Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Jon Lester's dominance was the story of the Boston Red Sox' win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday.
Now, thanks to HDTV and some very bored people, we may have a little scandal on our hands. Or Vaseline at the very least.
Cardinals minor leaguer Tyler Melling posted a picture on Twitter late in the game, showing a green spot inside Lester's glove and suggested that he could be doctoring the ball.
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Now why Lester would have a giant green glob inside his glove is beyond me. Not from a cheating standpoint by the way. He certainly wouldn't be the first to do it, but to be so bold about it strikes me as odd. Especially in the technology-mad era we live in now. Every single movement, as he is finding out, is put under a microscope.
Deadspin then took it one step further and posted a Vine video from Twitter user and St. Louis resident Dennis Paruch that showed Lester absolutely reaching for something inside the glove.
https://vine.co/v/hpAnrTTIXLE
Business Insider writer Corky Gaines took it from there and showed a slo-mo clip of Lester reaching into his glove, then touching the back of his hat. However, he does so with only one finger.
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Hmmm. Was Lester doctoring the ball? We will probably never know, but the tape seems to suggest something was up. Then again, it could be one of those obsessive-compulsive-disorder routines that some players engage in too.
Remember it wasn't that long ago that Toronto Blue Jays announcer Jack Morris accused the Red Sox of doctoring the baseball, citing a streak of what looked like a creamy white substance on his Clay Buchholz's forearm, which he would run through with his index and middle fingers.
Buchholz threw seven scoreless innings that night in Toronto and oddly enough had his worst outing of the season in his following start, as he gave up four runs over six innings.
Now it wasn't the Toronto Blue Jays themselves who brought up the Buchholz stuff, it was the television crew. But keep in mind, Boston manager John Farrell had been the Blue Jays' manager the previous two years before leaving for the Red Sox.
Again, who knows if Lester was up to something. It appears he may have been, but maybe we should consider the source too. It was someone from the Cardinals organization who brought this all to light.
Maybe whatever substance Lester had in his glove made the ball slippery and caused the Cardinals to commit three errors.
Honestly, doctored ball or not, does anyone think that St. Louis was going to score nine runs on Wednesday anyway?
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