Lowell: '11 Sox were a little bit wrong, a little bit right

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Mike Lowell retired at the end of the 2010 season and thus watched the Red Sox' September collapse last year -- and its subsequent firestorm -- from afar. But not so afar that he doesn't think he has a handle on what actually happened.

"It's so hard for me to say this or that was going on, because I really wasn't there," he said Wednesday during an appearance on 'Felger & Mazz'. "I mean, I read a lot of the reports of how crazy things got. And to be honest with you I probably take half of what was reported and throw it away and take half of what the players said in their own defense and throw it away, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

"Do I think guys were in the clubhouse with their legs up, ordering fried chicken and not caring about baseball? That's a little bit of a stretch for me, especially having played with most of those guys. But do I think maybe there were times where, you know, maybe they did something wrong? . . .
"I've always taken the approach that if you think you're doing it wrong, it's probably wrong. Did they go a little bit past their boundaries at times? Yeah, maybe they did. But to say that no one has ever drank a beer in a clubhouse, or no one has ever had a piece of fast food isn't true . . .

"I think a little bit got exaggerated and maybe blown out of proportion because of the way they performed on the field in September. If they would have won, let's say, 20 out of the last 27, I think people would have said, 'Look at this team, how talented they are. They can order beer, chicken and play video games and still win baseball games. They must be unbelievable.'

"So I think the ultimate factor of how important all that stuff is, is whether you win or lose on the field."

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