Through thick and thin.
ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge refused to sit by idly when fans would lob insults toward her husband Josh, who played six seasons in MLB from 2012-17. But not wanting to be conspicuous, she created a burner account on Twitter to address Josh’s critics.
“When he was with the Angels, I made a fake Twitter — I’m admitting this, OK? I know this was wrong. I’m not doing it ever since,” Rutledge said on the “Marchand Sports Media” podcast. “But this was a one-time thing, and the name was BillyHalo76 or something. And BillyHalo only tweeted positive things about Josh Rutledge, and then the occasional Mike Trout tweet, because I was like, ‘shoot, someone’s gonna figure this out.’
“So if anyone had said something negative about him, I would find them and then BillyHalo would be like, ‘you’re wrong,’ and back it up with stats. I don’t think Josh knows this. If he watches this, he’s gonna be really mad at me.”
Josh Rutledge, a middle infielder, began his career with the Rockies, who traded him to the Angels after the 2014 season. He played with the Angels’ Triple-A affiliate until he was traded to the Red Sox ahead of the 2015 deadline and remained in Boston through the 2017 season.
“I really struggled with it,” Laura said of criticism aimed at her husband. “There were times when he played for the Red Sox … they had him at third base, and he hadn’t played third base since middle school. He barely played third base. And he’s at the hot corner and they’re in Fenway, he has a couple of errors in a game and people are booing him and I’m like, ‘shut up!'”
Josh retired after a brief stint with the Giants organization in 2018.
Laura has been a rising star at ESPN, recently getting a promotion to be on the top “Monday Night Football” broadcast during the NFL season, working the sideline opposite Lisa Salters.
She’s also the host of “NFL Live” during the week and “SEC Nation” on Saturdays.
Josh and Laura, both 36, got married in 2013 and have two children.