One of the biggest annoyances in professional sports are sore losers. There are few things worse than when teams or individual athletes lose and then complain about it to anyone that will listen.
They discount the other team's or competitor's ability and instead channel their frustration in a way that makes them look no worse than, well, a little bitch.
That's why the quotes from Angels pitcher John Lackey and outfielder Torii Hunter are so maddening. Granted, the quotes followed a loss and came as the Angels once again began down that all-too-familiar offseason on-ramp to "'What Happened to Our Season? Highway.'" But, c'mon: We're talking about two veterans that should know better.
From Lackey:
"We lost to a team that's not better than us. We are a better team than they are. The last two days, we shouldn't have given up anything."
"[Sunday] night they scored three runs on a pop fly that was called a hit, which was a joke," Lackey said, referring to Ellsbury's pop that fell between center fielder Torii Hunter and second baseman Howie Kendrick in Game Three. "[Monday] night they scored on a broken-bat ground ball and a fly ball that anywhere else in America is an out, and he's fist-pumping on second base like he did something great."
- B/R Ticket Guide
From Hunter:
"I'm [ticked], I'm upset, this one's going to be with me for a while. It doesn't feel good, because we're a better team than they are. But they're moving on."
Really? You are? If so...
- Why did your franchise lose a major-league record 11 straight postseason games to the Red Sox, only breaking the streak in an extra-inning affair in Game Three?
- Why did your team leave 43 runners on base?
- Why did you, John, give up four runs in just under 14 innings while Jon Lester gave up none? Also, why did you decide to be so disrespectful and demonstrative to your fellow teammates as they were struggling defensively? And why haven't you won a postseason game since 2002?
- Why is your club—with the best record in the majors, albeit out of a weak division—going home?
Sometimes you have to suck it up and admit you didn't get it done. The Angels lost to the defending World Champions, and yet are acting like they lost to a group of Little League World Series runners-up.
Instead of being respectful and classy (something I always admired in Hunter), Lackey and Hunter took the low road and just plain whined. Pathetic.
Enjoy watching the rest of the postseason, guys. If you're not too busy avoiding all those buses Lackey is throwing people under, perhaps you can take a few notes on what it takes to be a champion.
Josh Nason started Small White Ball in 2007 and is the main contributor of content for the site. A long-time writer, his work can also be read at sites like RopesRingandCage.com, EmailMarketingGuy.com and others. He also does radio appearances and was on TV once, albeit for a lame public television game show. He can be reached at josh@smallwhiteball.com.
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about 1 month ago
Another question for Torii Hunter..."Could you explain how the Sox were able to score 3 runs off of a popup that a one-armed guy in a wheelchair could have caught?"
Perhaps the Angels are a better REGULAR SEASON team (they kicked some serious ass), but the bottom line is that they don't win the games that count. The best thing for these 2 guys to do is shut up and work on building their team for next year. All they're doing now is showing the world what the true meaning of "sour grapes" is.
about 1 month ago
Agreed. I can't stand the 'we're a better team' defense. Are there standings or a point system somewhere that we're missing?
about 1 month ago
i am a red sox fan, and i was not crazy about some of these comments. however, you play 162 games, you pour your heart and sole into it, and now it is over. i cannot blame guys for being emotional and perhaps saying some stuff they did not mean. it had to be frustrating for the angles, leaving all those guys on base, making uncharacteristic bad defensive plays (like the 3 run popup), and watching jed lowrie win the game after texeira looked like he had gotten the angels off the hook. if i lose at pickup basketball, i will say ten dumb things after the game because i am mad i lost. my wife will not play backgammon with me anymore because i get too upset when i lose.
also, you had a 4 game series where each game could have gone either way.....has to be frustrating for the team that comes out on the short end.
about 1 month ago
btw, should be "heart and soul" above...my bad! ;-)
about 1 month ago
Hey Andy - I agree that people are emotional and that is what is great about sports: people that care. However, there are cases every day when teams and individuals lose games and they don't say things like this.
Professionals are just that: professionals. To say another team is not as good as you discounts them completely and makes the person saying it look petty.
about 1 month ago
Yeah these are professionals but as a fan I was happy to see some one as pissed off as I was... instead the bullcrap "we will get em next year" line seeing that was refreshing and a bit uplifting
oh and since I am not a professional I will say it
The Angels lost to a inferior team, a team they should have swept away.
from about 1 month ago
sorry, scott...that is pathetic. these teams were evenly matched. while i will admit that every game could have gone either way, to say it should have been a sweep is wrong.
the angles have an excellent team, as good as anyone in the MLB. but as someone else pointed out, many of their wounds were self inflicted. you cannot let popup sdrop. you cannot let potenctioal inning ending double plays do down the tube when you bobble them. too many mistakes sent the angles home. maybe they will learn for next year, but only if they improve on the field, and flush that "better team lost" crap down the toilet. great pitching, great bullpen, great team speed, excellent lineup, but perhaps a change in attitude is needed. scoiscia needs to leave the ego at the door, as well.
from about 1 month ago
all of those things said reiterates that the best team won. The Angels made errors in the game that were not made at all during the year. If they were made they were not done in succession that is for sure. And Egos were into a factor that is emotion. Torii Hunter is considered one of the best men in the game to be around and was a big reason the Angels signed him. The Angels let the game go. The Red Sox did not beat them they beat themselves. I will admit it we blew the series. This was not the Dodger/Cubs match-up where the Dodgers outplayed the Cubs in every way. The Angels got plenty of men on board but couldn't turn it into runs. To say evenly matched is being generous to the Sox and underrating the Angels.
about 1 month ago
This is what makes baseball great to me- anyone franchise can wave a stat sheet and say, "We're the better team!" and then proceed to lose to another team on any given day because good pitching will always stop good hitting. Someone once said that hitting will win divisions/pennants; but pitching wins championships.
A championship team does not let fly balls drop between players. A centerfielder who truly wants to win doesn't let his fear of hitting an outfield wall keep him from snagging a catchable fly ball. A true championship team doesn't squander a leadoff double in the ninth inning of a tied game.
The Angels were not the better team in this series. No way. They may have been so during the regular season; for that, they won their division. That was all the Angels were prepared to do.
Lackey and Hunter are professional athletes; however, they just ceased being sportsmen. Hats off to the other Angels who kept their poise in defeat.
about 1 month ago
Oh come one guys. This is the same Hunter that we have seen many times go up and rob homeruns. Being a Minnesota Twins fan, I can tell you that he always gave 100%, no doubt in my mind. He was trying his best to win, I can promise you that.
about 1 month ago
@ Scott: 'a team they should have swept away'? C'mon, man....you can't be serious. At worst, this series should have gone the full five games, but a sweep on either side? No way.
@ Kyle: I don't think people were saying that Hunter wasn't playing hard, but I took umbrage with the comments afterward. He's a great and talented player...I just expected more from a guy like that when it came to comments.
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