Touch 'Em All: After 93 losses, Bosox break up with Valentine

The Red Sox thought the supremely confident Bobby Valentine would restore order to a coddled clubhouse that disintegrated during the 2011 pennant race. Instead, he only caused more problems.

Naturally, he was fired on Thursday, the day after a 69-93 season beset with internal sniping and far too many losses.

"I understand this decision," Valentine said with a straight face. "This year in Boston has been an incredible experience for me, but I am as disappointed in the results as are ownership and the great fans of Red Sox Nation. . . . I'm sure next year will be a turnaround year."

Valentine was brought in after two-time World Series champion Terry Francona lost control of the clubhouse during an unprecedented September collapse last year.

But the players who took advantage of Francona's hands-off approach during the 2011 collapse bristled under Valentine's abrasive style. And more important, they didn't win for him, either.

They started 4-10 and never contended. They traded three of their biggest stars, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett, to the Dodgers in August, sealing the club's worst season in almost 50 years.

"Our 2012 season was disappointing for many reasons," Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said in a statement we believe was written with a straight face. "He did the best he could under seriously adverse circumstances, and I am thankful to him."

There were few positives about Valentine's tenure. He fought with his players from the beginning, and threw his coaches under the bus at season's end: He told a Boston radio station that he had been undermined by disloyal coaches all season.

Curt Schilling might have to sell or give up the famed bloodstained sock he wore during the Red Sox' march to the 2004 World Series championship to cover millions of dollars in debt in connection with his failed video game company, 38 Studios.

In a radio interview Thursday, the former Phillies great said having to sell the sock is part of "having to pay for your mistakes."

"I put myself out there" in personally guaranteeing loans to Rhode Island-based 38 Studios and is seeking an amicable solution with creditors, Schilling told WEEI-AM in Boston. "I'm obligated to try and make amends."

The sock is on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., where it has been on loan since 2005.

Schilling, who also pitched for Baltimore, Houston, and Arizona, is perhaps best remembered for pitching Game 6 of the 2004 AL Championship Series pitting his Red Sox vs. the Yankees with an injured ankle that bloodied his sock.

He bloodied another sock during the second game of the World Series vs. the Cardinals, and used that sock to guaranteed as much as $9.6 million in loans from Bank Rhode Island and $2.4 million in loans from Citizens Bank related to 38 Studios, according to the Boston Globe.

One auction-house owner  said the bloody sock could sell for $50,000 to $100,000, but stressed that nothing comparable has ever been auctioned.

When the regular season ends, the losers begin spilling blood. It's like clockwork.

The Royals on Thursday announced that they're letting go hitting coach Kevin Seitzer after the team finished 72-90 for its ninth consecutive losing season. Seitzer worked with a team that put together a .265 average this season, seventh-best in baseball, but finished 20th in runs scored.

Not to be outdone, the Mariners on Thursday announced they've sacked hitting coach Chris Chambliss after their offense finished the season among the worst in baseball.

The Mariners finished last in baseball this season in batting average (.234), on-base percentage (.296), slugging percentage (.369), and on-base plus slugging (.665). They were also last in baseball in most major offensive categories in 2011 as well, the year Chambliss took over as hitting coach.

The just-ended regular season was MLB's best in terms of attendance since its peak in 2008, the commissioner's office said Thursday.

And, for the second straight year, the Phillies led in attendance with 3,565,718 fans for an average of 44,021 per home date.

In all, the 30 teams drew 74.86 million fans, averaging 30,895 per game. That was up from 73.42 million, 30,362 average, last season. Baseball's attendance peaked in 2007, with 79.50 million for an average of 32,785.