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It’s not often that you’ll hear Josh Beckett on sports radio airwaves. In fact, Glenn Ordway and Michael Holly, claim the last time Beckett was on the radio it was way back with their station. Well the Boston Red Sox ace sure didn’t disappoint in this appearance.Beckett weighs in on all the critics that have come after him dating back to the Red Sox collapse last September. He also doesn’t sound like he’s too chummy with former teammate Curt Schilling these days.
Josh Beckett joined WEEI in Boston with The Big Show [Glenn Ordway and Michael Holly] to discuss the media overblowing the Boston Red Sox collapse of 2011, the loss of Jason Varitek, his initial feelings on new manager Bobby Valentine, Curt Schilling’s comments on the Red Sox being in ‘bad’ shape and ex-players joining the media and criticizing their former teams.
Do you feel that people [the media] have overblown what happened with the Red Sox collapse?
“You know I try not to worry about it. People are going to say what they are going to say. We gotta go out there and do better in September 2012 and the way we start that is by winning games in April.”
How important was Jason Varitek? How different will it be without him?
“It was like having another pitching coach out there. I think the biggest thing for me with Jason was, it wasn’t when we sat down and had our pregame meetings, a lot of it was him listening to how I wanted to approach this guy, and then he’d give me his input and we’d form a plan that way. He was huge for me. He really teaches you how to do the things…he reminds you of the things that make you successful and he forces you to do those.”
What are your thoughts about Bobby Valentine so far?
“It’s been great. He definitely is making sure we pay attention to the small things. That’s for sure.”
Curt Schilling said things are going bad for the Red Sox under Bobby Valentine. How do you feel about Curt Schilling’s comments on Bobby Valentine?
“I haven’t seen him around this year. Is he one of our pitchers? Like I haven’t seen him around this year. I didn’t know he was going to be one of our pitchers. [Glenn Ordway: He’s gone to the dark side Josh] That’s fine. I haven’t seen him around here. I’d think if somebody knew that much they’d probably be a little closer to it.”
How do you feel about ex-players joining the dark side and criticizing players in the media like Curt Schilling?
“Game’s a lot easier from over there [as a media person], I think. As far as him speaking about how things are being run here? I haven’t seen him around here to where he would know that much.”
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