Dennis Eckersley to Jack Morris: "Zip it," son!
"Dick, I'm sorry, Dirk Hayhurst" Freudian slip? |
Managing Editor
Much ado about nothing. At least that's what the Red Sox, Blue Jays and everyone else interested in Major League Baseball thought. Yet, there was one individual who thought it wise to announce (live on television) that pseudo Red Sox ace Clay Buchholz's dominant performance Wednesday night was something of the fishy kind.
His name, Jack Morris.
During Thursday night's telecast of the Red Sox versus Blue Jays game, Morris expounded on the comments (accusations) made earlier by former Blue Jays pitcher Dirk Hayhurst. Morris went as far as to declare he "had no doubt in his mind Buchholz was doctoring the ball."
NESN analyst and former Boston Red Sox great, Dennis Eckersley, caught wind of Morris' comments and decided to give the Blue Jays announcer some "friendly" advice during NESN's 'Extra Innings' post-game show.
(Video courtesy of NESN.com)
For those word connoisseurs I painstakingly wrote out the interview highlights - because watching a three minute video is far to laborsome (insert sarcastic/Eckersley tone here).
"I was upset during the game when we found out what was happening with Jack Morris, and the more I saw it, the more I started thinking about it, it made me more and more angry about Jack Morris. To me, that’s clueless on his part,” Eckersley said on NESN. “If he knew anything about Buchholz, he knows how nasty he is. His ball doesn’t dance all over the place. The guy paints. He’s got nasty stuff. [Morris] should know that, and he’s gotten carried away. It becomes about Jack Morris almost.
“Where’s Jack Morris been all these years, anyway?” Eckersley continued. “He finally gets a job up there in Toronto and he has to make statements like that and take away from what this kid has done? I think it’s wrong. He’s pitched long enough to know. Guys, you talk about stick-’em, whatever that is, pine tar. He knows that you go to something if you’re sweaty just to get a grip. It’s all about a grip. You saw the comment — that guy [Hayhurst] backed off a little bit, saying maybe it’s rosin, maybe it’s this, but if you just watch the game, you know: the ball disappears on you.
“When you throw a spitball, the ball falls off the table, and you know it right away. The hitters didn’t complain, but Jack Morris is. I think Jack Morris should zip it,” Eckersley added. “I feel sorry for Buchholz to even have to deal with this. I’m styling here, and you’re taking away from me, a guy that can’t even make it to the Hall of Fame yet, and he’s chirping over there — zip it.”
In the interest of full disclosure, both Eckersley and Morris have an interesting past with one another to say the least. With that said, it's still irresponsible - as a live commentator - to whimsically throw around allegations of cheating during a live broadcast. This rings especially true when those allegations have no basis other than the use of the words "think" and "probably" to deduce such a statement.
My advice to Morris: Perhaps, as a journalist/commentator, one should research the facts and discuss with those directly involved in said game before you start throwing out baseless allegations. It very well may be much ado about nothing.
Follow Scott Levesque on Twitter at @scottlevesque.