Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras rip Red Sox leadership after thorough Yankees beatdown

According to Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras' behavior in the postgame scrum of Game 2, they've been eagerly awaiting a chance to get a crack at the Red Sox strategy folks for months. It really makes you wonder ... if they weren't motivated by their new manager to remarkable new heights during their 32-5 run ... what motivated them? And how did they lose it all in September?

Don't say injuries. Because injuries didn't matter to them all summer. They won't let you use them as an excuse, Yankee fans, so we won't let them do it, either.

Gray, persona non grata at Yankee Stadium for the way he handled pressure after arriving in 2017, looked largely dominant and confident through 70 pitches in Game 2. 70 pitches wasn't quite enough to make it through five innings, but he seemed likely to be able to clear the seventh - until his manager Chad Tracy decided that banged-up deadline lefty Erik Miller was a better idea.

As it turns out, Miller is the only Boston lefty more fraudulent than Stella; he allowed the second Yankees run of the game for the second straight day. Contreras homered in the sixth to cut the deficit in half, then set up on the wrong side of first base to receive a throw from Adley Rutschman. Just like that, a swinging Spencer Jones K opened the floodgates, and the Yankees offense handed the Sox their Cancun plane tickets from there.

When the mics arrived, both Gray and Contreras lit into the processes that got them to that point.

Sonny Gray torches decision to pull him, would've liked to be trusted in Red Sox-Yankees

When asked if Boston had been the kind of place he'd consider a free agent return to, Gray bluntly said, "I don't know." He's hinted at retirement before. He just watched Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer receive storybook sendoffs. He was yanked by Chad Tracy at 70 pitches in a do-or-die playoff game at the ballpark he despises most. No kidding.

Gray addressed his own situation, while Contreras called the whole operation into question, zipping his lips with a fairly obvious gesture when asked about the hook. He then went on an extended rant about data and when/when not to use it. Reading between the zipped lips, it certainly seems like the team preferred playing with Anthony Seigler, Tsung-Che Cheng and other glue guys from their summer run, some of whom were healthy in October.

Of course, Contreras also could've avoided this by standing on the correct side of first base in the sixth. Damn analytics! Ruining my footwork.

The Sox committed to both Tracy and Craig Breslow this season, potentially fooled by a 32-5 run that papered over a great deal of in-fighting and philosophical disagreement. They may have lost Gray in the process. It's impossible to feel sympathy for this bunch, who did have a golden opportunity on their plate this week and scored two runs in 18 innings. Tough to blame analytics for that.

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