Red Sox players and fans can't have it both ways with Yankees-Gerrit Cole criticism

Is it embarrassing that Gerrit Cole cannot pitch against the New York Yankees' most hated rival? Yes. Is it embarrassing that he cannot figure out how to handle Rafael Devers, who is definitely a very good hitter but is absolutely not Barry Bonds? Also yes.

But this is where the Red Sox and their fans can take a seat at the kid's table and play with their food. Because their 2024 season is as good as over. And they will have made the playoffs just one time since 2019.

Boston loves to endlessly laugh at Cole for his exploits. And the reverse would be true if a $324 million Red Sox pitcher owned a 5.23 ERA and 1.26 WHIP while surrendering 23 home runs in 19 starts against the Yankees. The same would be true, if, say, Aaron Judge was hitting .350 with eight homers and 20 RBI in 16 games vs said pitcher. Those are Cole's numbers against the Sox and Devers.

But as enjoyable as it is to blast Cole for being incompetent, you can't turn around and then call him a coward for refusing to face Devers if he opts to issue the slugger a free pass.

Did Cole do that in the most idiotic fashion possible over the weekend? He sure did. And it eventually led to a 7-1 Red Sox win. But to say he hit Devers intentionally in that first inning is disingenuous, and then to rail him for refusing to pitch to Devers one time is absolutely insane.

Red Sox players and fans can't have it both ways with Yankees-Gerrit Cole criticism

Behind closed doors, you know Red Sox manager Alex Cora and his players are dissing Cole if they had the gall to cause this much of a controversy after Saturday's game. Devers was hit with an errant cutter and then was intentionally walked, and everyone's acting like Cole went head-hunting and forced Devers from the game with dangerous tactics.

This is Red Sox culture/fandom in a nutshell, though. It's like their entire existence from 2018-2024. In 2018, they were the league's best team with 108 wins and eventually captured the World Series. Couldn't touch them. Couldn't argue with them. They spit in your face every time you tried to talk baseball.

Then came 2019, an historic backslide for one of the best World Series winner in the modern era. What did they have to say about that? "Doesn't matter, we won it all last year. Say what you want, we're still the best." Then came all the nonsense in between, which led us to 2024, when Red Sox fans had the audacity to claim they were going to boycott the season because John Henry wasn't investing enough resources into the team, only for them to jump right back on the train and continue their aimless trash talk when the Red Sox came within earshot of a Wild Card spot.

The Teflon Dons: Avoiding any and all criticism, acting as if they're on the right side of history, winning both sides of any argument involving a rival, coasting on successes that no longer hold any merit. Isn't that what they make fun of the Yankees and their fans for?

Either way, enjoy the couch yet again. We look forward to you getting pleasure out of somebody else's failure because you have nothing to root for.