Boston Red Sox: BoSox Pitchers Didn't Confine Their Boozing to the Clubhouse

If there is muck to be raked, you can rest assured that the Boston media will rake it.

If you haven't been paying attention, the Boston media has been doing a fine job of bringing us all the horrible details concerning the historic September collapse of the Boston Red Sox. Most notably, they have let us know that star pitchers Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey would occasionally retreat to the clubhouse for beer, fried chicken and video games.

If you think that's bad, just wait 'til you get a load of what Joe Amorosino, a 7News sports anchor, was able to dig up.

According to Amorosino, sirs Beckett, Lester and Lackey didn't confine their drinking to the clubhouse. At times, they would grab some beer and take it back to the dugout.

Upon their return, the three hurlers would calmly sit and drink beer while watching games.

Writes Amorosino:

"

It didn’t make a difference whether the Red Sox were winning or losing at the time and the practice became more frequent later in the 2011 season. One Red Sox employee said Beckett, Lester and Lackey appeared “bored on nights they weren’t pitching and this is how they entertained themselves.”

"

The man to blame for this is none other than Josh Beckett. Another Red Sox employee called him the "instigator" of the bunch, and it was common for him to clearly announce when it was time for he and his fellow hurlers to commence drinking.

"It’s about that time," Beckett would say.

Zounds! He couldn't even come up with anything original to say!

Needless to say, this changes things. It was bad enough that the aforementioned pitchers would supposedly go down and start boozing in the clubhouse. The dugout is no place for such antics. If nothing else, they should have had the decency to take it to the bullpen.

Because they didn't, one wonders just what kind of effect their dugout boozing had on the rest of the team. It could be that the very fumes from the beer itself were to blame for the ineptitude of the team at large. Perhaps if Beckett, Lester and Lackey could have at least kept their drinking in the clubhouse, Boston's meltdown could have been avoided.

It also probably could have been avoided if the three of them were able to post ERAs under 5.00 in September. But apparently, this is a non-issue.

Stay tuned for further updates. For all we know, Beckett, Lester and Lackey also enjoyed a few cold ones out on the mound from time to time.