Sox Rallied Three Different Times To Get Their Fifth Straight Win & They Own The AL's Top Mark

 

    Why is it that we spend so much time focusing on the Red Sox' (49-31 overall, 25-17 home) weaknesses rather than the fact they continue to find ways to overcome them? I'm guilty of it myself but at the moment, it all seems a bit silly since thanks to Boston's 7-6 victory against hapless Kansas City (33-45 overall, 15-26 away) tonight at steaming hot Fenway Park, the Sox currently own the best record in the American League. That's right, Houston (48-32) has dropped its last three games in a row while Boston has won five straight games and gone 7-3 in their last 10 to suddenly be tied with the Dodgers for the second best record in baseball, trailing only the Giants (50-29). It is time to stop doubting them and get aboard the growing bandwagon for one of the most exciting teams in MLB this season.

    We can debate whether this is sustainable in the long run but the last time that I checked it isn't October yet and since the Sox haven't made the playoffs in a few years, let's relax and enjoy a quality regular season shall we? If I didn't know any better, I would say that Boston is toying with Kansas City because for the second night in a row, they fell behind (instead of four runs, it was three different instances) only to rally each time and eventually hang on for another one-run win. The Red Sox' starting pitchers are a major issue but they are able to mostly survive their mediocrity by the fact that the offense is so relentless and the bullpen is becoming a major strength of this club (who knew?). The Royals are one of the worst hitting teams in the AL but you wouldn't know it by the way that they crushed Nick Pivetta (4.1 IP, 6 ER, 9 hits, 5 Ks, 2 BBs, 3 HRs allowed). Luckily for the home team, they were up against the immortal Brad Keller (5 IP, 6 ER, 10 hits, 0 Ks, 5 BBs) who is a glorified pitching machine come to life. 

    You might not know the name but Kansas City's second baseman Whit Merrifield is one of the best hitters in MLB. He led off tonight's game with a home run that wrapped around Pesky's Pole for his eighth blast of the season. Boston responded immediately in their first at bats as designated hitter J.D. Martinez drove in second baseman Kike Hernandez (2-for-4) with an RBI single. The Sox took the lead as the next hitter-shortstop Xander Bogaerts-beat out an infield single which allowed left fielder Alex Verdugo (2 runs scored, 2 walks) to score and make it 2-1. KC's center fielder Michael Taylor (3-for-3, walk, stolen base) knocked in left fielder Hunter Dozier with an RBI single in the second inning which knotted things at two. Right fielder Hunter Renfroe helped Boston regain the lead at 3-2 in the third inning with a sacrifice fly that plated Martinez. Taylor answered with a two-run shot to right field in the fourth inning that scored Dozier and gave the Royals a 4-3 advantage. Boston added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth as Hernandez drove in center fielder Danny Santana with an RBI single and Martinez's sacrifice fly allowed first baseman Bobby Dalbec (2-for-3) to come home with a 5-4 lead.  

    KC DH Ryan O'Hearn ended Pivetta's subpar outing with a two-run blast to center field in the fifth inning which handed the Royals their final lead (6-5) of the contest. Martinez put the capper on his four RBI performance with a two-run double in the sixth inning that scored Verdugo and Michael Chavis who pinch ran for Dalbec. As bad as Pivetta was, the Red Sox' bullpen was superb: four guys followed Pivetta and they all went at least one inning but none of them allowed a single run. Yacksel Rios (2-0) started the procession with 1.2 scoreless innings, Darwinzon Hernandez pitched a scoreless seventh inning and Northeastern's Adam Ottavino threw a scoreless eighth inning before ace closer UConn's Matt Barnes struck out the side in a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his 18th save (2nd of the series). 

    Mercifully, this latest heatwave in New England is supposed to end tomorrow but it promises to remain a sauna at Fenway as Martin Perez (5-4) goes up against Mike Minor (6-5) beginning at 7:10 pm on NESN. The Royals have lost seven straight games to drop into last-place in the AL Central so they no doubt are losing any hope by the day that they can make anything of this season. Obviously a win is all that matters but it would be nice to see the Red Sox not have only nailbiters against Kansas City this week. Tampa Bay (47-33) lost 4-3 to Washington (39-38) tonight as well so Boston is now two games ahead of them for first-place in the AL East. Tomorrow's game is the 81st of the regular season (aka the halfway point) for the Sox meaning another victory would put them right on pace for 100 wins. Coming into this campaign, who could have believed they would be this good right away in manager Alex Cora's return from purgatory? 

Sox Slugged (4 HRs) Their Way To Fourth Straight Win & They Are Tied With Astros For Best AL Mark

 

    I am already growing weary of bashing Red Sox pitcher Garrett Richards (5.2 IP, 5 ER, 11 hits, 3 Ks, 3 HRs) in his first season with Boston. Don't get me wrong, he deserves all the criticism that he's getting from every angle but how many ways can you say the same thing over and over again? The guy is a human puddle without his now illegal sticky substances. Despite his general ineptitude at his job, the Sox (48-31 overall, 24-17 home) won in spite of him. This evening they rallied from an early 5-1 deficit to beat the spiraling Royals (33-44 overall, 15-25 away) 6-5 at scorching Fenway Park in the series opener. I guess that he should be saluted for going that long after allowing all five runs in the first two innings but I'm not a Little League coach or his parent so I'm not here to pat him on his goofy head. He should not be in Boston's starting rotation anymore, they are playing with fire thinking that he'll turn it around anytime soon at the MLB level. 

    Anywho, the Red Sox hit four home runs led by right fielder Hunter Renfroe who had a pair of mammoth blasts. Unlike Richards, Renfroe was a great free agent signing by Boston's GM Chiam Bloom. Their fourth straight victory combined with Houston's (48-31) shocking 9-7 loss to lowly Baltimore (25-54) meant that Boston settles into a tie with the Astros for the best record in the AL. Furthermore, the Giants (50-27) are the only team in baseball with a better record than them. The Royals won two out of three against Boston a few weeks back in Kansas City but the Sox are catching them at a good time since they have now dropped five games in a row. First baseman Carlos Santana hit a three-run homer in the first inning (his 13th of the season) to right field for an early 3-0 KC lead. For the second game in a row, center fielder Kike Hernandez (2-for-3, BB) led off with a home run (his 8th of the season) in the bottom of the first that went over the Green Monster. Center fielder Michael Taylor (his 6th, to right center) and second baseman Whit Merrifield (his 7th, to center; 3-for-5, 2 runs) each hit solo shots in the second for that 5-1 advantage. 

    It was basically Home Run Derby a few weeks early as the Royals starter/opener (since he was working his way back from an injury) Danny Duffy also allowed three bombs in only 3.1 innings of work. First baseman Bobby Dalbec (2-for-4, 2 runs) started the comeback with a solo blast (his 10th of the season) of his own, over the Monster in the bottom of the second inning. Renfroe cut it to 5-4 Royals with a two-run laser (his 10th of the season) to center field that scored shortstop Xander Bogaerts as well. Michael Chavis tied it at five later in that frame with an RBI single that plated Dalbec. The last run of the contest obviously came from one last roundtripper as Renfroe smoked a solo homer over the Monster in the sixth inning. 

    Kansas City's offense-like the rest of their sorry club-is not good but regardless, Boston's bullpen was still excellent: they went 3.1 innings and only allowed one total hit. Hirokazu Sawamura (4-0)-another gem from Bloom-got four outs including a strikeout to kick things off. Josh Taylor pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning for his tenth hold of the season followed by closer Matt Barnes who recorded a 1-2-3 ninth inning on 13 pitches for his 17th save of the season. Tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) promises to be just as gross in terms of weather at the ballpark but Nick Pivetta (6-3) vs. Brad Keller (6-8) is a very winnable matchup for the Red Sox. These won't be the sexiest games of the season but it's a great time for Boston to pile up the wins while they take advantage of a bad team that is going nowhere fast.

The Sox Completed Another Three-Game Sweep Of The Yankees, They Are 6-0 Vs. NYY This Season

 

    Once again, the Yankees (40-37 overall, 19-19 away) are a mess this season but as always, that is not the Red Sox' (47-31 overall, 23-17 home) problem at all. Good for Boston for taking advantage of the situation as they destroyed the Yanks 9-2 this afternoon on a sweltering day at Fenway Park. Thanks to another three-game sweep of their biggest rival, the Sox improved to 6-0 against the Yankees in 2021. Standings wise this was a very important contest since coupled with Tampa Bay's (47-32) unexpected loss 6-4 to the Angels (37-40), the Sox retook the lead in the AL East. They are a half game ahead of the Rays (with a game in hand), six games in front of Toronto (40-36) and now 6.5 ahead of the lifeless Yankees. 

