There is a perverse sense of pride taken in Boston being known as a difficult place to play, in the Boston Baseball Experience being a crucible of criticism, cynicism, and derision. Fans and media members making life unpleasant for players is somehow seen as a badge of honor. It’s a reputation some relish.

Perhaps it stems from the team’s 86-year World Series drought and the notion that if the Sox aren’t performing the players should be as miserable about it as we were.

But being a tough place to play is a dubious distinction. There’s nothing wrong with being demanding or discerning as a customer, but reveling in running players out of town and rooting for them to flop to prove a point is misguided.

You don’t have to like embattled Red Sox pitcher David Price, but there is no benefit for anyone here in his failure, not fans, not media members, and certainly not a reeling Red Sox team that desperately needs him to pitch like a No. 2 starter to secure a playoff berth and do what Price hasn’t as a starter — win in the playoffs. One would assume that fans are more interested in their team winning than they are in basking in the schadenfreude of Price cracking under the pressure of this market.

The dirty details of Price’s team plane castigation of Hall of Fame pitcher and candid NESN analyst Dennis Eckersley on June 29 and Price’s failure to apologize to Eck have put Price, already a target of fan ire, atop the most unwanted list of an unforgiving Red Sox Nation. It has also triggered a denunciation of the Red Sox’ clubhouse culture. In a bit of conspicuous timing, Price, who missed the first 49 games of the season with an elbow/forearm issue, was unable to make his first start at Fenway Park since Dan Shaughnessy provided play-by-play of Price’s run-in with Eckersley.

Price was placed on the 10-day disabled list on Friday with elbow inflammation. His elbow is irritated. Fans are irritated with him. It’s better to let both calm down. Excommunicating Price and bragging about how he’s not cut out to play in big, bad Boston solves nothing for the Sox this season or moving forward.

Even if after next season Price exercises the opt-out he has in his seven-year, $217 million deal there is a vested interest in him pitching up to his potential while he’s here because the Sox’ window for World Series contention is three years at most.

Shaughnessy expressed the idea that rooting for Price’s failure is folly back on June 7, the same night that Price had his media meltdown in New York, feuding with Comcast SportsNet New England’s Evan Drellich and fulminating against the Sox media corps. Shaughnessy wrote that “piling on Price has become a parlor game in New England.’’ Now, it’s a bloodsport.

Price didn’t ameliorate his situation on Saturday. He conceded he could’ve handled confronting Eckersley better, and called the incident “unfortunate.’’ Still, he pointed the finger at Eck for not coming around the clubhouse like other team broadcasters.

“He is the one guy I’ve seen in my career who doesn’t ever show his face in the clubhouse,’’ said Price. “There is a reason behind that.’’ Facepalm.

There are some who are reveling in his missteps and misery and delighting in the opportunity to run him out of town. That’s not going to improve the Sox or prove anything about Boston as a superior baseball market.

To be clear, Price deserves the majority of the blame here. He exacerbated an already challenging situation with pouty and petty unprofessionalism with the media. He blew off reporters after a rehab start in Triple A Pawtucket. He railed against the media in New York. He disrespected Eckersley and still hasn’t apologized to Eck for his childish and churlish behavior.

Price poured gasoline on the fire. He did what he told the Globe’s Stan Grossfeld in March that he wouldn’t. He allowed Boston to get the best of him.

“I’m going to continue to treat people the way I expect to be treated,’’ he told Grossfeld. “I’m going to respect people.’’

But no one likes to be a punching bag or a punchline. Price has been both since he got here in a way that is disproportionate with his performance and feels personal. He doesn’t deserve the John Lackey treatment. He certainly doesn’t deserve to be berated with racial taunts while warming up in the bullpen at Fenway.

A solid, if somewhat disappointing, first season for him with the Sox was unfairly painted as an abject disaster. Price certainly didn’t take Boston by storm the way Chris Sale has. But there is no world where going 17-9 with a 3.99 earned run average and leading the majors in innings is a horrendous season. That season wasn’t enough to justify his contract, but it wasn’t a reason to turn Price into a pinata.

Price’s shortcomings in the postseason (0-8) as a starter have been well-documented. That’s the cross he has to bear in his career. Only one of those losses has come in a Red Sox uniform, though.

Price can’t win. We say we want athletes that care, that take the wins and losses personally, that want to earn the adulation of the devoted Boston sports fan. However, last season Price was ridiculed for caring too much, for being too thin-skinned.

He took a different tack this year, pretending not to care what anyone thinks about him and borrowing from the Josh Beckett playbook of belligerence, an unwise move that has played even worse.

From the beginning, some have openly questioned whether Price was suited for this market and mocked his contemplative nature. It feels like it has become the mission of some Sox supporters and sports talk radio antagonists to make Price’s failure here a self-fulfilling prophecy. Price becoming the latest high-profile free agent to flame out in Boston certainly won’t help the Red Sox acquire such players in the future. It’s not good for star free agents, particularly African-American ones, to leave Boston feeling like they weren’t treated fairly and were persecuted.

There is nothing to gain from Price hating it here and being hated here. It would be nice if Price could hit the reset button with Red Sox Nation and start over. I said some things. You said some things. Let’s move on. Instead, it just seems the goal is to get Price to move on to his next destination.

Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cgasper@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper.