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Terry Lyons

MLB Legacies Take It to Red Sox

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BOSTON – MLB legacies Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – batting one-two-three – in the Toronto Blue Jays’ order, combined to go 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI over the opening two innings of the game to lead Toronto to a 6-3 win over Boston at Fenway Park.

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Toronto snapped their three-game losing streak while the Red Sox dropped to 3-3 on their current home stand but 12-4 overall. Boston remains tied with the Oakland A’s for the best record in the AL (12-7, .632), and trail only the LA Dodgers (14-4, .778) for the best record in MLB.

Biggio and Guerrero are the sons of Baseball Hall of Famers Craig Biggio and 16-year veteran Vladimir Guerrero while Biggio is the son of former MLB outfielder Dante Bichette.

Toronto utilized seven pitchers with Trent Thornton getting the start, his first of the season. Thornton allowed an Alex Verdugo single and a Rafael Devers double over 2.0 scoreless innings to maintain his record of holding opponents scoreless in his last four outings (7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 SO).

Blue Jays reliever Ryan Borucki was credited with the win and Anthony Castro earned a save.

Boston Starter Garrett Richards (0-2) took the loss after going 4.2 innings and throwing a season-high 92 pitches. He allowed four runs on four hits and was hurt by six walks.

Boston SS Xander Bogaerts went 1-for-4 with a home run in the 8th inning, his second homer in two nights.

 

 

PGA Tour: First Look at Zurich Classic

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Welcome to PGA Tour Brunch Coverage of the Zurich Classic

The 2020 Zurich Classic of New Orleans was one of 11 events canceled in the 2020-21 season due to COVID-19. The Zurich Classic (which was first played in 1938), has utilized the two-man team format since 2017. It remains the only official FedExCup team event on the PGA TOUR schedule.

Two-player team event, with each team comprised of two professionals, featuring Four-ball (best ball) during the first and third rounds and Foursomes (alternate shot) during the second and fourth rounds.

The starting field will consist of 80 teams (160 players) with the 36-hole cut to the low 33 teams and ties at the 33rd position.

The field consists of 12 past Zurich Classic of New Orleans winners: K.J. Choi (2002), Nick Watney (2007), Andres Romero (2008), Bubba Watson(2011), Jason Dufner (2012), Billy Horschel (2013, 2018), Justin Rose(2015), Brian Stuard (2016), Cameron Smith (2017), Scott Piercy (2018), Jon Rahm (2019), Ryan Palmer (2019)

Zurich Ambassadors: Justin Rose, Billy Horschel, and Collin Morikawa.

The Tournament Tee Times begin Thursday at 7:00am (EDT) through 2:10pm (EDT).

Weather: Thursday’s Forecast calls mild, sunny skies and a temperature of 64-degrees with 49% humidity and 13 mph winds. Zero chance of rain. Friday (70% chance of rain) could bring PM showers and thunderstorms which will hold over until Saturday (90% chance of rain). Sunday will be mostly sunny and 71-degrees.

Red Sox Win 12th of Last 15 Games

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BOSTON – After a day off to rest, Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts hit a three-run home run to provide Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez with some run support in his first start at Fenway Park since 2019. That combination gave the Boston Red Sox their second consecutive win and 12 wins in their last 15 games, by way of  a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night.

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Rodriguez (3-0), who missed last season due to COVID-19 complications, allowed two runs on three hits over six innings and struck out six for AL East-leading Boston. The Boston bullpen was strong, as Matt Andriese, Adam Ottavino and Matt Barnes each worked a scoreless inning in relief. Barnes earned his third save.

Toronto Blue Jays starter Hyun Jin Ryu (1-2) pitched five innings, giving up eight hits, four runs and striking out two.

Rodriguez received a warm greeting from the COVID-19 protocol-limited Fenway faithful  crowd of 4,728.

Boston 2B Christian Arroyo and OF/DH J.D. Martinez singled ahead of Bogaerts’ blast to left-center in the bottom of the inning. Red Sox utility man Marwin Gonzalez doubled later in the fourth and 1B Bobby Dalbec drove him in with a triple.

