Aaron Judge’s historic pursuit of 62 home runs was halted for a night by the Boston Red Sox. Not due to outstanding pitching but rather due to a complete culture of cowardice amongst the franchise.
The September 22 Thursday night game pitted the Yankees against the Red Sox with Aaron Judge swinging a red hot bat, tied with Babe Ruth for 60 home runs. Sickeningly, the Boston Red Sox chose to pitch around Aaron Judge.
The Boston Red Sox have nothing left to play for this season except pride which they have none of. The Red Sox had an opportunity to go at Aaron Judge all night. Hammer the zone and play spoiler to his historic pursuit. The Red Sox had a chance to brag to their children and grandchildren that when they had the opportunity to face Aaron Judge in his historic season, they stood tall and gave it everything they had to stop him, forcing a hitless night. There is pride in that statement. A statement nearly no one who threw a pitch last night will ever be able to say.
First man to get called out is Alex Cora, the manager of this gutless team. Alex Cora portrays himself as a strong leader however that Thursday night game will forever taint that image, there is no coming back from what he sent his team out to do.
Alex Cora should have lit a fire under the Red Sox. They were facing their arch rivals and they were going to play spoiler. He should have spouted a passionate rant towards his team, firing up his pitchers to ruin these next four games for the Yankees. Instead he calmly sat in the dugout, content watching his best starting pitcher not only avoid but practically run in fear from Aaron Judge, throwing pitch after pitcher a foot outside the strike zone or down in the dirt. Alex Cora should have made a mound visit after that first at bat yet silently cowered in the dugout showing his true colors as a spiteful bitter man.
I’ve long said Alex Cora should have been kicked out of baseball for his role in masterminding the Astros cheating scandal of 2017 – 2019. Last night proved that the Red Sox have no choice but to fire him. His actions exemplify why the Red Sox underperformed this season, Alex Cora isn’t a leader. Alex Cora isn’t inspiring his clubhouse, he is allowing his team to play without heart. It’s something he cannot come back from, he’s exposed himself to the Red Sox clubhouse. The team will always be losers under his “leadership”.
Michael Wacha should be ashamed every time he steps on the mound for the rest of his career. Michael Wacha is supposedly the best pitcher on the Red Sox yet despite Aaron Judge being a career 0 for 14 against him, Wacha avoided the plate like Luke avoids logic and reason when arguing against Judge for MVP. Every pitch was a foot off the plate or down in the dirt. Avoiding any chance of Aaron Judge swinging his bat. The only at bat in which Wacha did not walk Judge, there were some questionable strike zone calls and Aaron Judge expanding his zone swinging at a ball too low in the strike zone. Wacha was still avoiding him, Judge should have drawn a base on balls in that at bat too.
Aaron Judge is hitless in his career against Michael Wacha. HITLESS. Despite never giving up a hit to Aaron Judge, Michael Wacha cowered in fear running from the challenge of a man he has never given up a hit to!!
It was the most pathetic outing I have ever seen of a starting pitcher. Wacha is no competitor. He is a man without heart. A loser who is being enabled by his loser manager.
Next we have John Schreiber. Earlier this season the praise for the almighty John Schreiber was foolishly relentless. “John Schreiber is a god because he had a few solid months” “John Schreiber is a god because he is a good middle reliever”
The John Schreiber talk was forever silenced last night. John Schreiber had his biggest outing of his career on Thursday night which resulted in Schreiber tucking his tail between his legs and crawling away. John Schreiber was paid $700,000 for the season and he earned none of it. Schreiber deserves to be paid like he is working here at Bleacher Brawls (absolutely nothing). John Schreiber will never be referred to as a god again. A god is brave. A god fears no one. Schreiber is a coward who doesn’t believe in himself. John Schreiber is not a god, John Schreiber is a nobody middle reliever.
Surprisingly, the only pitcher who showed any gonads on Thursday night was Matt Barnes. Matt Barnes is not a good pitcher, he is despised by most of the Bleacher Brawls Red Sox crew, yet he was the only pitcher on that team who can hold his head high today.
When you put some thought into it, you realize that for this level of gutlessness to be allowed, it has to be being enabled higher up the ladder. Would it surprise anyone if the petty John Henry, the owner of the Red Sox was behind this? He’s a small man who uses his media conglomerate to go at the Patriots whenever the Patriots are outperforming the Red Sox. He is a jealous little man. Is he really above instructing his team to avoid pitching to Aaron Judge? It sure makes me suspicious.
I think we should really reverse these roles for a moment. Earlier in the season, Gerrit Cole could not get Rafael Devers out. Devers would crush home runs off Cole to the extent that the noise was for Cole to stop pitching to Devers. Just pitch around him and get the other guys out.
Did Cole take the small way out? No. Instead he made adjustments, challenged Devers and proved that he can get Devers out. When Cole was challenged with adversity, he stepped up to the challenge. Unlike Alex Cora, Michael Wacha, and that nobody middle reliever.
The Cole-Devers showdown happened during a span earlier in the season when both teams wanted to compete. It would have made strategic sense to pitch around Devers but Cole showed he is a warrior. Last night Alex Cora and the Red Sox pitching staff showed they are the complete opposite of warriors.
Let’s reverse the roles even more. What would the reaction of Boston fans be had one of their own been chasing a record and the Yankees were pitching around him? I can answer that, Boston fans would be losing their minds.
Last night is a great example of why Boston fans are the worst fans in baseball. They have no honor. They have an extremely lenient set of rules for themselves and a much, much stricter set of rules for everyone else. Absolutely no honor amongst that fan base.
In contrast, I KNOW if the roles were reversed, Barnye and I would both be here telling you how much we wanted the Yankees to challenge the Red Sox. That it was disgraceful for them to be so gutless. If they get the record off you, fine, because it shows that you challenged them. There is honor in that.
Boston fans actually appreciate and applaud this level of gutlessness. Boston fans were happy to see their team pitching around Judge, running from adversity, showing a complete lack of heart. Boston fans actually CONDONE this out of their team.
(For any Boston fans out there reading this, I know condone is a big word, it means you think it is ok)
I would be sickened if this were the Yankees. I would want the manager fired because it shows he is no leader of men. It would expose the team as heartless. The team would need to be gutted and a new culture put in place. Instead, these worthless Boston fans actually think what happened was a good thing. I guess all I can say to that is “congratulations on being losers.”