The craziest part of a very surprising victory was that Red Sox starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (6 IP, 2 ER, 5 hits, 8 Ks, 0 BBs) clearly outdueled New York's ace Gerrit Cole (5 IP, 6 R (5 ER), 6 Ks, 2 BBs) who is typically one of the best pitchers in baseball. For E-Rod (6-4), it was his first win in nine starts while Cole (8-4) suffered through his worst outing of the season. The home team wasted no time taking control of the game as center fielder Kike Hernandez laced a home run over the Green Monster (his 7th of the season) on the first pitch of the game for Boston. It soon became 4-0 Red Sox when third baseman Rafael Devers (3-for-4) crushed a three-run bomb to right field (his 19th of the season!). That was only in the first inning so naturally Boston added two more runs in the third inning: designated hitter J.D. Martinez hit a solo home run to center (his 15th of the season) and shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2-for-4 with 2 runs scored) came around on catcher Christian Vazquez's sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 in favor of the good guys. 

    Fittingly, New York's only two runs came from a two-run shot by their star outfielder Aaron Judge (his 17th home run of the season) that went over the Green Monster in the sixth inning. Boston's offense wasn't done as they ended up scoring as many runs today (9) as they had combined in the last two days. In the seventh, Devers knocked in Bogaerts with an RBI single that pushed the Red Sox' lead up to 7-2. Vazquez added his own solo homer (his 4th of the season) that went into the Monster Seats in the eighth inning then Kike drove in second baseman Marwin Gonzalez with an RBI double later on in the frame. 

    This weekend was so bad for the Yankees that you have to believe that ownership could be exploring many possible trade ideas along with some personnel changes. The Red Sox outscored them 18-7 over the weekend in the series. Aaron Boone seems like a nice enough guy (and I have to admit I liked him very much as a commentator at ESPN-his previous position) but I don't think that he's cut out to be an MLB manager-at least not in a huge market like NYC. Remember that this is a guy who had never coached or managed at any level until he got one of the most coveted positions in baseball. Haha with an empty resume like that, who could have seen this coming? 

    There is no off-day for the Red Sox tomorrow even though it's Monday. They begin a four-game series with the Royals (33-43 overall, 15-24 away) at Fenway followed by a six-game West Coast road trip that starts in Oakland (47-33 overall, 25-18 home) and ends in Los Angeles where they'll meet the Angels (37-40 overall, 21-19 home) for three games. Kansas City stinks, they have lost five straight games although keep in mind that the Royals won two out of three at home vs. the Sox a few weeks ago. Today was the start of another heatwave in the Boston area so you are crazy if you want to attend any of the Royals series unless you have access to a luxury box with air conditioning. Mr. Human Puddle himself Garrett Richards (4-5) faces the sneaky good Danny Duffy (4-3) tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) in the series opener; on Tuesday night (7:10, NESN), Nick Pivetta (6-3) takes on Brad Keller (6-8); on Wednesday night, it will be Martin Perez (5-4) vs. Mike Minor (6-5) in a battle of mediocre lefty starters; in Thursday afternoon's (1:10, NESN) series finale, it is Nathan Eovaldi (8-4) against TBA for KC who arguably has been their best pitcher during this miserable season. 

After Going 1-9 Against The Yankees Last Season, The Sox Have Started 5-0 Vs. New York In 2021

 

    They won the series opener 5-3 against the Yankees (40-36 overall, 19-18 away) last night at a sold out Fenway Park and then the Red Sox (46-31 overall, 22-17 home) kept the good vibes going tonight with a 4-2 victory. With those two wins, they improved to 5-0 against New York this season (their best start since 2009's 9-0 record against their biggest rival) with a chance to pick up their second sweep vs. them in 2021 as the series ends tomorrow afternoon (1:10, NESN). Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi (7.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 hits, 6 Ks, 0 BBs) threw his second gem of the year against one of his former clubs as Boston's de-facto No. 1 pitcher improved to 8-4. 

    Yanks starter Jordan Montgomery (6 IP, 3 ER, 8 hits, 5 Ks, 2 BBs) was decent enough, the issue as usual for his mediocre (by their very high standards) club is that they really struggle to score runs if they are not hitting (mostly solo) home runs. Conversely, Boston's offense is good enough that they can find other ways to score rather than always relying on the long ball in every single game to win. It looked like this would be a relatively easy victory for the home team as the Red Sox scored twice in the second inning, they added a run in the third and took a 4-0 lead in the seventh. New York finally got on the board in the eighth inning but former Yankees great Adam Ottavino got first baseman Luke Voit to ground out with the bases loaded to end a massive threat in that frame.  

    With Matt Barnes unavailable this evening, Ottavino was the closer and he needed 33 pitches to record his fifth save of the season but somehow he did it. After allowing a run in the ninth, he struck out Yankees star Aaron Judge with runners on first and second base to end the game as the fans that were at Fenway went wild. Boston had opened the scoring with center fielder Kike Hernandez's sacrifice fly that scored shortstop Xander Bogaerts (3-for-3 w/2B). Third baseman Rafael Devers did an amazing thing on the base paths later in that inning-something which you never say about him-when he scored on a foul out by first base. Bogey scored in the third inning on right fielder Hunter Renfroe's (3-for-4) infield single and a Bogaerts sacrifice fly plated second baseman Michael Chavis in the seventh inning. Both of New York's runs were produced by second baseman DJ LeMahieu (4-for-5): he hit a solo homer to right in the eighth (his seventh of the season) and he drove in pinch hitter Rougned Odor with an RBI single in the ninth.

    It is bizarre to see a Red Sox-Yankees Sunday game take place in the afternoon but oh well, it will be refreshing not to have a four-hour marathon on Sunday Night Baseball. Tomorrow, we get Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4) vs. New York's ace Gerrit Cole (8-3) in the start of yet another heatwave. Eddie has been a mess for nearly two straight months, going eight consecutive starts without recording a win. Cole's numbers have noticeably dropped since MLB cracked down on sticky substances (hmmm!) but he is still a good pitcher so I'd be shocked to see him get outdueled by this terrible version of Rodriguez. Then again, Boston has owned New York in the early going this season so perhaps something goofy will happen and they will improve to 6-0 against them in 2021. As it stands right now, the Sox are 5.5 games ahead of the Yanks and only half a game behind the first-place Rays (47-31) in the AL East therefore every contest truly matters.

The Bruins Inked Forward Trent Frederic To A Two-Year Extension With A $1.05 Million Cap Hit

 

    It was a very under-the-radar signing that was sadly buried on a summer Friday afternoon but yesterday, the Bruins signed one of their few promising young forwards to a two-year contract extension. 23-year-old Trent Frederic's new deal will cost the team an annual cap hit of just $1.05 million dollars. That is a relative bargain for a guy that is a former first-round draft pick (29th overall in 2016) who made an immediate impact in his first full NHL season (2021) before tailing off near the end of the regular season and being a healthy scratch for all 11 playoff games against the Capitals and Islanders. While it's hard to explain how he didn't appear in a single postseason contest against two big and tough teams like Washington and New York, I am sure that Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy sat Frederic for a specific reason(s). 

In 42 games last season with the black and gold, Frederic had four goals and an assist along with 65 penalty minutes. As you can guess from those modest offensive numbers, he probably will never be on Boston's top line but nevertheless, he can definitely play a key role as many of the Bruins older veteran forwards eventually start to phase out from the club. Freddy isn't afraid of anyone in the NHL: the picture above shows him chirping with Devils defenseman P.K. Subban while he also famously went after Caps superstar Alex Ovechkin. The key for Frederic like many other young players in the league that play with a physical edge is to not cross the line too often. He had a tendency to take some dumb penalties when other teams started to take notice of him and go after the University of Wisconsin product both physically and verbally. 

    The NHL is not nearly as physical as it once was and likewise, the Bruins who were always known for their toughness these days have very few guys that you would consider legitimate tough guys. Trent could be different and a bit of a throwback (that B's fans already have started to fall in love with) because he has the stick skills of a first-round draft pick but the grinding style of a third or fourth-line forward that's a fringe player in the league. I'm certainly not anointing him the next Cam Neely or anything but there is no reason why his ceiling couldn't be something like a Milan Lucic: a big (6-foot-2, 230 pounds), left shot forward that is not afraid to drop the gloves or go to the net to knock in loose pucks. He seems very likable and a good teammate so with some more seasoning at the highest level, hopefully he continues to take the next steps to embrace a much bigger role on the Bruins. 

According To ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, The Next Head Coach Of The Celtics Will Be Ime Udoka

 

    If you know anything about the NBA, whatever Woj says is basically gospel so while the Celtics haven't confirmed this big news yet, I think that you can take it to the bank. First off, you are probably wondering who the hell is Ime Udoka? Well he was an NBA journeyman player turned assistant coach who has worked for San Antonio and Philadelphia before his most recent gig with Brooklyn. While he lacks the name brand of a Chauncey Billups (another finalist along with Darvin Ham for this job), he clearly has the resume of someone that has been around the league for a long time in multiple roles. Most importantly, he has the approval of Boston's best players-Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown-who he worked with at the 2019 FIBA World Cup on Team USA as an assistant coach. Marcus Smart was also on that team but unlike the Celtics, I'm not going to pretend like he is some linchpin of this club.  

