Bobby Valentine has laid down the law. There will be no alcohol in the clubhouse this season.
Way to go, Valentine! This is the right move.
I can't say whether the beer drinking was responsible for last season's collapse or not. Beckett says it wasn't. And as long as the pitchers were putting in their preparation during the day, there is no reason why a beer on a night they weren't pitching should cause pitching problems.
But, preparation issues aside, players should be expected to show that, even if they aren't participating, they are taking the game that is going on seriously. Perhaps if they watch the game closely, they might even learn a few new things about the opposing batters.
Kudos to David Ortiz for getting behind this rule change:
As a postscript, there's another related rule change as well: no drinking onboard the last plane of road trips, either. Was this a problem that we didn't know about? In any case, it will be interesting to see if players start taking the earlier flights.
Way to go, Valentine! This is the right move.
I can't say whether the beer drinking was responsible for last season's collapse or not. Beckett says it wasn't. And as long as the pitchers were putting in their preparation during the day, there is no reason why a beer on a night they weren't pitching should cause pitching problems.
But, preparation issues aside, players should be expected to show that, even if they aren't participating, they are taking the game that is going on seriously. Perhaps if they watch the game closely, they might even learn a few new things about the opposing batters.
Kudos to David Ortiz for getting behind this rule change:
“We’re not here to drink. We’re here to play baseball,” the slugger said. “This ain’t no bar. If you want to drink, drink at home.”It would be nice to hear Beckett and Lester say they are in back-to-back with Big Papi on this one, though I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
As a postscript, there's another related rule change as well: no drinking onboard the last plane of road trips, either. Was this a problem that we didn't know about? In any case, it will be interesting to see if players start taking the earlier flights.
While I don't disagree with this move - after all, can you think of another profession that allows it's employees to drink while on the clock? - Chad Finn made an observation that bears repeating:
ReplyDelete"What happened last September with the booze in the clubhouse was nothing like what happened in October 2004, and it has nothing to do with the outcome. The offering of Jack Daniel's during the '04 postseason was a symbolic gesture of team unity. What Beckett, Lester and that oafish overpaid pitcher with the bum elbow whose name escapes me right now was form a clique that set them apart from the team."
Reading between the lines, you wonder if that '04 team would have come together as they did if not for those shots of Jack Daniels before the games.