Red Sox blues . . .


Big story in the Boston Globe about the Red Sox collapse, blaming it on lousy attitudes. From the story:

Drinking beer in the Sox clubhouse is permissible. So is ordering take-out chicken and biscuits. Playing video games on one of the clubhouse’s flat-screen televisions is OK, too. But for the Sox pitching trio to do all three during games, rather than show solidarity with their teammates in the dugout, violated an unwritten rule that players support each other, especially in times of crisis.
Sources said Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, who were joined at times by Buchholz, began the practice late in 2010. The pitchers not only continued the routine this year, sources said, but they joined a number of teammates in cutting back on their exercise regimens despite appeals from the team’s strength and conditioning coach Dave Page.

(Story. You need to register.)

My question, though, is: If crappy focus and selfishness were such big factors - the way people are talking, they are the reasons, period - why didn't the media pick up on this earlier?

I'm not blaming the media for the problem, and I don't even know the team well enough to say it was the problem. But I do wonder why it wasn't reported. It couldn't have been too much of a secret if it's being reported now.