    Without ever hearing it directly, I think it is safe to assume that one of the main reasons that Brad Stevens burned out as the Celtics head coach is that he probably failed to connect with many of his players. Right off the bat, Udoka checks many of the boxes that Stevens never can: he's Nigerian-American and he played for parts of seven seasons in the NBA with the Lakers, Knicks, Blazers, Spurs and Kings. He is also on the younger side (43) for a head coach like Stevens so that should also help him in terms of relating to current NBA stars some of whom are basically half his age. Off the court, he's obviously doing something right since his longtime partner is actress Nia Long-of Friday and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air fame.

    Stevens has a brilliant basketball mind but every coach-particularly those at the highest level and in a player-driven league like the NBA-has a shelf life. Boston has more than enough talent to finish better than seventh-place in the Eastern Conference like they did in the shameful 2020-21 regular season. It is all about maximizing their time with Tatum and Brown because once those current contracts end, who knows if they will still want to stay here for much longer? While the value of an NBA head coach on the surface is pretty low these days, one of their main purposes is to be liked (or at least tolerated) by the team's star players. If you have them on your side, then you have a shot at getting the most out of them. If not, you run the risk of losing your job very quickly since a coach is always easier to part with than a top talent in a league that is mostly built on accumulating it.

    Finally, in 2021 you simply cannot overlook the fact that in a league filled with players that are predominantly not white, it makes sense to have a coach that looks like most of the players. That is not to say that white head coaches can't be successful anymore but I am happy to see the Celts recognize that Udoka was a solid candidate (along with two other African-Americans) based on his own merits and it was long overdue to go in a different direction in terms of the race of the head coach. This is a franchise with a long history of great black head coaches: from Bill Russell to KC Jones and in more recent years Doc Rivers. Hopefully in the not too distant future, Ime Udoka will be remembered as one of the main factors in a positive culture shift within the C's when they desperately needed it most.

The Red Sox Blew A 5-2 Lead To The Rays But Recovered In Time To Win 9-5 In 11 Innings

 

    Even the unanimous top prospect in baseball-Wander Franco-couldn't turn things around for the free-falling Rays (43-31 overall, 19-15 home) in his explosive MLB debut tonight at Tropicana Field. The 20-year-old third baseman (he is the first guy born in 2001 to appear in a Major League game!) went 2-for-4 with a three-run bomb, a double and a walk with two runs scored but Boston (44-29 overall, 24-12 away) outlasted Tampa Bay 9-5 in 11 innings. The Sox led 5-2 early in the series opener of a pivotal three-game set and they eventually improved to a perfect 4-0 vs. second-place Tampa who now trail Boston by a game and a half in the AL East. Oh and the Rays have lost seven games in a row, is that bad?

    Things started off on a shaky note for the Red Sox as star shortstop Xander Bogaerts' (3-for-5 with 2 runs) throwing error in the first inning allowed the Rays to take a cheap 2-0 lead. Boston's starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez (6 IP, 5 R, 3 ER, 7 hits, 7 Ks, 1 BB) entered winless in his last seven starts so the fact that he made it through six innings was a minor miracle. Of course, he was the one who served up Franco's first career home run, that found its way over the left field wall and tied it at five in the fifth inning. The Sox did much of their damage in the third inning as they scored five runs to take a 5-2 lead. DH J.D. Martinez's two-run double scored left fielder Alex Verdugo and center fielder Danny Santana which tied it at two. Third baseman Rafael Devers (2 doubles, run, 3 RBIs) knocked in Martinez with a sacrifice fly before former Rays great Hunter Renfroe (2-for-5, 3 RBIs, 2 runs) crushed a two-run homer to left center (his 9th of the season) that plated Bogey. 

    The bullpens took control from there until things got weird in the extra innings. For Boston, Josh Taylor (2 strikeouts), Northeastern's Adam Ottavino and UConn's Matt Barnes each pitched a scoreless inning. Hirokazu Sawamura got two outs then Darwinzon Hernandez (2-2) recorded the last four outs for the Red Sox. Tampa is still doing that silly opener thing so their first pitcher Andrew Kittredge recorded two outs in the first inning before he was pulled after 16 pitches. Fun! No wonder this game took four hours and 21 minutes. For Tampa Bay, Collin McHugh pitched three hitless innings, Matt Wisler had a clean frame and J.P. Feyereisen added two scoreless innings before Peter Fairbanks (1-3) cracked as he allowed four runs (3 earned) in two laborious innings (37 pitches) of work. 

    The middle game of the series is tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) and it pits Garrett Richards (4-4) vs. former Red Sox great Rich Hill (5-2). Tampa Bay is due to start winning again sometime soon but ideally, it won't be in the next couple days as they host the Sox. Boston has a nice opportunity here to take advantage of the Rays who are stuck in a rare terrible stretch of play. I still think that these will be the top two clubs in the AL East this season when it's all said and done so the Red Sox might as well pile up the wins against Tampa while they can. Haha keep in mind that including tomorrow, these two teams meet 15 more times this season.

In Brad Stevens' First Move In His New Role With The Celtics, He Flips Kemba Walker For Al Horford

 

    The Celtics offseason began two weeks ago but you could say that it officially got underway this morning as new president of basketball operations Brad Stevens (in Danny Ainge's old job) made a pretty significant trade: Boston swapped point guard Kemba Walker, the 16th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft and a 2025 second-round pick to Oklahoma City for center Al Horford (remember him?!), center Moses Brown and a 2023 second-round pick. Wow, take a breath. More than simply an exchange of aging players and draft picks, this was about saving some money for the Celts and getting out from under Kemba's awful contract (he's owed roughly $73 million over the next two years). Of course, the C's also had to take on Horford's brutal deal (he's due to make $53 million with $41 million guaranteed in the next two years as well) to make it all work.  

    Before I get into Walker and Horford some more, let me be the first to say that Brown might actually be the most valuable player from this trade in only a year or two. He's 21 years old and he just wrapped up his second season in the NBA averaging 8.6 points per game, 8.9 rebounds per game and 1.1 blocks per game. No doubt, Stevens must have remembered when Brown absolutely torched the Celtics for 21 points and 23 rebounds back on March 27 in Oklahoma City. At 7-foot-2 and 245 pounds, Brown figures to get a legitimate shot at center or at least backup center which have both been somewhat of a black hole for years for the Celtics. As it stands right now, he'd be competing with the likes of Horford (a shell of his former shelf), Robert Williams (always hurt), Tristan Thompson (loves the night life), Luke Kornet (goofy white guy) and Tacko Fall (fan favorite side show) for minutes at center. Also, Brown was undrafted out of UCLA and he has only played for the tanking Thunder so being in (what hopefully is) a winning environment should bring out the best in him. 

    Even if you didn't go to UConn or at least root for the Huskies, you had to love Walker dating back to his college days. He used to be an electrifying guard but injuries really derailed his brief two year stay here in Boston. After missing a grand total of 45 games in eight years with the Hornets, Kemba was out for 16 games his first year with the C's and 29 this past season. He's still only 31 but he has a ton of mileage on his gimpy left knee that forced him to fittingly miss the last two games (Games 4 and 5 vs. Brooklyn) with Boston. In 2020-21, he still averaged 19.3 points per game and 4.9 assists per game but he's never been a great 3-point shooter (36% in his NBA career) and his on-court chemistry with Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown was always sort of lacking something. It sounds like he won't be with the rebuilding Thunder for too long though so hopefully he gets to play for a quality team to wrap up his great NBA career on a true contender. He seems like an awesome guy so we wish Kemba nothing but success in the future. 

    You have to laugh at the irony of one Celtics free agent flop (Kemba) essentially being replaced by another free agent who willfully chose to leave the team two years ago but since then he's bounced around from the Sixers to OKC and now he returns to the C's at the ripe old age of 35. Does Al have much left in the tank after 14 seasons in the NBA? Probably not, you'll remember that Oklahoma City paid him to sit out for much of last season (what a life!) since they were you know trying to lose as many games as possible. In the 28 games he did play in 2020-21, he averaged 14.2 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game and 3.4 assists per game. More than anything, I think Horford's biggest role moving forward is to be the leader that this group so desperately lacked last season. It also cannot hurt that such a respected veteran around the league at least appears to be genuinely excited to return to Boston where he had played for three seasons from 2016/2017-2018/2019. The Celts need all the recruiting help that they can get when it comes to free agency because unfortunately they will always be fighting an uphill battle against much more attractive markets for NBA stars like Los Angeles, Miami or New York and Brooklyn just to name a few.

