Mike Lowell handled himself with a great deal of class on and off the field during his playing career, which made him a favorite amongst Red Sox fans. Although he said goodbye to the Fenway Faithful and baseball last year, the 2007 World Series MVP still follows his old team.
Lowell appeared on The Dan LeBatard Show on Friday to discuss the tough ending to the Red Sox' season.
One of the alleged issues, now that Red Sox Nation has seen its beloved manager of eight years depart, has been chemistry, which is something Lowell talked about.
"Chemistry is easy when you're winning," Lowell said. "The difference between getting to the postseason or not could have been chemistry issues."
Dan LeBatard asked Lowell whether injuries or chemistry were the main reason the Sox aren't playing in the postseason.
"It's neither," Lowell said. "This is my problem with injuries with them: when they went 81-42 or whatever they did for four months, Clay Buchholz was hurt, they were singing the praises of Andrew Miller, we got [Erik] Bedard to sure up our rotation, [John] Lackey won six starts in a row, [Tim] Wakefield was winning four out of six starts. Everyone's saying, 'Look what a great team, look they have depth, look how they know how to go get guys.' Those were the same guys they had going into September!"
Toward the end of the segment, LeBatard asked Lowell if he felt sad for his former teammates and the rest of the Sox organization.
"Sad for them, absolutely. It had to be the worst month for them in their careers."
Lowell was appearing on the show after a ceremony held at Sun Life Stadium for the Florida — soon to be Miami — Marlins. It marked the last time anything baseball-related will take place inside the park. Lowell had some time to contemplate his career, and when asked, his response exemplified why he remains one of the game's most prominent role models.
"My rookie year, when I was diagnosed with cancer, it really really put the importance of each game in perspective to me, you know? And I was like, 'What's the worst that could happen?' I feel like I've gone through anything worse than one baseball game. So what? 0-for-4, three strikeouts and two errors? I can live with it."
