Red Sox GM Theo Epstein went the Colin Powell route yesterday. He broke it, now he owns it.
With the team he assembled off to an uncharacteristically — if not historically — poor 4-9 start, Epstein joined the frustrated chorus before last night’s game against the Rangers, offering a brutally honest assessment of the first two weeks.
“You have to be realistic about it and recognize that we haven’t been worth a [expletive] so far,” Epstein said. “You have to own it. The disappointing thing is we really haven’t done anything well, to be honest. We’re not pitching, we’re not hitting, we’re not playing good defense and we’re not running the bases well. Take your pick.
“We’re a talented team, so the results will start taking care of itself when we start to play better. Right now, we’re not ourselves. We need to change that first. We have to own it, take responsibility for it and recognize that it has to change.”
After meeting with Epstein, assistant GM Ben Cherington and his coaching staff, manager Terry Francona shuffled his lineup for the game, moving the slumping Victor Martinez to fifth and the equally anemic David Ortiz to sixth. But more trouble visited the club, with Mike Cameron [abdominal tear] and Jacoby Ellsbury [ribs] going on the DL.
“This is a chance for us to try to stand tall,” Francona said. “We talked to the players in the very first meeting about our season and how it will be defined is how we handle frustration.”