The Red Sox Won Another Softball Game 10-8 Against The Braves To Sweep The Two-Game Set

 

    Who said that baseball is way too boring and the sport is in major trouble when a mid-June regular season game takes four hours and 10 minutes? Haha OK maybe don't answer those. While you were probably watching something else or at least flipping back and forth, the Red Sox (42-27 overall, 22-10 away) were winning by identical 10-8 scores last night and this evening against the underachieving Braves (30-35 overall, 17-19 home) at Truist Park. They swept the two-game series and have won their last three games in a row while the Rays (43-26) have dropped their last two games, leaving Boston only one game back of Tampa Bay for first-place in the AL East.

    This is obviously not sustainable in the sense that the Red Sox' starting pitchers have to be at least a little better while their offense is good but they won't be able to carry them for almost 100 more games in the regular season. For the second straight night, Boston had a comfortable early lead that wasn't nearly enough for their crappy starter-in this case Garrett Richards (4 IP, 6 runs, 4 ER, 7 hits, 3 Ks, 1 BB). Check Atlanta's record, the three-time defending NL East champs are currently struggling: they are tied with Washington for third-place in MLB's worst division with only one team (the Mets) above .500. Luckily for the Sox, Braves rookie pitcher Ian Anderson (4 IP, 4 runs, 4 ER, 7 hits, 5 Ks, 1 BB) wasn't much better. If you're wondering why this game took so long, each team used six relievers apiece and there were a combined 26 hits. Oy vey.

    Trailing for the first time all game (7-6 in the 7th inning), pinch hitter Christian Arroyo crushed a grand slam (his 4th HR of the season went 467 feet!) to left to put Boston ahead 10-6. Closer Matt Barnes wasn't available so Northeastern's Adam Ottavino got to fill in for him and he allowed an RBI double to Atlanta's superstar right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (3-for-5, 2 doubles) in the ninth but he settled down to record his fourth save of the season. The Red Sox bats got going early as right fielder Hunter Renfroe (2-for-5, double, run) hit a two-run single in the first that scored DH J.D. Martinez (2-for-5 w/2B, 2 runs) and center fielder Alex Verdugo. Atlanta got a sacrifice fly in the third inning that cut it to 2-1 before Boston scored twice in the fourth inning on first baseman Bobby Dalbec's RBI single that scored Renfroe and Richards surprised everyone by smacking an RBI double (his first career MLB hit) to the right field gap that plated Dalbec. 

    The Braves got two runs in the home half of the fourth on a ground out and an infield single to trim the Red Sox lead to 4-3. Atlanta's awful bullpen was exposed in both of these losses as Boston scored twice more in the fifth when shortstop Xander Bogaerts (3 doubles, 2 runs) hit a double and Martinez scored on an error then third baseman Rafael Devers followed with an RBI single that scored his buddy. The Braves got serious at that point as shortstop Dansby Swanson (2 hits, 2 runs) tied it with a three-run homer (his 11th HR of the season) off Richards in the fifth. First baseman Freddie Freeman (3B, 2 runs, 2 BBs) gave them that brief 7-6 lead with a solo shot in the sixth (his 16th HR of the season). 

    Yacksel Rios (WHO!?) picked up the win even though he only faced one batter: he got Swanson to line out to him with runners on first and second and two outs in the sixth. For that brief appearance, the guy making his Red Sox debut after being acquired earlier this week from Seattle for cash considerations earned his first win for Boston. Sox lefty reliever Josh Taylor notched his ninth hold of the season by recording a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts. Did you ever think that you'd live long enough to say truthfully that Taylor is one of Boston's best and most valuable relievers on a playoff contending club? 

    The last off day for the Red Sox was on May 27 so needless to say, they are long overdue for the one that they get tomorrow. After that short rest, they are in Kansas City (30-37) for three games this weekend. The Royals got off to a unexpectedly solid start to the season but they predictably have fallen apart like you read about, going 1-9 in their last 10 games and they have dropped their last six games. Sadly, we won't get to see former Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi in action since he just went on the IL with a rib injury. The opposite of his terrible team, he was off to a brutal start in 2021 but he had been on fire lately before he got hurt. You need to get out more if you have heard of any of the pitchers that are starting for the Royals in this series: Nick Pivetta (6-2) faces rookie Jackson Kowar (0-2) on Friday night in the opener (8:10, NESN), Martin Perez (4-4) takes on Kris Bubic (1-2) on Saturday afternoon (4:10, NESN) and Nathan Eovaldi (7-3) gets Brad Keller (6-6) for the series finale on Sunday afternoon (2:10, NESN). If there was ever a series for the Sox mostly terrible starting pitchers to regain some confidence (well at least for a little bit), this has to be that time.

Go Figure: After An Embarrassing 18-4 Loss To The Blue Jays, The Red Sox Walk Them Off Yet Again

 

    The Red Sox (40-27 overall, 20-17 home) and the Blue Jays (33-31 overall, 20-18 away) just concluded one of the strangest four-game series that you will ever see at Fenway Park. To review: Boston walked off Toronto 6-5 on Friday night, the Jays beat them 7-2 on Saturday afternoon then absolutely wiped the floor with the Sox 18-4 on Sunday afternoon. That left tonight's series finale which naturally turned into a pitcher's duel that was ultimately won 2-1 by Red Sox third baseman's Rafael Devers' (2 hits) walk-off single that scored right fielder Alex Verdugo (2 hits). The net result of these bizarre four days was a series split for the Sox who remain three games back of the Rays (43-24)-owners of the best record in MLB. Toronto is in third-place in the AL East but I doubt that they'll ever catch Tampa Bay since they are 8.5 games behind them. 

    It's no coincidence that Boston's shaky at best starting rotation has completely fallen apart since Major League Baseball has turned its attention to foreign substances (Spider Tack!) used by pitchers all around the sport. The Red Sox pitching was so brutal on Sunday that reliever Ryan Weber allowed 11 earned runs (before he was promptly sent back to Worcester today where he belongs) and manager Alex Cora had to use not one but two position players-Marwin Gonzalez and Christian Arroyo-just to get out of the stupid blowout loss alive. For all of those reasons and more, it was heartening to see Nathan Eovaldi (6.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, 4 Ks, 1 BB) pitch great against one of the best lineups in baseball. Toronto's prized rookie hurler Alek Manoah (6 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, 5 Ks, 1 BB) nearly matched Eovaldi except for one mistake that he made early in his stellar outing. 

    Verdugo drove in center fielder Enrique Hernandez with an RBI double in the third inning that gave the home team a 1-0 lead. Cora let Eovaldi try and get out of his own jam which paid off when he induced Jays center fielder Randal Grichuk to ground into a double play. That left DH Vladimir Guerrero Jr on third base and reliever Josh Taylor stranded him there by striking out first baseman Rowdy Tellez to end the top of the seventh. It's hard to believe but after his 1-2-3 eighth inning with two more strikeouts, Taylor has recorded 18 scoreless appearances in a row. 

    It looked like the Red Sox might escape with a 1-0 victory since their usually lights out closer Matt Barnes (3-1) struck out the first two batters that he faced in the ninth inning. After taking a strike on the first pitch of his at bat, Guerrero crushed a game-tying solo home run (his MLB-best 22nd of the season) over the Green Monster. Sox pitchers will no doubt be seeing Vladdy Jr. in their nightmares for weeks since he hit a home run in every game of this series. Luckily for Boston, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoya keeps trying to make Rafael Dolis (1-3) as the closer against the Red Sox a thing. For the third time (!!) already this season, the guy with a 5.14 ERA cost his team a game as it only took him 11 pitches to cough this one up. Verdugo led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single, DH J.D. Martinez followed with a single and shortstop Xander Bogaerts flied out to left before Devers rallied from down 0-2 in the count to take a splitter for a ball then he launched a shot to left center that bounced off the scoreboard on the Monster. 

    This was Boston's last game at Fenway for awhile: they are gone for the next 10 days on a road trip that includes eight games in three different cities. The Red Sox play two in Atlanta (30-33 overall,  17-17 home)-the third-place team in the NL East; three in Kansas City (30-35 overall, 16-16 home)-the third-place team in the AL Central; then three at Tampa Bay next week before finally coming home next weekend to play the mediocre Yankees (33-32 overall, 16-16 away)-the fourth-place team in the AL East. Tomorrow night (7:20, NESN), Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4) faces Braves rookie Tucker Davidson (0-0) and on Wednesday night (7:20, NESN), Garrett Richards (4-4) takes on another Braves youngster Ian Anderson (4-3). It's tough to have any faith in E-Rod or Richards at the moment so Boston will need to beat up on Atlanta's starting pitchers who have both been on a roll lately.

