who was in the dugout during every game said he never saw Beckett, Lackey or Lester drinking in the dugout, nor had he heard anything about that happening.
The WHDH report is a far cry from what Lester told ESPNBoston.com on Monday while reacting to last week's Boston Globe report that said that he, Beckett and Lackey drank beer, ate fried chicken and played video games in the clubhouse during games.
"People are making us out to be a bunch of drunk, fried-chicken eating SOBs, playing video games. You can ask my wife, for the last 10 years I don't think I've played a single video game, and Josh and Lack are the same way," Lester told ESPNBoston.com on Monday. "But one person writes an article, and things have gotten blown way out of proportion, almost to another planet. We're getting crushed."
On Monday, Lester had said that once in a while the three enjoyed a "a ninth-inning rally beer."
"Did we drink an occasional beer? Yes," he said. "Did it affect our performance in September? No. This stuff has been going on long before September, and not only in this clubhouse, but 29 other clubhouses too. We ordered fried chicken maybe three times in six months. Other guys who were not playing that day would come in and have a bite to eat.
"But what people are trying to do is a witch hunt. They're looking for any reason to basically tear somebody's head off because we lost, and people right now are saying it's because we did this. I'm not shying away from saying I did it. I admit it, and I'm sure the other guys would say it too."
The Red Sox blew a nine-game lead in the wild-card chase in September. And the collapse continued after the season. Manager Terry Francona walked away and general manager Theo Epstein is reportedly heading to the Cubs.
The Globe report last week also said that the team lacked veteran leadership and called out longtime catcher Jason Varitek. Reached by the Globe on Tuesday, he refuted that characterization.
"We lost because we played poorly and we had some health issues and we probably taxed the bullpen too much. ... We didn't lose because of some issue in the clubhouse. That's a lot of crap," he said, according to the newspaper.
Varitek also said that the report of partying in the clubhouse was exaggerated.
"That's a miniscule issue," he said. "Guys are in the clubhouse all the time," he told the Globe. "I'm in there watching pitches because I can't see what I need to see from the bench. To me, that is not an issue at all."
Despite the collapse and the subsequent dissection of the team, Varitek said he still wants to return.
"I'm a free agent, that's out of my hands," he said, according to the Globe. "But I've bled in this uniform for a long time and I want to continue that. Hopefully that will be the case."