Celtics Fall Short Against Bulls

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BOSTON – Boston’s All-Star forward Jayson Tatum recorded 14 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in his first career triple-double for the Celtics, but the club’s six-game winning streak came to an end as the visiting Chicago Bulls outlasted the shorthanded Boston Celtics, 102-96, on Monday night at TD Garden.

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Jaylen Brown led the team with 23 points but Boston played without guards Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker, both sidelined with non-COVID illness. Boston center Robert Williams III (knee) and forward Evan Fournier (health and safety) also remained sidelined.

Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic scored 29 points to carry the Bulls to the victory. Vucevic added nine rebounds as the Bulls won their second straight game after a five-game losing streak. Coby White scored 19 and Thaddeus Young and Garrett Temple 13 apiece as Chicago remained without top scorer Zach LaVine for a third straight game due to health and safety protocol.

 

 

Top European Soccer Teams Announce Creation of New “Super League”

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By CHRISTOPHER GUMINA

NEW YORK – Monday, April 19th, 2021, is a date that will go down in soccer history. This was the day that saw the announcement of a new European Super League, which would be the largest reordering of European soccer since the 1950s. There will be at least two more standard seasons before the inaugural season of this league occurs, and obviously a lot can change in that time. There will be legal challenges to overcome, but even if the league were to fail for some reason the fans would not soon forget that their teams ignored them in favor of a financial windfall.

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Twelve clubs – AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Tottenham – were announced as founding members of the new Super League. These 12 teams are expected to be joined by an additional three, bringing the total to 15. According to Fabrizio Romano, the Woj or Adam Schefter equivalent in soccer, the remaining three teams could be Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, and Porto, although nothing is yet decided.

This would leave the league without French representation, calling into question its status as a “European” Super League. Paris Saint-Germain would be the most obvious team to fill this gap. It is somewhat surprising that they were not involved in this project from the beginning, as they have become the most obvious example of new owners taking over a team and spending seemingly limitless money with little regard for the fans themselves. However, their president, Nasser al-Khelaifi, sits on the UEFA board and leads beIN Media Group, which has paid significant sums of money to broadcast Champions League games, and obviously has the incentive to keep the top teams in that competition.

The format of the league would be far more similar to the NFL/NBA/MLB than the current domestic soccer leagues. Each year there would be 20 clubs in the league – the 15 founders along with an additional five teams. The 15 founders cannot be relegated from the league, meaning that only the 5 additional clubs would change year to year. It is unclear at this point how these would be chosen. The Super League website calls them “annual qualifiers” but does not give specifics. Obviously the domestic leagues would not allow any of their teams to join the Super League for a season then come back and reclaim their spot.

The 20 teams would be split into two groups of 10, who would play home and away games throughout the year. At the end of this group stage, the top 8 teams would progress to a knockout tournament, which would eventually yield one winner.
The clubs themselves can (and will) attempt to justify the creation of the league by claiming that it will increase the quality of the product on the field, pitting the best teams against each other on a weekly basis. However, there is one obvious factor guiding this decision: money.

The 15 founding clubs will receive an upfront payment of €3.5 billion ($4.19 billion US) that will be divided equally. The entire venture is to be bankrolled by J.P. Morgan, who will distribute $6 billion in loans to the teams.

The announcement has been met with near universal disgust from the soccer community. It has been panned by casual fans on Twitter (“Disgraceful,” “Money,” “RIP Football,” and “Greedy” were all trending throughout the day) and pundits alike, with former Manchetser United star player Gary Neville saying, “I’m disgusted, absolutely disgusted. I’m disgusted with Manchester United and Liverpool the most. Liverpool say they’re the people’s club, ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ the fans’ club. Manchester United, 100 years, born from workers around here, and they’re breaking into a league without competition. That they can’t be relegated from. It’s a disgrace.”

This announcement seems even more distasteful coming on the heels of a year marked by tragedy and uncertainty, one in which communities pulled even closer together around their soccer clubs. Arsenal stand out, given that they laid off 55 employees in the midst of the pandemic while simultaneously discussing a new Super League with an initial €3.5 billion bonus.