With The Spotlight On Them For The Next Few Months, The Sox Walked Off The Jays In A 6-5 Win

 

    The Bruins and Celtics are done for the season while the Patriots don't have a real game for almost three months so let's hope that the Red Sox (39-25 overall, 19-15 home) can handle being the main focus for the summer around here. So far so good as they beat the Astros (36-27) 12-8 in a wild game last night at Fenway Park and they topped that with a 6-5 triumph tonight in their series opener against the Blue Jays (31-30 overall, 18-17 away) at Fenway on left fielder Alex Verdugo's (3-for-4, 2B, run, RBI) walk-off single that scraped the Green Monster and scored pinch runner Danny Santana with the winning run. Boston isn't a great team (at least on paper) but they are tough to knock out as proven by their MLB-best 23 comeback wins: tonight was the largest deficit they've overcome as Toronto led 5-1 in the top of the sixth inning. This was the second walk-off victory of the season for the Sox and the third time in Verdugo's career that he's done that in his MLB career. 

    The Jays have to be sick to their stomachs because this was a game that they frankly gave away for multiple reasons: besides that lead (which should have been enough), they had twice as many hits as the Sox (16-8) and they left five more guys on base (13-8) which when you add those all up is a perfect recipe for disappointment. Boston's starting pitcher Garrett Richards (5.1 IP, 4 ER, 11 hits, 3 Ks, 2 BBs) is back to being pedestrian at best and honestly, it's a miracle that he lasted that long after allowing a run in the first inning, two runs in the second inning and another in the sixth inning before manager Alex Cora finally came to get him. Toronto's starter Ross Stripling (5.2 IP, 4 ER, 5 hits, 6 Ks, 2 BBs) was handed all of those leads but none of them were enough for him or the crappy Jays bullpen.  

    Right fielder Teoscar Hernandez opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first that plated shortstop Bo Bichette. In the second, Dante's son knocked in catcher Reese McGuire with a run-scoring single and Hernandez followed with another RBI single to make it 3-0. Boston's offense woke up in the third when first baseman Bobby Dalbec crushed a solo homer to center (his 7th HR of the season). That was quickly forgotten as DH Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3-for-4, 2B, BB) smoked a two-run bomb (his MLB-leading 19th of the season) that went two feet (443) further than Dalbec's and off the Draft Kings sign that's above the Monster. The Red Sox scored three times in the sixth inning to cut it to 5-4 in favor of the Blue Jays. Right fielder Austin Renfroe knocked in Verdugo with an RBI single, shortstop Marwin Gonzalez (Xander Bogaerts was a late scratch with left knee soreness) walked with the bases loaded to score Renfroe and catcher Christian Vazquez came home on a wild pitch. 

    Toronto had something going in the seventh inning but Boston's lefty reliever Josh Taylor survived a bases-loaded with one out jam by striking out third baseman Cavan Biggio and pinch hitter Riley Adams to end the inning and keep it a one-run game. Arroyo tied it at five with a solo blast of his own (3rd of the season) into the Monster seats in the eighth inning. Garrett Whitlock (2-1) celebrated his 25th birthday with two scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts which earned him his second win of the season. Apparently, the Blue Jays really want Rafael Dolis (1-2) to be their closer but in his appearances vs. the Red Sox this season, he's been a complete disaster. After a throwing error by Bichette put Santana on second base with no outs, Boston didn't take too long to end it as Verdugo was the next guy up and you know what happened then. 

    This is one of those weird wraparound (aka 4-game) series so Boston and Toronto play three more times including on Monday night. Both weekend contests are day games: Nick Pivetta (6-1) starts tomorrow afternoon (4:10, NESN) for the Red Sox against Steven Matz (6-3). On Sunday afternoon, Red Sox lefty Martin Perez (4-3) takes on Blue Jays lefty Robbie Ray (3-2). Finally, Monday night (7:10, NESN) pits Nathan Eovaldi (7-3) against promising youngster Alek Manoah (1-0) who will be making his fourth career start in MLB. This was an important win as well for Boston from the standpoint that the Sox had to keep pace with the first-place Rays (40-24) who beat the Orioles (22-40) 4-2 this evening but remain only one game ahead of Boston while idle New York (33-30) trails Tampa by 6.5 games and Boston by 5.5 games.

Never Had A Chance: The Isles Blew Out The B's 6-2 In Game 6 To Send Them Home For The Summer

 

    One of the million aspects of hockey that makes it a fantastic sport is that it takes a team to win anything of value, unlike say the NBA where you typically just assemble the most talent and let the victories pile up. Coming into this second round playoff series between the Bruins and Islanders, you figured that it would be close but Boston's playoff experience and better goaltending among other things gave them a slight edge. As it turns out, we could not have been much more wrong as the Bruins led 2-1 in the series then proceeded to fall apart in spectacular fashion by losing the last three game culminating with tonight's pathetic 6-2 defeat at the Nassau Coliseum. The Isles move on to face the Lightning (for the second year in a row) in the NHL semifinals while the Bruins head home wondering what the hell just happened?

    I get that having a rookie goaltender-Jeremy Swayman-make his first NHL playoff start in an elimination game on the road is far from ideal but would he have been worse than an injured Tuukka Rask (23 saves) who admitted after the loss that he'd need surgery soon to repair some unknown issue? Granted, it hardly mattered who was in net for the B's since their defense was in shambles since Brandon Carlo's concussion but Rask definitely did not help matters. New York is not a great team and I'd be shocked if they win the Stanley Cup this postseason but you have to respect their consistency, toughness and ability to share the workload. Islanders head coach Barry Trotz also owned his matchup with Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy all series long as well. It was 1-1 after the first period before defensive miscues and the lack of a bailout save(s) by Rask doomed the black and gold in a nightmare second period where they were outscored 3-0. Boston cut it to 4-2 early in the third period but their offense disappeared with only five total shots on goal in their final frame of the season along with a pedestrian 25 for the entire contest. Woof. 

    Center Travis Zajac gave the home team a 1-0 lead at 8:52 of the first period as he put in a juicy rebound that Rask handed to him while Boston's bumbling defense couldn't locate the puck in time before Zajac smashed it into the net. The veteran's first playoff goal for the Islanders was assisted by defenseman Noah Dobson and center Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Left wing Brad Marchand (who was one of the only Bruins that bothered to show up this evening) tied it with a power play goal at 17:36 of the first period. Right wing David Pastrnak faked Isles goaltender Semyon Varlamov (27 saves) out of his skates before sliding the puck over to Marchand for the one-timer. Center David Krejci had the second assist on Marchand's team-leading seventh goal of the postseason (Brad also produced at least one point in every game this series). 

    Center Brock Nelson had quite a second period for the Islanders as he gave them a 3-1 lead with a pair of goals 7:19 apart. First, he made B's defenseman Matt Grzelcyk look silly by stealing the puck from him and blowing by before finishing a breakaway past Rask. Nelson's fifth goal of the playoffs was assisted by right wing Josh Bailey and defenseman Nick Leddy at 5:20. Rask did himself no favors by playing a puck right to Mike Reilly's skates that Bailey was able to take away and feed to Nelson who this time finished with a backhander at 12:39. If those weren't bad enough, Rask gave up an even worse goal at 16:07 as right wing Kyle Palmieri knocked the puck from Grzelcyk in front of Rask and it went towards the net where somehow Tuukka couldn't stop it. Palmieri's seventh goal of the playoffs was unassisted. 

    Down 4-1 heading into the third period, you wondered if Cassidy would pull Rask for the second game in a row and put in Swayman to I don't know, maybe get a spark or something but nope, he stubbornly kept Rask in until the end of regulation when he needed an extra skater. Marchand bagged another power play goal at 5:38 that was straight out of the Islanders playbook-outworking his opponents and refusing to let up until the puck went into the net. Krejci and defenseman Charlie McAvoy (who took an elbow earlier in the game from Palmieri that was not called) had the helpers on what turned out to be Boston's last goal of the 2021 season. The Islanders added a pair of empty-net goals in garbage time to make the final score feel fittingly even more embarrassing. 

    Where do the Bruins go from here? Good question my friend. It's now been 10 long years and counting since they last won the Stanley Cup. Aside from the one that they choked away two years ago against St. Louis, they have failed to reach the conference finals in seven of the last eight seasons. No matter how much you love Rask (and that percentage of Bruins fans dwindles by the day), I think his biggest supporters have to admit that he'll likely never win a Cup here (or probably anywhere else for that matter). He's a great regular season goalie and generally fine in the playoffs but he doesn't have that other gear or next level to reach in these most important moments. With Swayman waiting in the wings, it feels like the right time to finally move on from Rask-who has been a Bruin his entire NHL career-and pair Swayman with a cheap veteran backup goaltender plus Dan Vladar showed enough this season in a limited capacity to fight for that No. 2 role.

