Infectious atmosphere
Club plugs away after going viral
DETROIT — Stay away from the Red Sox. I mean that literally. When Jackie Bradley Jr. couldn’t keep back a cough during a postgame interview, he quickly lifted the collar of his T-shirt before emitting a deep, chesty cough.
In unison, a group of sportswriters did a backward bunny hop.
You’ve never seen scribes move so quickly.
“You all watch out,” Bradley said with a crafty smile.
The Red Sox are in sick, sick shape, and that makes it impossible to make an accurate read on their state of play four games into the season when the entire team has become unwitting cast members of “The Walking Near-Dead,” a queasy crew of coughing, vomiting, sniffling, sneezing, holloweyed, surgical mask-wearing zombies.
Their lineup and pitching staff are in tatters and on IVs.
Flying back to Boston after tomorrow’s game only in order to infect New England sounds like a really bad idea.
It’s rough enough that they are waging a losing battle against three separate bugs — straightout flu, a bug that causes flu-like symptoms, and upper-respiratory nastiness — ripping through the clubhouse.
As their casualties mount, so, too, do the losses.
Yesterday’s was the second in the row to the Tigers, who must be feeling awfully chipper that they have caught the Red Sox at this exposed and vulnerable moment in the very young season.
They should knock on wood before disinfecting the visiting clubhouse with the most potent cleaning supplies ever devised.
Quarantining their visiting clubhouse staff wouldn’t be such a bad idea, either.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, don’t want your sympathy as much as you want to avoid their germs.
“It’s not like we can go home and quit,” said Dustin Pedroia, one
‘There’s an old saying — you do what you can with what you have where you are . . . We still have confidence in the guys we run on the field and put together a quality ballgame.’
— JOHN FARRELL
of the few players who sounded as fine as he said he felt. “We’ve got games to play, man. We’ve got a job to do, and we’re going to try to do it the best we can.”
The effort part is what’s creating a compulsive need to take a shower in antibacterial soap before, during and after being anywhere near these guys.
Being careful not to touch anything, let’s take a stroll through their ward and review the latest medical reports.
First off, a couple of members of the poor training staff — the ones who have to stretch, poke, prod and massage the players — were wearing surgical masks before the game. Can’t blame them. Even manager John Farrell donned one briefly, in a lighthearted walk through the hall and into the dining room. Sick joke, indeed, but why not? If you can’t laugh, you’ll sneeze. Hanley Ramirez officially has the flu and is still in Boston, where he will likely remain for the rest of this series.
Mookie Betts flew in from Boston yesterday morning after missing these first two games with the flu, and was perhaps going to pinch-hit for Brock Holt (also still woozy) in the ninth if the team rallied. He may be in the lineup today.
Mitch Moreland, quarantined at the end of spring training, is back. He looks a little pale, but at least he has started to hit the ball well, with two more hits yesterday.
Robbie Ross Jr. is on the DL with an official case of influenza, and Joe Kelly was back at the team hotel after coming down with some brand of the sick after Friday’s game, during which he happened to have played a key, negative part in the loss.
Hitting coaches Chili Davis and Victor Rodriguez have been hit.
Farrell has the upper-respiratory variety.
And when asked for a postgame update on the pregame sick report, Farrell had unpleasant news.
“(Andrew) Benintendi was throwing up in about the sixth inning,” Farrell said. “We’re hopeful that was just a one-time deal, and we’ll see how he feels when he comes in (today).” It’s ridiculous, really. But what are the Red Sox going to do?
“There’s an old saying — you do what you can with what you have where you are, and that’s where we’re at right now,” Farrell said. “We still have confidence in the guys we run on the field and put together a quality ballgame, and we’re back at it tomorrow.” Can’t wait to witness it. Assuming I’m not stricken overnight, look for me.
I’ll be the guy in the back of the scrum, wrapped head-to-toe in bubble wrap.