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Red Sox Acquire Hill, Paxson

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The Boston Red Sox went the veteran route to shore-up their pitching rotation and in doing so, signed left-handed pitcher Rich Hill to a one-year contract for the 2022 season. In addition, the Red Sox signed left-handed pitcher James Paxton to a one-year contract for the 2022 season, with a two-year club option for the 2023-24 seasons. In the event the club does not exercise that option following the 2022 season, Paxton would have the right to exercise a conditional player option for the 2023 season. The Red Sox’ 40-man roster is now at 39 after Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the additions.

Hill, 41, has pitched for 11 major league teams over 17 seasons, going 74-52 with a 3.80 ERA (479 ER/1,134.2 IP) in 324 appearances (195 starts) with the Chicago Cubs (2005-08), Baltimore Orioles (2009), Red Sox (2010-12, ’15), Cleveland Indians (2013), Los Angeles Angels (2014), New York Yankees (2014), Oakland A’s (2016), Los Angeles Dodgers (2016-19), Minnesota Twins (2020), Tampa Bay Rays (2021), and New York Mets (2021).

In 2021, Hill made 19 starts for the Rays and pitched in 13 games (12 starts) for the Mets, posting a 3.86 ERA (68 ER/158.2 IP) with 150 strikeouts, a 1.21 WHIP, and a .235 opponent batting average. In five starts against American League Postseason teams, he was 4-0 with a 1.75 ERA (5 ER/25.2 IP), having made three appearances against the Yankees, one versus the Red Sox, and one against the Houston Astros.

Born in Boston, Hill graduated from Milton High School before attending the University of Michigan. He last pitched at Fenway Park on September 25, 2015, when he threw a two-hit shutout against the Orioles, striking out 10 batters and walking one. In 25 career appearances at Fenway (one start), Hill is 2-0 with a 1.65 ERA (5 ER/27.1 IP). In 2019, he earned the Tony Conigliaro Award, presented annually by the Red Sox to a major leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage.

Hill has made 13 Postseason appearances (12 starts) for the Cubs (2007) and Dodgers (2016-19), going 1-2 with a 3.06 ERA (18 ER/53.0 IP).

Paxton, 33, is 57-33 with a 3.59 ERA (301 ER/754.2 IP) in 137 major league appearances—all starts—with the Seattle Mariners (2013-18, ’21) and New York Yankees (2019-20). After making a career-high 29 starts and going 15-6 for the Yankees in 2019, he missed a majority of the 2020 season due to injury. In 2021, he made one start for the Mariners before undergoing Tommy John surgery on April 13 and missing the remainder of the season.

A native of Vancouver, Paxton pitched at the University of Kentucky from 2007-09 and was selected by the Mariners in the fourth round of the 2010 June Draft. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA in each of his first seven major league seasons (2013-19), including a 2.98 ERA (45 ER/136.0 IP) over 24 starts for Seattle in 2017. On May 8, 2018 at Rogers Centre, Paxton threw a no-hitter in a 5-0 win over the Blue Jays. Since the start of 2016, he has averaged 10.61 strikeouts and only 2.53 walks per 9.0 innings, having struck out 695 batters and walked 166 during that time.

Red Sox Sign Wacha for 1-Year

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The Boston Red Sox today signed right-handed pitcher Michael Wacha to a one-year contract for the 2022 season. The club’s 40-man roster is now at 38 after Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the deal.

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Wacha, 30, made 29 appearances (23 starts) for the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2021 regular season, posting a 2.88 ERA (11 ER/34.1 IP) in his final seven outings. After throwing 5.0 scoreless and hitless innings on September 28 against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park, he allowed only one hit in 5.0 scoreless innings on October 3 against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The right-hander led the majors with four outings in which he threw at least 5.0 innings, allowed zero runs, and surrendered one or zero hits.

After spending his first eight major league seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (2013-19) and New York Mets (2020), Wacha made his American League debut in 2021 with the Rays and went 3-5 with a 5.05 ERA (70 ER/124.2 IP), 121 strikeouts, and 31 walks. In three starts against the Yankees last season, he allowed zero earned runs in 16.0 innings while holding hitters to a .100 batting average (5-for-50). In a 1-0 win over the Red Sox at Tropicana Field on June 24, Wacha surrendered only one hit in 5.0 innings.

Selected by the Cardinals in the first round of the 2012 June Draft (19th overall) out of Texas A&M University, Wacha is 63-48 with a 4.14 ERA (472 ER/1,026.1 IP) in 202 career major league outings (181 starts). A 2015 National League All-Star, he has made six Postseason starts and two relief appearances, going 4-3 with a 5.21 ERA (22 ER/38.0 IP). His lone Postseason outing of 2021 came as a reliever in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Red Sox at Tropicana Field.

Born in Iowa City, IA, Wacha currently resides in Jupiter, FL.

Red Sox Exercise Cora Option

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The Boston Red Sox exercised club manager Alex Cora’s contract option for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, said Boston’s Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom in a statement issued by the club.

“I am beyond grateful for this opportunity to manage the Red Sox,” said Cora. “We experienced so many special moments as a team and as a city in 2021, but we still have unfinished business to take care of. I am excited about the current state of our organization and eager to continue my work with our front office, coaches, players, and everyone who makes this such a special place.”

“Alex’s leadership of our staff and our players was critical to all that we accomplished in 2021,” said Bloom. “Along with the entire Red Sox front office, I am excited for many years of continued partnership as we work together to bring another World Series trophy to Fenway Park.”