    Rask, Krejci and left wing Taylor Hall (who went completely missing in the last 3 games with zero combined points) are all unrestricted free agents (along with some less notable players) so those will be the key decisions for B's GM Don Sweeney to make over the next few weeks. I'd say that this group isn't that far away from title contention but I feel like we have overrated them for much of the past decade. Yes, they are usually a playoff team but they do not tend to make much noise once they get here. It took the easiest path imaginable to reach the Stanley Cup Final two years ago and of course, they failed in the most Bruins way possible: losing Game 7 at the TD Garden against yet another inferior opponent. Regardless of what happens with those three guys that are listed above, there are still plenty of quality players (both young and old) remaining on this team; Cassidy is a good coach and Sweeney knows what he's doing so in all likelihood, they will be right back in a similar spot like this next season. The real question is if they can put it all together and get past the second round to be considered a true contender once again or if they are simply cursed to live in this Groundhog's Day like existence year after year. 

Not To Alarm You But The Bruins Are In Big Trouble As They Now Trail The Islanders 3-2

 

    Don't look now but the Bruins are one loss away from another second-round exit in the playoffs for consecutive years. In the pivotal Game 5 tonight at the TD Garden, Boston outshot New York 44-19 and yet they still found a way to lose 5-4. How is that even possible? Well, the Islanders were 3-for-4 on the power play, they chased B's goaltender Tuukka Rask (12 saves, 4 goals allowed) after two frustrating periods and they held on as the Bruins tried to rally in the third period from a three-goal deficit (5-2). New York leads this series 3-2 and has won the last two games because they aren't making nearly as many mental and physical mistakes as Boston. It's almost like a rope-a-dope strategy as the Isles wait for the Bruins to shoot themselves in the foot and then they take advantage of it and unlike they B's, they don't waste nearly all of the great chances that fall into their laps. 

      Rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman (2 saves, 1 goal allowed) did not get to do much in his NHL playoff debut. I'm assuming that Rask will start in Game 6 on Wednesday (7:30) as the B's try to save their season and force a Game 7 on Friday back in Boston. After their worst game of the postseason in Saturday's 4-1 no-show on Long Island, the black and gold responded by coming out flying as right wing David Pastrnak blasted in a one-timer (his 6th goal of the season) from BU's Charlie McAvoy and left wing Brad Marchand at 1:25. I'm convinced that you can't rattle New York as they scored five of the next six goals to take a commanding 5-2 lead. After a terrible slashing penalty on Bruins center Sean Kuraly, the Islanders made them pay right away as center Mathew Barazal scored for the third game in a row. Remember when he was ice cold at the start of this series? That was fun. Defenseman Noah Dobson and right wing Jordan Eberle notched the helpers on the suddenly red hot Barzal's third goal of the postseason. 

    It was 1-1 heading into the second period and that's when the visitors took control with three goals in the frame including two more on the power play. B's killer and right wing Kyle Palmieri made it 2-1 in favor of New York at 4:49 of the second period and on the power play. Right wing Josh Bailey and defenseman Nick Leddy picked up the assists on Palmieri's team-high sixth goal of the season. Marchand tied it at one with a beautiful power move that showed off most of his immense skills. Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40 saves) didn't stand a chance as he stayed anchored in his crease while Marchand went by him and ended with a forehand shot for his sixth game of the season. Pasta and McAoy were credited with the assists on Marchand's sixth goal of the playoffs. This is when the roof started to collapse on the Bruins. A pretty little passing sequence around Rask worked wonders as the Isles took their first lead (3-2) on Bailey's momentum-stopping tally. Center Jean-Gabriel Pageau and left wing Anthony Beauvillier had the helpers on Bailey's fifth goal of the postseason at 14:30. New York's last power play goal came from a snipe by Eberle that went over Rask's shoulder. Barzal and Dobson had the assists on Eberle's third goal of the playoffs at 16:38. 

    What's worse than a 4-2 deficit in Game 5 on your home ice? How about going down by three goals early in the third period of said game? The Bruins faced that nightmare scenario as center Brock Nelson fired in a pass from Beauvillier at 1:59. The whole play started when defenseman Adam Pelech jumped up in the air to grab the puck and keep it in the offensive zone. In the regular season, Boston had a bunch of fake comebacks where they would be down by a couple goals and they would begin to rally but fall just short. That's basically what happened for the rest of the third period as Pastrnak scored on another one-timer, this one was from McAvoy and captain Patrice Bergeron. Pasta's one-timer came at 3:48 to cut it to 5-3 New York. It felt like the Bruins had a chance to rally when Varlamov couldn't handle a simple flip shot by center David Krejci (his 2nd goal of the playoffs). Right wing Craig Smith and defenseman Mike Reilly rounded out the scoring with the assists on Boston's final tally at 14:43. 

    As Bruins fans, where do we go from here? The Bruins typically respond well to adversity, therefore I truly believe that they will throw everything they have left into Game 6. Fourth-line center Curtis Lazar left with a lower-body injury and never returned after a nasty collision near center ice. I assume that if he's out, Jake DeBrusk would be back in the lineup after he was a healthy scratch this evening. I want to believe that there's an outside chance that defensemen Kevan Miller and/or Brandon Carlo could also return to action but let's be real, that probably won't happen and for good reason (they both have serious injuries that have already caused them to miss multiple contests). You know that all the Strong Island bros will be out in full force on Wednesday shouting their silly chants so the B's have to be ready to go from the start once again. The Islanders are good but they should not be able to eliminate the Bruins in six games, that would be unacceptable from my perspective.

Eight Days Later, The Red Sox Finish Their Sweep Of The Lowly Marlins For Their Fifth Straight Win

 

    I don't know about you but nothing gets me fired up quite like a Monday afternoon makeup game between the Red Sox (37-23 overall, 17-13 home) and the Marlins (25-34 overall, 13-22 away) at Fenway Park in the middle of a rare early June heatwave. While you were coming home from work (is that still a thing?), eating dinner or getting ready for Game 5 of Bruins-Islanders, Boston and Miami had to complete their three-game series that saw the finale cancelled last Sunday afternoon because it poured. Not surprisingly, it was not the most exciting or interesting game of the season but at least the Sox still put in enough effort to come away with a 5-3 victory. With the win, Boston pulled within a half game behind first-place Tampa Bay (38-23) in the AL East and their fifth straight victory officially makes them the hottest team in MLB. 

        The final score was not that high in terms of total runs scored but you wouldn't have guessed that since each club had to use six pitchers (come on!) apiece just to get through nine innings. Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta (4.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 hits, 6 Ks, 3 BBs) did not have his best stuff in what looked like a great spot to pick up an easy win. Of course, it also helped that Boston was staked to a 2-0 lead in the second inning and it was 5-1 Red Sox by the fifth inning. Garrett Whitlock was the first reliever summoned from Boston's bullpen and he got the final out in the fifth inning on two pitches. Darwinzon Hernandez recorded two outs (both via strikeouts) and Boston's newest weapon-Hirokazu Sawamura (2-0) earned his second win of the season after notching four outs including striking out two. Sox manager Alex Cora pieced together the final two innings by having Josh Taylor get two outs before Northeastern's Adam Ottavino hung on to nail down the last four outs for his third save of the season. Closer Matt Barnes was mercifully unavailable after he pitched in high leverage situations for all three games against the Yankees over the weekend. 

    Shortstop Xander Bogaerts scored on a wild pitch in the first inning to give the home team a 1-0 lead. Left fielder Alex Verdugo (2-for-4) added an RBI double in the third inning that scored second baseman Christian Arroyo (2-for-3, 2 runs, 2 RBIs, 2B, BB) to make it 2-0 Red Sox. Miami got on the board in the fourth when catcher Jorge Alfaro drove in right fielder Adam Duvall (2-for-5, 2B) with an RBI single. Arroyo answered with a two-run single in the home half of the frame that scored catcher Kevin Plawecki and center fielder Enrique Hernandez. Arroyo later came around on a fielding error by Duvall. Marlins center fielder Starling Marte (3-for-4) crushed a solo homer (his 4th of the season) to center in the fifth that cut it to 5-2 Sox. Miami's third baseman Isan Diaz knocked in left fielder Corey Dickerson with an RBI double in the ninth. Ottavino appeared in his third game in a row and had to throw 23 pitches so I'm pretty sure that he won't be available for Boston's series-opener vs. Houston (33-26 overall, 13-13 away).

    The Astros just took three of four from the Red Sox last week at Minute Maid Park so they'll be trying to continue that roll as two of the best teams in baseball face each other three more times this week at Fenway. Martin Perez (4-2) gets the ball tomorrow night (7:10, NESN) in the series opener against Framber Valdez (1-0); they both pitched gems last week against these same clubs. On Wednesday night (7:10, NESN) Nathan Eovaldi (7-2) takes on Jake Odorizzi (0-3) who the Sox shelled in his last outing. Finally, Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4) opposes Zack Greinke (6-2) on Thursday night (7:10, NESN). Houston is in a similar position to Boston in the AL West as they trail first-place Oakland (35-26) by only one game and who really expects that to last for much longer? The heatwave should be here for a few more days as these contenders meet yet again for what should be a better series than the mostly one-sided affair in Texas.

