Punchy

You've probably heard about this, and it's hard to really evaluate it without hearing the audio, but it must be posted. WEEI has reactions, but not the interview itself posted.

From the transcript:

Have you checked out?
What an embarrassing thing to say. If I were there, I’d punch you right in the mouth. Ha, ha. How’s that sound? Is that like I checked out? What an embarrassing thing. Why would somebody even, that’s stuff that a comic strip person would write. If someone’s here, watching me go out at 2 o’clock in the afternoon working with the young players, watching me put in the right relief pitchers to get a win, putting on a hit-and-run when it was necessary, talking to the guys after the game in the food room — how could someone in real life say that?

You were late at a ballgame last week.
I shouldn’t have to explain that. That pisses me off. Whoever wrote that knew what happened. They knew that my son was coming to see me for the first time in this lousy season and that I got to see him on the road, and that his flight was late, and that I was waiting at the airport in San Francisco for his flight to come in, and that came in, I sent the lineup in and reported to my coaches that I was going to be a little late. For someone to say that I was late is an absolute disgrace to their integrity if they have any.

He says he wasn't serious, and from the words I tend to believe him. But an actual laugh would be more comforting than "Ha, ha. How's that sound?"

Baseball's long season is one of its joys. But it's also draining.