FORT MYERS, Fla. –– It was a forgettable stroll down memory lane for Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. After five months away from Boston’s vitriol, the duo reflected on the unprecedented end to the 2011 season.
But don’t expect Bobby Valentine to follow suit. After listening to all the criticism over the offseason, the Red Sox manager doesn’t plan to regurgitate the news as a motivational ploy.
“The last thing I want to do is be redundant,” Valentine said in his first spring training news conference in a decade. “But I want to be emphatic. When you’re talking to this group that will be here –– the 63 guys in uniform –– I’d hate to paint all of them with the same brush. Many of them weren’t here and have no reason to feel that they need to erase anything of their past.
“As far as a fresh start is concerned, absolutely. This is 2012. This is the year that could be the most special year of their lives. That is definitely a message I want them to understand, regardless of what happened last year.”
Josh Beckett agreed with Valentine’s outlook. Although the 7-20 swoon in September was disastrous, the veteran pitcher offered a reminder of the Red Sox’s sizzling success beforehand.
“Winning will heal a lot of that,” Beckett said. “The clubhouse in September and the clubhouse in the beginning of April were no different. In between there, we apparently had great chemistry because we were apparently playing great baseball. I think you go 20-7 and it would be a little bit different in terms of the atmosphere in the clubhouse.”
Have a question for Didier Morais? Send it to him via Twitter at @DidierMorais or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.
