Luke Scott has become Public Enemy No. 1 in Boston on the heels of his insistence that Fenway Park is “a dump.” Don’t worry, though. He’s sorry.
“As a baseball player, going there to work, it’s a dump,” Scott said of Fenway back in April. “I mean, it’s old. It does have a great feel and nostalgia, but at the end of the day, I’d rather be at a good facility where I can get my work in. A place where I can go hit in the cage, where I have space and it’s a little more comfortable to come to work.”
Scott thought that he was giving an educated response when discussing the 100-year-old ballpark just before the Red Sox and Rays clashed in Boston’s home opener. However, his comments drew the ire of Sox fans, as criticizing America’s most beloved ballpark just seems silly.
Scott was again in Red Sox fans’ crosshairs on Friday night when the benches cleared following Scott getting plunked by Franklin Morales. But while it would have been easy for the Rays DH to let emotions get the best of him after the game, he made it a point to clarify his previous statements regarding Fenway.
“I never said anything bad about Fenway and the fact that I respect the park,” Scott said following Tampa Bay’s 7-4 win Friday. “I respect the park and there’s a lot of great tradition here. I can appreciate that as a player and as a fan I can imagine it’s a great place for someone to go watch a baseball game and the nostalgia of it.
“I made a comment that as a player it’s a difficult place to get your work done. That’s it. I thought it was an educated response. By no means was I being disrespectful. I actually praised the park for all the memories and nostalgia, those are all plusses. Just the one thing as a baseball player coming here to do a job, it’s difficult.”
It seems as though Scott is doing what he can to squash the Boston beef, but it remains to be seen how accepting Red Sox fans will be of his semi apology. If he continues to get booed as the two teams square off — perhaps literally — at the “dump” this weekend, it’ll be evident that his clarification is falling on deaf ears.
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And just like that, the Stanley Cup Final is set.
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I just, I love our jam. I love our balls. I really like what we have here. I don’t think it will be the same; there are always changes. But what they have — what our group has developed in their identity, their mindset, I think showed tonight. Again, we didn’t get it done, but I just like the way they handled themselves … we got out swagger back.
–Rangers head coach John Tortorella following his team’s loss to the Devils in Game 6
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Seriously, guys. Hurry up.