FIFA, UEFA, and the domestic leagues are also universally against the Super League. FIFA had previously stated that any players who play in a breakaway league would be banned from the 2022 World Cup. Given that nearly all of the best players in the world feature for the 12 teams already included (Messi, Ronaldo, De Bruyne, Pogba, Suarez, etc.) this would dramatically reduce the quality of the World Cup. One also cannot help but think about how the players themselves feel about the unknown scenarios which can play out.

For many playing in and winning the World Cup is a dream. Will they be comfortable losing the ability to compete for their country in order to line the pockets of their domestic team’s owners?

FIFA is not the only organization that has the power to bar players and teams, however. UEFA released a statement that read:

“UEFA, the English Football Association and the Premier League, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and Lega Serie A have learned that a few English, Spanish and Italian clubs may be planning to announce their creation of a closed, so-called Super League.

“If this were to happen, we wish to reiterate that we – UEFA, the English FA, RFEF, FIGC, the Premier League, LaLiga, Lega Serie A, but also FIFA and all our member associations – will remain united in our efforts to stop this cynical project, a project that is founded on the self-interest of a few clubs at a time when society needs solidarity more than ever.”

It Was Patri-HITS Day for Sox at Fenway

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox celebrated the annual Commonwealth of Massachusetts holiday, Patriots’ Day, by turning it into “Patri-HITS” Day, clocking 17 hits and scoring 11 runs, six coming in a first inning bat-around barrage against Chicago White Sox starter and All-Star pitcher Lucas Giolito. Ultimately, the Red Sox registered an 11-4 victory to counter the sweep at the hands of the White Sox on Sunday.

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Boston’s strong offensive output supported the efforts of their starter, Nathan Eovaldi, who pitched 6.1 innings, allowing nine hits and four earned runs while striking out 10 batters and walking none. Eovaldi is now (3-1) and has emerged as the Sox ace starter in this young 2021 season when the Red Sox have surprised the American League East with an 11-6 record, after starting the season 0-3.

Eovaldi has not walked any of his last 51 batters he’s faced (beginning in the 7th inning on April 7 game vs. TB) and has not allowed a home run in his last six starts. Dating back to last season, he is 6-1 with a 2.01 ERA and 0.99 WHIP over his last 8 starts (44.2 IP, 29 H, 10 ER, 6 BB, 49 SO). He has started four games for Boston this season and leads the team in wins.

Boston has now scored 10+ runs for the third time (14 on 4/11 at Baltimore, and 11 on 4/5 vs. Tampa).. The Sox offense came alive after a semi-dormant weekend, homering three times for their 2nd-highest single-game total (six HRs on 4/11 at Baltimore). Six Red Sox players had multiple hits, including each of the “one” through “five” hitters. Three players – Alex Verdugo, J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers – had 3+ hits.

Chicago surrendered 10+ runs for the first time in 2021, with the previous occurrence coming last September 27th against their cross-town rival Cubs. The six runs allowed in the 1st was their most in the opening frame since August 31, 2019 vs. Atlanta (6 runs, 11-5 loss).

As the game became out of hand, catcher/DH Yermín Mercedes (7th) and Danny Mendick (8th) each made their first career pitching appearances to mark the first time a position player has pitched for the White Sox since Yolmer Sánchez last September.

The Red Sox will next face the Toronto Blue Jays for a two game series, starting Tuesday night, and then the Seattle Mariners will be at Fenway Park for a four-game set from Thursday through the weekend.

 

PGA Tour: Cink Goes Wire-to-Wire

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PGA Tour Brunch Coverage of the RBC Heritage

Stewart Cink became the fourth player – the fifth occasion – age 47 or older to win multiple times in a season on the PGA Tour since 1960. Cink joins Davis Love III (5) and Hale Irwin (3) with three or more victories at the RBC Heritage. Cink won 21 years, two days after his 2000 RBC Heritage title and 16 years, 11 months, 30 days after winning at the Heritage in 2004.

