I had a strange feeling Wednesday morning when I woke up. After World Series wins in 2004 and 2007 my baked in DNA Red Sox loser mentality had taken hold, culminating in a self-flaggelating orgy of self-loathing in the wake of press coverage that gave the Cardinals a slight to decided edge.
Oct 23, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; (EDITORS NOTE: Multiple exposure) Boston Red Sox starting pitcher
Jon Lesterthrows a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals during game one of the MLB baseball World Series at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
My rebellion against this mentality had begun the night before when a buddy I hadn’t seen in the gym for a while rolled up and interrupted my music and reading revelry while I grunted it out on the elliptical trainer and said, “There’s no way your Red Sox win this series.” I said, ” Keep on talking.” Chances are he’s not talking so loud tonight.
Sox starting pitcher, Jon Lester, extended his World Series scoreless streak to 13 2/3 scoreless innings after blanking the Red Birds through 7 2/3 stellar innings of pitching (5 hits, 1 walk, 8 Ks). The Cards got schooled, period end of story.
But not so fast. Tyler Melling, a minor league pitcher in the Cardinals organization, hit the Twitterati last night to ask whether Lester was adding a little foreign substance to the ball.
No Cardinal batter during or after the game – you know, the guys who actually played the game – said that Lester did anything to doctor the ball. Likewise the umpiring crew and Major League Baseball said nothing about the faux incident to which Melling alluded.
The only doctoring that should have been going on was to the Cardinal’s bruised egos in the wake of their defensive shoddiness that plagued them throughout game one of the World Series. They were awful. Boston was very good. Again, end of story.
Let’s stick to the game kids instead of creating controversy where there is none.