The widespread reports of Red Sox pitchers eating fried chicken in the clubhouse has been greatly exaggerated, according to starter Clay Buchholz.
“Yeah, it did [happen]. It wasn’t to the extent that it’s being told right now,” Buchholz said in a Thursday appearance on WEEI’s Mut and Merloni Show. “The whole chicken thing, it wasn’t like the guys were sitting in there saying ‘We’re going to order chicken today.’ It was, we’d come upstairs, there would be chicken on the table and it happened maybe three times this season.”
Buchholz continued by addressing the issue of the team drinking beer in the clubhouse during games.
“The whole beer thing, it was more of a rally-beer thing,” he said. “And yeah, it might not have been right, but I feel like there have been other teams in baseball that have gone through stuff like that. Not to say it wasn’t a big deal, because it was a mistake, grown men shouldn’t be making those decisions like that during a baseball game, but like I said before, you’ve got to live with what you’ve done and learn from it. I’m sure it’s not going to happen again because it’s a lot bigger right now than everybody ever thought it would be.”
Rumors have spread that not only did Boston players drink in the clubhouse during games, but the habit spread to the dugout as well. Buchholz adamantly refuted this claim, however.
“No, never. Never,” he said.
