Red Sox SP Josh Winckowski Calls Wrigley Field ‘Underwhelming,’ ‘Very Stock Standard’ After Losing to Cubs
I’m not sure how Red Sox starter Josh Winckowski arrived at Wrigley Field for Saturday evening’s game, but he took the L after his first start at the Friendly Confines. Perhaps that’s why he was a little salty when asked after the game, Boston’s second straight loss, about his opinion of the venerable venue.
“A little underwhelming,” Winckowski told Chris Cotillo of Mass Live. “Fenway kind of has a presence to it. I really didn’t get that here, to be honest. I said to my mom last night, this place is very stock standard, if you ask me. I didn’t really feel anything, to be honest. It kind of just felt like another ballpark.”
To be fair, someone who plays every home game at Fenway Park is going to have the bar set a little higher than, say, a Guardians player. Then there are the myriad additions and “improvements” that have gilded over some of the rust and rocks that gave Wrigley its extra character. Even with that context, the Toledo native earned himself a fair bit of scorn by going full Masshole with these comments.
Things probably would have been different if one of the infamous rats had run through the dugout and caused an argument with some believing it was actually a raccoon. Perhaps Winckowski would have liked the place better had he gotten the chance to urinate in a trough next to other patrons and had the smell of stale piss follow him out of the restroom.
Or maybe, just maybe, he’d have had something better to say if he hadn’t airmailed Nico Hoerner‘s bunt into the Red Sox dugout to gift the Cubs their first run.
Though Winckowski’s assessment seemed to be born at least in part out of frustration, you almost have to admire the pettiness. Having that kind of IDGAF attitude should serve him well in that market, I just hope he manages to bash Yankee Stadium and Camden Yards as well.
Ed. note: I probably could have just written, “He can’t do that to our pledges. Only we can do that to our pledges.”