Clay Buchholz: ‘No Drinking in Dugout’
Appearing on WEEI’s Mut & Merloni show, Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz made his first public comments following the 2011 season. One of the most talked about stories in Boston, and even the game of baseball has been the whole beer drinking drama associated with the team’s starting pitchers.
The latest report from WHDH TV in Boston, said their was drinking in the Red Sox dugout during games. The Red Sox released a statement soon after that report was released denying it. Buchholz also denied it on Thursday.
“No, never. never,” Buchholz told WEEI. He did admit to drinking in the clubhouse, adding it was wrong.
“Yeah, it did [happen],” Buchholz said. “It wasn’t to the extent that it’s being told right now. … The whole beer thing, it was more of a rally-beer thing. And yeah, it might not have been right, but I feel like there have been other teams in baseball that have gone through stuff like that. Not to say it wasn’t a big deal, because it was a mistake, grown men shouldn’t be making those decisions like that during a baseball game, but like I said before, you’ve got to live with what you’ve done and learn from it. I’m sure it’s not going to happen again because it’s a lot bigger right now than everybody ever thought it would be.”
Buchholz also commented on Josh Beckett, who has been criticized of late for his role in the pitchers drinking. He defended his fellow pitcher and said he was the best pitcher on the Red Sox staff this season and did not notice anything different from other seasons.
“If anything, I think Josh Beckett was different in a good way this year,” he said. “He’s one of the guys that I’ve always looked up to regardless of the situation was, he’s got that killer mentality of going out and winning a game. So that’s the guy I’ve always looked up to and he’s one of the hardest workers … I mean, I’m not saying this because he’s my teammate and I’m trying to cover anybody’s butt, but he was in the clubhouse everyday early, got his work done, ran and did all his stuff. He was the best pitcher on our team this year. I didn’t see anything different, no.”
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