For Red Sox, things go from bad to worse

A bunch of bitchy players is apparently not enough to sink Bobby Valentine, at least not yet.

We now know why Boston Red Sox management recently felt compelled to give Bobby V a vote of confidence. The Red Sox hierarchy knew that news of a meeting in which Red Sox players complained about Valentine’s managerial style would soon become public. So they tried to get ahead of it by expressing support for the manager, despite the many criticisms of his players.

But this latest news symbolizes the dysfunction of the Red Sox. Sure, Bobby V has made mistakes. Picking a fight with popular Kevin Youkilis, which forced the Saux to eventually trade him, was probably not a wise move. But Bobby V isn’t the one on the mound getting his ass handed to him every other start. That would be supposed ace Josh Beckett. And since when do these baseball players have a right to question his decision to leave Jon Lester in a game? It used to be that a starting pitcher was congratulated for taking one for the team if he stayed in a game despite getting hammered. Apparently that is now just something else for an unhappy team to bitch about.

It seems like things are only going to get worse as the disappointment and frustration of their sub-.500 record and general lack of competitiveness weigh on some of these Red Sox players (it seems to have already gotten to Dustin Pedroia), many of whom were ill prepared to deal with this much losing after winning two World Series in the last decade. As recently as mid-July, I still thought that the archrivals of the New York Yankees might have had a chance to turn things around, but that’s clearly not the case. For the dysfunctional Saux, 2012 is already a lost season.