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Harold Varner III (T-2 at (-15) closed with a 5-under (66) to claim his career-best finish on Tour. His previous best, a T-3/2019 THE NORTHERN TRUST. Varner’s T-2 came after three straight missed cuts at previous RBC Heritage events.

A week after his T-8 finish at the Masters Tournament, Canada’s Corey Conners finished T-4 at 13-under (271).

First-round leader Cameron Smith (T-9 at (-11) bookended his week with bogey-free rounds (R-1 a (62), and R-4 a (66).

In his bid to join Payne Stewart (1989-90), Davis Love III (1991-92) and Boo Weekley (2007-08) as back-to-back winners at the RBC Heritage, defending champion Webb Simpson finished T-9.

RBC Heritage Final Leaderboard

Stewart Cink 63-63-69-70—265 (-19)

Harold Varner III 66-68-69-66—269 (-15)

Emiliano Grillo 68-64-69-68—269 (-15)

Maverick McNealy 71-67-66-67—271 (-13)

Corey Conners 67-64-72-68—271 (-13)

Matt Fitzpatrick 71-64-68-68—271 (-13)

WHITE-WASHED!

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BOSTON – Designated hitter Yermín Mercedes started the dismantling of Boston with a home run in Chicago’s three-run fourth inning, and the White Sox completed a sweep of the Sunday “day-evening” doubleheader against the Red Sox on with a 5-1 victory at Fenway Park.

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Nick Madrigal had two hits and drove in two runs for Chicago, which climbed back to .500 at 8-8. In the opener, Tim Anderson homered on the game’s first pitch and Dallas Keuchel pitched five solid innings in a 3-2 victory.

Catcher Yasmani Grandal had an RBI double and former Red Sox 3B Yoán Moncada drove in a run with a single for the White Sox. Keuchel (1-0) gave up two runs and Hendriks got his second save.

Boston was held to four hits in the nightcap, anchored by Keuchel’s impressive performance.

The doubleheader was scheduled after Friday’s game was postponed due to snow and rain.

 

Red Sox Drop First of Two on Sunday

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BOSTON – Chicago White Sox starter Dallas Keuchel (1-0) gave up two runs and six hits, but breezed through his first seven batters and enjoyed early run support by way of a Tim Anderson home run on the first pitch in the 1st inning to set the tone in Chicago’s 3-2 victory over Boston.

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It was just the second loss in the last 12 games for the Red Sox, who wore their yellow-and-blue Nike City Series uniforms for the second straight game to celebrate the usual April tradition of the Boston Marathon. The race will be held in October this year, as the Boston Athletic Association hopes for more clearance from the COVID-19 disease.

Boston made it close and exciting in the 7th and final inning when Kiké Hernández homered around the right-field foul pole for the Red Sox, which entered the day with a majors’ most come-from-behind victories with seven.

When 1B Bobby Dalbec struck-out with a man on first, the come-from-behind streak remained at seven.

 

Bruins Defeat Caps, 6-3

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BOSTON – Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci each scored a pair of goals and goaltender Tuukka Rask made 30 saves to lead Boston to a 6-3 victory over the visiting Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.

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For the Caps, T.J. Oshie scored twice, and G Vitek Vanecek made 22 saves for Washington (29-13-4), which ended its three-game road winning streak.

Bergeron scored a shorthanded goal at 12:02 of the first period to give Boston a 1-0 lead, then Krejci made it 2-0 at the 13:56 mark.

Oshie scored with 10 seconds left to cut the lead to 2-1 after the first.

The game’s momentum swayed towards Washington when Bruins defenseman Connor Clifton was served with a double minor for high sticking, and Oshie scored his second goal at 3:48 of the second period to tie it 2-2, and Anthony Mantha scored at 4:54 to give Washington a 3-2 lead. Mantha has scored in each of his four game for Washington since he was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings.

Marchand, Krejci and Bergeron all tallied to provide Boston with a 5-3 lead until Marchand scored his second goal of the game into an empty net at 18:16 of the third period which closed out the scoring at 6-3, Bruins.