UPDATE 12PM ET: ESPN’s Buster Olney talked with MLB spokesperson Pat Courtney who said, “We cannot draw any conclusions from this video. There were no complaints from [St. Louis] and the umpires never detected anything indicating a foreign substances throughout the game.“
Statement from MLB's Pat Courtney on alleged Lester foreign substance: "We cannot draw any conclusions from this video. (more)
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) October 24, 2013
Jon Lester was phenomenal in Game 1 for the Red Sox last night going 7 2/3 innings allowing 1 run and 8 strikeouts. Essentially he was also backed by three errors from the Cardinals and the bat of David Ortiz who went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and a home run.
However was Lester channel his inner Eddie Harris with a foreign substance on his glove?
The discovery of some kind of green goop was found by Cardinals minor league pitcher Tyler Melling who posted a picture to Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/TylerMelling/statuses/393213271412862976
Now perhaps Joe Buck is losing his touch after noticing that brown smudge on Kenny Rogers’ hand during the 2006 World Series (ironically also against the Cardinals) but you’re taking a serious risk in this day an age if you’re going to doctor a ball with HD television, players, umpires and fans all dialed in on the game and especially the starting pitcher.
So did Lester doctor the ball? I guess you really can’t say that he did or didn’t at this point even though adamant conspiracy theorist are going to condemn him without further question. But again it’s not like the Cardinals who were terrible in just about every aspect of the game didn’t have a hand in the Red Sox victory.
h/t: The Big Lead