After 6-5 Win In 10 Innings, Red Sox Earned Their First Series Sweep At Yankee Stadium Since 2011

 

    This weekend's three-game set in the Bronx served as a classic baseball snapshot of two teams headed in different directions. The Red Sox (36-23 overall, 20-10 away) put an exclamation point on a great few days at Yankee Stadium as they escaped with a 6-5 victory in 10 innings this evening. Down 3-1 in the seventh inning and allowing the tying run in the bottom of the ninth did not deter Boston as they kept grinding until they came away with their third win in a row against the fading Yankees (31-29 overall, 17-16 home) who have lost four straight games and they are 2-8 in their last 10 games which has dropped them into fourth-place in the AL East. For Boston, this exorcised some recent demons in NY as they picked up their first sweep at Yankee Stadium since 2011 and they ended their ugly streak of 12 series losses in a row there. 

    NY's starting pitcher Domingo German gave them their best outing of the series as he allowed a solo homer to left fielder Alex Verdugo (his 8th of the season) in the first inning but then he settled down to go 5.2 innings, allowing just that one earned run on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks. The Red Sox' starting pitcher Garrett Richards (5 IP, 3 ER, 8 hits, 6 Ks, 2 BBs) was not very good but Boston's bullpen (5 other guys) were able to outlast New York's (4 guys). Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez had a two-run double in the first that scored DH Aaron Judge (2 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks) and shortstop Gleyber Torres (2 hits). Judge's ground out in the fourth inning plated another run for the home team and extended their lead to 3-1. 

    Second baseman Marwin Gonzalez tied it for the Red Sox with a two-run home run (his 2nd of the season) in the seventh inning that scored right fielder Hunter Renfroe. Boston took back the lead in the following inning as pinch hitter Christian Arroyo scored on Bogaerts' sacrifice fly. Each Red Sox reliever went one inning: Darwinzon Hernandez (2 BBs) had the sixth, former Yankee and Brooklyn native Adam Ottavino (1 BB) pitched the seventh, Josh Taylor struck out two in a scoreless eighth which set closer Matt Barnes up with a 4-3 lead in the ninth. He was working for the third game in a row and that probably played a major factor since he was not lights out as usual. Torres drove in Judge with a clutch RBI double to tie it up at 4-4. 

    I've said earlier this season that Bogaerts is the best shortstop in MLB but I'll extend that praise even further by calling him one of the top all-around players in baseball. He came through with another huge play: a two-run single in the 10th inning that scored catcher Christian Arroyo and first baseman Bobby Dalbec with the tying and go-ahead runs. Barnes threw 23 pitches in the ninth inning so who the hell did Boston's manager Alex Cora use in the 10th inning to wrap up the sweep? It was Phillips Valdez who allowed a run on an infield single but he also got a key double play and survived to record his first career save in MLB. 

    Boston returns home in second-place in the AL East-one game behind first-place Tampa Bay (38-23)-with an eight-game homestand about to begin. Before they can play three games with Houston (33-26) and a four-game series against Toronto (30-27), the Red Sox have a makeup date with Miami (25-33) tomorrow night (5:10, NESN). The Marlins are also 2-8 in their last 10 games so Boston hopes to keep them on their recent tailspin as Nick Pivetta (6-1) faces Pablo Lopez (1-3). After a series in Pittsburgh (23-35), Miami has to come here for one more game so hopefully their interest level isn't too high vs. an interleague opponent as they try to avoid a three-game sweep in their last meeting of the season with the Sox (haha assuming that Boston-Miami World Series ain't happening in 2021). Ideally, Boston doesn't get caught looking ahead to its more difficult opponents that they will see later this week.  

The Bruins Wasted A Great Opportunity To Take Control Of The Series As They Fell 4-1 To The Isles

 

    Whenever the Bruins have a frustrating loss, particularly in the playoffs, I like to say "the Bruins never making anything easy on themselves." It's not exactly ground-breaking stuff but I think that it applies all too often for the B's. Tonight was the latest example as they lost 4-1 to the Islanders in Game 4 of their second round playoff series. Another win at the Nassau Coliseum would have given them a commanding 3-1 lead in the series and that might have meant that they wouldn't have to go back to Long Island. Instead, thanks to their uneven effort, the series is now tied 2-2 and it comes down to a best-of-3 series against the Isles who are the definition of gritty and tough to play against.

    The final score is very misleading, especially if you weren't watching the whole game since New York scored two empty-net goals. There were no goals scored in the first period but it was still pretty crazy since there were two fights (Taylor Hall vs. Scott Mayfield and Jarred Tinordi vs. Matt Martin) and B's star David Pastrnak hit the post on the most wide open look that he'll ever see with a goalie in net. Boston actually led 1-0 when center David Krejci put in a rebound for a power play goal at 3:57 of the second period. His first goal of the playoffs was assisted by left wing Brad Marchand and Pasta. Boston's lead lasted for less than three minutes as Islanders left wing Kyle Palmieri put in a close-range one-timer from center Mathew Barzal. Right wing Jordan Eberle had the other assist on Palmieri's team-leading fifth goal of the postseason.

    Barzal is by far New York's best and most talented offensive player so it was surprising that he did not have a goal in their first eight playoff games this year. He is starting to heat up though at just the wrong time for the Bruins as he scored the lone Islanders goal in Game 3 and this evening he had the game-winner as he batted a loose puck out of the air to make it 2-1 at 13:03 of the third period. Mayfield and fellow defenseman Noah Dobson had the assists on Barzal's second goal of the playoffs. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made 30 saves so he was one of the few bright spots in the loss for Boston. His counterpart Semyon Varlamov (who improved to 7-2 against the B's this season) had 28 saves but you have to say that the black and gold did not test him nearly enough. Centers Casey Cizikas and Jean-Gabriel Pageau potted the empty-netters for the Isles as the Coliseum exploded at the end of this victory for their beloved home team. 

    Game 5 is on Monday (6:30, NBCSN) at the TD Garden and Game 6 (time TBA) will be back in Uniondale on Wednesday. Needless to say that Monday is the biggest tilt of the season for both clubs. To go up 3-2 thus giving yourself two chances to eliminate the other team is a huge advantage versus being down 3-2 in the series and having to win twice in a row at each venue no less. Don't be surprised if Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy tinkers with his lineup a little bit on Monday. Nick Ritchie has been useless for much of this postseason so why not throw rookie Trent Frederic in there and see if he can provide some type of spark? If nothing else, he would bring energy and fresh legs to a group that looked understandably tired in Game 4 after taking so many tough hits from the Islanders all series long.

Red Sox Take Round One With The Yankees, 5-2 At Yankee Stadium As Eovaldi Shuts Them Down

 

    The Red Sox (34-23 overall, 18-10 away) didn't win a single game last season at Yankee Stadium in their wretched 2020, therefore tonight's 5-2 series-opening victory was Boston's first in the Bronx since 2019. The starting pitcher for the Sox-Nathan Eovaldi (7-2)-went six solid innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on eight hits with seven strikeouts and no walks. Boston's win put them 3.5 games ahead of New York for second-place in the AL East while Texas' (23-36) surprising 5-4 victory over the Rays (36-23) this evening left Tampa Bay only one game up on the Red Sox. Tampa is finally showing some signs of slowing down a bit (6-4 in their last 10 games) after being the hottest team in MLB for awhile.

    As good as Eovaldi's outing was, the two relievers that followed him out of the Sox' bullpen were even better. Hirokazu Sawamura got his first taste of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry and he must have loved it as he went two scoreless innings and struck out five without allowing a hit. Around the same time that UConn baseball opened its 2021 NCAA Tournament journey with a 6-1 win vs. Michigan, Huskies alum Matt Barnes did his now customary thing by striking out the side in a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 13th save of the season. Sawamura threw 29 pitches therefore I doubt that he'd be available on Saturday but Barnes only had 17 pitches so I think that he could be ready in the right spot for tomorrow's game if he is needed. 

    BC's Michael King (0-3) got the start for the Yanks and while he went 5.1 innings which is more than they could have expected, he made one fatal mistake: Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers crushed a three-run bomb to the upper deck in right field in the first inning (his team-leading 15th HR of the season) that scored left fielder Alex Verdugo and shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2 singles, 2 runs). Boston opened up a 5-0 lead when first baseman Marwin Gonzalez (2 doubles) tacked on two more runs with a two-run double in the sixth down the left field line that scored right fielder Hunter Renfroe and Bogaerts. Both of New York's runs came in the home half of the sixth inning as right fielder Aaron Judge hit a Yankee Stadium special-an opposite field homer to right that just got over the fence. Luckily his team-leading 14th home run of the season was a solo shot so no big deal. The other Yankees run came when Gonzalez made two errors on the same play which is pretty hard for a big leaguer to do. 

