The Boston Red Sox have slightly come down from their stint as the hottest team in American sports after losing two consecutive games for the first time since June 30-July 1 against the Washington Nationals. The Athletics are Boston's new kryptonite.
Boston's two losses included struggles that mirrored its ugly play from the beginning of the season, mostly anemic offense and imperfect defense. It was particularly shocking to see Willson Contreras falter — he logged just one hit and four strikeouts during his two games against the A's.
But it was even more shocking to hear the Red Sox fans in attendance of the August 8 game at Fenway Park boo Contreras after his eighth inning at-bat. The first baseman bounced a ground ball to A's third baseman Tommy White and didn't hustle out of the box afterward. He was out by a mile, as he would've been even if he sprinted.
Any fans who booed Contreras showed how out of touch and unserious they are. Not only has he been the team's most consistent hitter and best player all season long, even before the historic heater the team has been on, he was still recovering from an illness during that game.
Willson Contreras deserves better than the boos he heard from ridiculous Red Sox fans on Saturday
Contreras started Boston's August 5 game against the Chicago White Sox despite feeling under the weather. He couldn't make it through the rest of the game so the Red Sox pulled him and rested him for the next two days. He returned to action on August 8 despite not feeling 100 percent, and the same people who undoubtedly would've told him to "man up" for missing too much time while sick found a way to criticize him for coming back too soon. There's no winning with an attitude like that.
Contreras declined to speak with reporters following the groundout and it isn't hard to see why. Someone who has done so much for the team deserves more grace than fans gave him on a bad day. Fans seemingly forgot after falling behind in one game that Contreras was a driving force behind the winning streak that "saved their summer."
About six weeks ago, before the heater started, the Red Sox had a 32-46 record, and those 46 losses were some of the most uncompetitive and agonizing in fans' recent memory. It could be argued that Boston's sudden dominance started after Contreras' dust-up with Washington Nationals pitcher Cade Cavalli — the Sox lost that series but Contreras continued playing incredibly well with a five-game suspension hanging over his head. He's batting .312/.458/.591 over the last month, playing a key part in Boston's most critical stretch of games.
The Red Sox fans upset about one low-effort play from their team's best player as he gives Ben Rice and Junior Caminero a run for their money as American League MVP need to get their priorities straight. He's more than earned the benefit of the doubt. Boston has done almost nothing but win a way no other team has done for over a month and not a single player, particularly the team's best hitter and clubhouse leader Contreras, deserves boos from anyone at this time.
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