Most major league pitchers have at least one team that’s constantly a pain in the rear end.
Unfortunately for David Price, his most lethal kryptonite is the New York Yankees, who pose the biggest threat to the Boston Red Sox in the American League East.
Jon Lester, a five-time All-Star who spent parts of nine seasons with the Red Sox from 2006 to 2014, doesn’t expect Price’s struggles against the Yankees to continue. After all, Price has an extensive track record of success at the big league level, making the Yankees-related woes an outlier.
“No, I don’t think David Price needs to reinvent himself,” Lester, now with the Chicago Cubs, told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford on Tuesday night before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. “He’s a pretty darn good pitcher and he’s been one for a while. I’m sure from what I’ve heard about him as far as work ethic and how he goes about his craft he will figure out the Yankees at some point.”
Price has an 8.43 ERA against the Yankees since joining the Red Sox. He’s managed only one quality start in nine starts against the Bronx Bombers in that span, and New York has torn the left-hander to shreds this season, scoring 12 runs in 4 1/3 innings.
That’s obviously a cause for concern with the Red Sox trying to stave off the Yankees in the AL East, especially since there’s a chance the longtime rivals will hook up in the postseason. It might behoove Price to consider Lester’s advice, for the latter also boasts an impressive major league résumé.
“I haven’t seen enough of David Price’s games to know what’s going on,” Lester told Bradford. “Obviously, I’m a baseball fan and I enjoy watching baseball. It’s easy to hear some stuff that’s going up there with everything. But I think the biggest thing is sometimes when you have trouble against teams, we all have trouble against teams. We all have that one team that kicks our ass and for whatever reason you can’t figure it out. Sometimes it’s better to go out there and say, ‘Screw it, I’m not grinding this one. I’m going to try and execute one pitch at a time.’ A lot of times when that happens, you look up (and) you’re like, ‘Oh man, I threw the ball pretty well tonight.’
“I think when you struggle against a team, it’s kind of like, ‘OK, when is it going to happen?’ I got through the first (inning), is it going to happen in the second? I got through the second, OK, is it now going to happen in the third? Then all of a sudden, base hit to right, damn. Is this the inning? Walk. Oh man, Yankee Stadium, got a righty up. Boom. Three-run homer. There it is. You look up and you’ve given up six. Whereas if you’re just kind of plotting along and you’re not worried about that, I think … It doesn’t always go well, but I think mentally that’s the way to kind of approach it sometimes.”
Lester and Price forever will be linked in Red Sox history, as Boston signed Price to a huge contract one year after it was unable to reach a deal with Lester in free agency. The Red Sox surely are focused on the present, though, and there’s no denying Price’s importance in Boston’s quest to enjoy playoff success after being eliminated in the ALDS in back-to-back seasons.
If Price can’t exorcise his demons against the Yankees, the Red Sox could be in trouble. The 2012 Cy Young winner might not need to reinvent himself when facing the boys in pinstripes, but he probably needs to tweak something — physically or mentally — to achieve better results.