    Tomorrow's game (7:15, FOX) starts at exactly the same time as Game 4 of Bruins-Islanders so I think I know what you'll be checking in on during commercials and intermissions from the hockey game or you can be a cool guy like me and have one of them on your laptop while the other is on your TV at the same time. As bad as the Yankees' offense has been this season, it could be a slugfest since Boston's former ace Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4, 5.64 ERA) takes on New York's Jameson Taillon (1-4, 5.10 ERA). Rodriguez has been a mess lately and arguably the Red Sox' worst starter in 2021 (as crazy as that sounds) while Taillon is a journeyman bum. This could serve as a good spot for Eddie to start to return to form or he could continue to struggle and give us more reasons to worry about him. Only time will tell as Boston tries to clinch the series already.

Marchand Scores In OT As The Bruins Beat The Islanders 2-1 In Game 3 To Take A 2-1 Series Lead

 

       The Bruins regained their home ice advantage as they won Game 3 tonight 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum thanks to left wing Brad Marchand's no angle snipe 3:36 into overtime. Boston now leads the series 2-1 and they improved to 3-2 in OT this postseason (1-1 vs. NY). As you can guess from such a low-scoring affair, both goaltenders were fantastic: Isles goalie Semyon Varlamov made 39 saves before he made his only real mistake of the night while B's goalie Tuukka Rask (28 saves) wasn't quite as busy but he still had a bunch of huge stops. The only real lowlight of Game 3 for Boston was that defenseman Brandon Carlo took a huge hit to his head from Islanders hack Cal Clutterbuck in the third period and he never returned. For a guy with a history of concussions, it was horrifying to see him clearly struggling to get off the ice after his head slammed into the glass.

    After missing Game 2 with a lower-body injury, right wing Craig Smith was back in the lineup for the B's and that paid immediate dividends. He took a sweet pass from left wing Taylor Hall and snapped a high shot over Varlamov's glove hand at 5:52 of the first period. BU's Matt Grzelcyk had the second assist on Smith's second goal of the postseason. Just when it looked like the black and gold might escape with a 1-0 road win, Islanders center Mathew Barzal used a quick wraparound move to tie it at one. Right wing Kyle Palmieri and defenseman Ryan Pulock had the assists on Barzal's first goal of the playoffs at 14:34 in the third period. From that point on, New York dominated and it continued into the extra session as they outshot Boston 5-2 in that. No matter though as it only takes one shot to end it and credit to Marchand for taking that chance. Long Island's own Charlie McAvoy and captain Patrice Bergeron assisted on Marchand's fifth goal of the postseason overall and his second overtime tally (joining Game 2 vs. Washington).

    The B's have an optional practice on Friday and then these teams will meet again on Saturday night (7:15, NBC) where the stakes will be pretty high: Boston can take a 3-1 series lead or New York will tie it up at two games apiece. In his postgame press conference this evening, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy noted how Carlo said that he was feeling "pretty good" while he caught up with his teammates in the locker room. With that said, I'd be really surprised if he is cleared to play in Game 4. If Carlo is out, defensemen Jakub Zboril or Jarred Tinordi seem like the most logical replacement for him although they are both left-handed shots meaning that somebody would have to play on their weak side for a whole entire game which is never preferred. It's also a little quicker turnaround after they had an extra day off between Games 2 and 3, so we'll have to see who recovers best from another intense and physical matchup. 

Martin Perez Throws A Gem To Help The Red Sox Avoid A Four-Game Sweep In Houston & Win 5-1

 

    After losing their first three games of the series in Houston (31-25 overall, 20-13 home) and scoring a grand total of four runs in said defeats, the Red Sox (33-23 overall, 17-10 away) were in desperate need of a win this afternoon at Minute Maid Park. Boston's fifth starter Martin Perez (4-2)-who has been sneaky good all season-picked a great time to have his best outing in two years with the Sox. He went 7.2 scoreless innings (his longest outing since May 2, 2019), striking out four and walking only one as Boston won 5-1. Considering that this week-long road trip continues this weekend in New York with their first series against the Yankees (31-26 overall), this was one of the more meaningful victories so far in 2021 for the Red Sox. 

    Astros starter Jake Odorizzi (3 IP, 3 ER, 2 Ks, 3 BBs) wasn't nearly as economical with his pitches as Perez was, Boston's starter only needed 82 pitches to come four outs away from a complete game while the former Ray and Twin labored through 76 pitches in less than half as many innings of work. All of the Red Sox' offense came from two swings of the bat: second baseman Christian Arroyo hit a three-run home run to left field in the second inning that just reached the seats. Third baseman Rafael Devers (2B, two BBs) and right fielder Hunter Renfroe (1B, BB) scored on Arroyo's first homer of the season/as a Red Sox. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts was in his first extended slump of this campaign (0-for-24) at the plate but hopefully he broke out of it with a two-run double in the seventh inning that plated DH J.D. Martinez (two 2Bs) and left fielder Alex Verdugo (two BBs, 1B). 

    Red Sox manager Alex Cora got ejected earlier in the game for dumping on home plate umpire Lance Barrett's terrible strike zone. I mention this only because bench coach Will Venable was in charge when the time came to either pull Perez or let him try to get out of his first jam of the day (runners on 1st and 2nd). Venable took the cautious approach and lifted Perez in favor of Northeastern's Adam Ottavino who got Houston star Alex Bregman to fly out to center to end the threat. Brandon Workman is back with the Red Sox and he made his first appearance of the season in the ninth. Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel (3-for-4) hit a solo home run to left (his 8th of the season) but it only meant that the Sox would not get a shutout, oh well. 

    While the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry isn't what it used to be, it is still one of the best in MLB, especially when they haven't met for the first two months of the regular season. Just like the old days, it will get the primetime TV slots: Nathan Eovaldi (6-2) goes for the Sox tomorrow night (7:05, NESN) vs. TBA; on Saturday night (7:15, FOX), it will be the struggling Eduardo Rodriguez (5-4) against Jameson Taillon (1-4); for Sunday Night Baseball (7:08, ESPN) Garrett Richards (4-4) takes on Domingo German (4-3). Boston enters the three-game set with a 2.5-game lead on New York with a game in hand. After today's 9-2 loss to the first-place Rays (36-22 overall and 2 games ahead of the Sox), the Yanks are 3-7 in their last 10 games while the Red Sox are 5-5 in their last 10. Boston also lucked out that NY's ace Gerrit Cole (6-3) pitched this afternoon so they won't being seeing him in action this weekend. Two out of three wins in the Bronx is what I'm realistically wishing for and I think that is an attainable goal for the Red Sox.

The Next Day After Bowing Out Of The Playoffs, The Celtics Made Some Major Personnel Moves

 

    Haha wow, that didn't take long did it? Mere hours after the short playoff stint ended for the Celtics, they were right back in the news this morning with the bombshell news that GM/President of Basketball Operations is retiring from the team while head coach Brad Stevens is being shifted over to that position. The C's hate firing people publicly so this lightning fast reaction to such a miserable season is curious. Ainge has had a bunch of heart issues so it makes sense that he needs a less busy schedule and the team is paying Stevens so much money in the near future that they might as well keep him around in some role. 

    NBA head coaches are mostly useless, their day-to-day purpose is basically to get out of the way for the star players and coach up the lesser talents while you pray that the top guys can tolerate you. Sounds fun huh? Nobody could argue that Stevens is one of the top basketball minds in the world but after eight seasons here, I'm sure he is a little tired of all the NBA drama after coming from a relatively low-key college environment at Butler. With that said, who Boston chooses is their next head coach is a very important decision. To connect with their two best players-Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown-it would make perfect sense to hire a young African-American that preferably played in the NBA in recent years. Getting a retread like former Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce or Lakers assistant (and former Bucks head coach) Jason Kidd-who have already been rumored to come here-would be a mistake. I feel like a guy such as Chauncey Billups-current Clippers assistant coach-is the ideal candidate. He was a great player, won an NBA championship and is tough-minded so he wouldn't shy away from criticizing Tatum or Brown when they needed some harsh words. 

        As for Ainge, he did not officially retire from the NBA so don't be surprised at all if he pops up somewhere else. Obviously the Utah Jazz are a slam dunk choice for him since he's from Utah, went to BYU and is a Mormon. There was even talk today that he bought a property in Utah in the last few months. Ainge had a great run with the Celtics as a player and then as a GM (the only guy to win titles in both jobs) but it was clear, that he might be too old and out of touch not to mention his drafts have been mostly awful outside of Brown and Tatum. Every job has an expiration date and the Celts need some new voices and ideas. Clearly, they are going nowhere fast right now and while having the best players is what the league is all about, it also helps to have somebody that attracts the best free agents. Stay tuned, if today is any indication, it's going to be a wild summer for the Celtics.