Jonny Gomes is hungry.
Gomes tasted the postseason before arriving in Boston last offseason, but he never enjoyed the deliciousness of a World Series title until Koji Uehara struck out Matt Carpenter to end Game 6 of the 2013 Fall Classic. Now, despite savoring every bit of the Red Sox’ 2013 season, the veteran outfielder is ready to dive in for seconds.
“I’ll tell you what, we’re the champs and we have to defend that belt,” Gomes told the Boston Herald’s Scott Lauber. “From No. 1 to No. 100-something in the organization, everyone knows that. Everyone wants to see the huge offseason acquisitions, but we just won the World Series with nobody in the top 10 of the MVP [voting] or in the top 10 of the Cy Young.
“My wife was just asking, ‘How do people still keep the drive once you win one?’ I was like, ‘You don’t know how good a filet mignon is if you never had one. You have that first one, now it’s all you want to eat.'”
The Red Sox will need to be just as hungry in 2014 if they want to repeat as World Series champions. Fortunately for Boston, Gomes — one of the club’s vocal leaders and most clutch performers — has already worked up an appetite.
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