This season, I wanted to forget all about John Lackey. As a fan, it was miserable towatch him pitch last year, with his 12-12 record and bloated 6.41 ERA. The year before, Lackey’s first year with the Red Sox, wasn’t much better with a 14-11 record and 4.40 ERA. For those people who don’t hold records and ERA in high record, he also had WHIPs of 1.419 (2010) and 1.619 (2011).
For the record, Lackey’s days with the Angels were much better. In 2009, he had a 11-8 record, 3.83 ERA, and a 1.270 WHIP. Arguably his best year was 2007, when he went 19-9, with a 3.01 ERA and a 1.210 WHIP. The Angels’ manager, Mike Scioscia, who I regard as one of the best managers in the game, had Lackey as his number one starter. The Red Sox brought Lackey in as their number four guy.
Again, I wanted to forget all about Lackey this year, since he’d be sidelined for the season after having Tommy John surgery. The way I looked at it, when Lackey pitched again in 2013, he’d start with a clean slate, much like Matsuzaka seems to be doing as he recovers from Tommy John surgery the past year. As much frustration as Matsuzaka caused people, myself included, people seem to be almost excited to see what he can do when he comes back in June or July. I thought the same thing would happen for Lackey.
Unlike Matsuzaka, who virtually disappeared from the team after his surgery and during a big portion of his recovery, Lackey’s still around. He’s in the clubhouse, rehabbing with the team. He still has a locker next to Beckett, Lester, and Buchholz. It’s kind of hard to ignore him, right?
Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe wrote a column on Lackey, interviewed him and all, and it was published today. I didn’t want to read it, but I felt compelled to. I thought maybe Lackey would say something that would make the fans want to get behind him again. I don’t think that’s what will happen after reading the article.
As a recap from last year, Lackey seemed to have some issues both on and off the field. He started the season terribly against the Rangers, giving up nine earned runs in 3.1 innings. His next start wasn’t much better, giving up six earned runs in 5 innings. Lackey’s ERA only dipped below 6.00 three times in the season, on April 30th, August 23rd, and August 30th.
The fans weren’t having it either, since they started to boo Lackey when he would pitch. However, something remarkable happened last season. I can’t remember when exactly, but during the first half of the season, Lackey received a standing ovation at Fenway. It was revealed that Lackey’s wife was battling breast cancer. His lack of concentration on the field was forgiven for a moment, since life’s challenges are more important than challenges faced on the field.
But those good vibrations didn’t last long. Lackey struggled in August and especially September. On September 26th, TMZ reported that Lackey had filed for divorce from his wife. The media was calling Lackey’s cell phone before his last start of the game. Chicken-and-beer-gate happened, and Lackey was perceived as the ring leader. The fans were done with John Lackey.
I didn’t want to discuss John Lackey, only because I didn’t want to feel any ill-will towards the any Red Sox players this season. I don’t like all the negative comments about Josh Beckett because he was seen as the other ring-leader of the bad behavior of last season. But remember, Josh Beckett was the best pitcher we had last year. So much has been written about Carl Crawford’s struggles, but every player is allowed to have a down year, right? I wanted to be a “cheerleader” for this 2012 Red Sox team.
But, John Lackey’s comments to Dan Shaughnessy are making it hard for me to “forgive and forget.” In the column, Lackey is quoted as saying: “The only way you’re going to change people’s opinions is to pitch better and win games. It’s amazing how quickly people will forget if you win.’’ That’s true. The problem was, Lackey wasn’t pitching last year. Was he hurt? Yes. He should have spoken up about his injury or maybe it’s the medical examiners fault for missing how serious the injury was. The point is, Lackey didn’t pitch well last year, which just put more fuel on the fire when all the other stuff
came out.
I could sample more quotes from Shaughnessy’s column, but I don’t want to throw Lackey under the bus. Obviously, he was dealing with a lot of stuff last year, both on and off the field. Should we judge? No. But, I do think Lackey isn’t dealing with it all that well.
Even the most hated players seem to have some fans (Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, anyone?). I don’t know anyone (and trust me, I know quite a few Red Sox fans) who is a “fan” of Lackey. When he was on the Angels, I didn’t hear any negative comments about him. “He is a workhorse,” is the comment I always heard about him. Scioscia seemed to like him a lot too.
But as a member of the Red Sox, I don’t think John Lackey’s done anything to try and win over the fans. He hasn’t pitched well and his behavior both on and off the field has made fans shake their heads. I still want to try and forget about Lackey this season, and when he comes back in 2013, I want to think of it as something positive (again, like Matsuzaka).
However, at the moment, Lackey’s only outlet to the fans is through the media. People won’t see him pitch at all this year, so he won’t be making fans “forget” by pitching well. Instead, he should try and re-create his image to the Boston media and fans. He says that his teammates know the real him, so why not let the people essentially paying for him to play see who he really is? Maybe Shaughnessy instigated some of Lackey’s responses, but Lackey should know better than to say such negative things in return. If you want to read the article Shaughnessy wrote yourself, here’s the link: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2012/03/27/catching_up_with_red_sox_pitcher_lackey/
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