New Sox Pitching Coach McClure Encouraged By Early Attitudes
FORT MYERS, Fla. (CBS) -- Whether the Red Sox like it or not, the focus at the start of spring training is going to be on the catastrophic end to the 2011 season. So when veteran hurlers like Josh Beckett and Jon Lester report early, many will naturally see that as a message that says the team is adamant about learning from last year's mistake.
New pitching coach Bob McClure, though, says the early reports of those key pieces of the rotation is simply about this season, not last season.
"The stuff with last year -- it happens. It's unfortunate, but it happens," McClure told reporters on Tuesday. "They're coming in here with something that they want to do, and that's win this division. And that's the way you go about it."
When it comes to his role with a lot of pitchers on the staff, McClure said he doesn't anticipate tinkering too much with what's been successful.
"I'm not gonna make a whole lot of changes as far as that's concerned," McClure said when asked specifically about Lester's use of his curveball. "I think these guys are professional, and they know what they want to do. You just need to keep an eye on 'em and understand what makes them tick as far as what are their keys, what kind of information they need from me, and go from there."
McClure was also asked about what Beckett needs to do to bounce back from his September, when he went 1-2 with a 5.48 ERA in four starts.
"He had a pretty good year," McClure said. "You can't put all of that on the pitchers. You look at his stats and he did pretty well. He just needs to go out and do the same thing he's always done. This is a team effort. This is everybody. It takes everybody to be focused on one thing, and that's winning the game."