Cora, 46, is 284-202 (.584) in three seasons as Red Sox manager, having led the club to a winning record in 2018 (108-54), 2019 (84-78), and 2021 (92-70). Among the 19 individuals to manage at least 400 games with the Red Sox, Cora’s .584 winning percentage is the highest. One of 48 managers in the franchise’s history, he has won two World Series titles with Boston, one as a player in 2007 and another as a manager in 2018.

In 2021, Cora led the Red Sox to a 92-70 record in the regular season, including a Major League-best 47 come-from-behind wins. Boston advanced to the American League Championship Series, after defeating the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card Game and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Division Series. Boston owned the AL’s largest increase in winning percentage from 2020 to 2021 (.168), second-largest in the majors behind only the San Francisco Giants (.177). Cora became only the sixth manager to lead the Red Sox to multiple Postseason appearances, joining Bill Carrigan (1915-16), Joe Morgan (1988, ’90), Jimy Williams (1998-99), Terry Francona (2004-05, ’07-09), and John Farrell (2013, ’16-17).

Named the 47th manager in Red Sox history on October 22, 2017, Cora led Boston to a franchise-record 108 regular-season wins and an American League East title in 2018. After the 2019 season, the club and Cora mutually parted ways on January 14, 2020. On November 6, 2020, the Red Sox and Cora agreed to a two-year contract through the 2022 season, with a two-year club option for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He became the fifth person to manage the Red Sox in two separate stints, joining Bill Carrigan (1913-16, ’27-29), Mike Higgins (1955-59, ’60-62), Johnny Pesky (1963-64, ’80), and Eddie Popowski (1969, ’73).

During his playing career with the Red Sox (2005-08), Cora batted .252 (176-for-698) in 301 games, splitting time primarily between second base and shortstop. He was part of Boston’s Division Series roster in 2005 and appeared in four games during the club’s 2007 World Series title run, including two games in the Championship Series and two in the Fall Classic. He also served as the Red Sox’ starting shortstop in three games during the 2008 Postseason.

Cora resides in Caguas and has four children: Jeriel, Camila, Xander, and Isander. His older brother, Joey, played parts of 11 major league seasons with the San Diego Padres (1987, 1989-90), Chicago White Sox (1991-94), Seattle Mariners (1995-98), and Cleveland (1998).

While We’re Young (Ideas) – Nov. 14

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TL’s Sunday Sports Notes – DIGGIES for Best Sports Town

BOSTON – One of the most popular sports columnists in the whole shooting match, Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, got a hold a sports survey by a financial service firm, called Wallet Hub. The site named Boston as the No. 1 sports town in the USA.

Wallet Hub reporter Adam McCann, a 2017 graduate of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, penned the report and crunched some numbers to determine his listings. As Mr. McCann graduated with a Hopkins’ degree in Writing Seminars (one of the toughest majors, aside from Hopkins’ famed medical school and science degrees) AND International Studies, we’re here to applaud his efforts. Here’s a few other McCann columns archived on Muck Rack). Way to be Adam and Go Hop!

But, this TL Sunday sports notebook zigs when others might zag, so there will be a new version of the popular DIGGIES Awards with our very own 2021-22 @DigSportsDesk – Best Sports Towns listing.

In case you weren’t onboard for previous Digital Sports Desk DIGGIES,here’s an example of a prior listing. Click HERE for The Influencers. Or, click HERE for an archived 2018 DIGGIES on Hot Sports Properties to Watch. Sadly, with a Pandemic Purge of our prior Digital Sports Desk archives, there were dozens of other DIGGIES that are on a Cloud computing device somewhere. Exactly where, we do not know.

Getting back to the efforts of Mr. McCann for Wallet Hub and Mr. Ryan’s take on the listing for the Globe, the methodology of the report was quite in-depth and it started with the Global Sports Media Report of 2014. The seven-year-old report was then supplemented by scores of data, collected from and cited properly by Wallet Hub. Ready? … They used: The U.S. Census Bureau, Team Marketing Report, ESPN, NCAA, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Sports Reference, Forbes, Sports Analytics Research from Mike Lewis, MLB Advanced Media, Minor League Baseball, Nielsen, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, The National Collegiate Athletic Association, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter, NBA, Ranker.com, NHL.com, U.S. College Hockey Online, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, USL, Soccer Stadium Digest, FlashScore, Sportico, Google Trends, National Soccer Hall of Fame and WalletHub analysis.

Somehow or another, they left Barstool Sports and Digital Sports Desk out?

The other key factor in the report and rankings, the data crunching of 392 cities in the United States was carved into three population-based categories of:

  • Large Cities (300,000+ people)
  • Mid-sized Cities (100,000 to 299,999 people)
  • Small Cities (Fewer than 100,000 people)

Here are the findings:

Large Cities:

  1. Boston
  2. Los Angeles
  3. New York
  4. Pittsburgh
  5. Philadelphia
  6. Denver
  7. Wash DC
  8. Dallas
  9. Chicago
  10. Miami

(Note: They went 61 deep in their listing of Large Cities.

Mid-sized Cities:

  1. Buffalo
  2. Green Bay
  3. Salt Lake City
  4. Orlando
  5. Glendale
  6. Durham
  7. Ann Arbor
  8. Baton Rouge
  9. South Bend
  10. Norman

Small Cities:

  1. Clemson
  2. West Point
  3. Fayette (Michigan)
  4. East Lansing
  5. Tuscaloosa
  6. Hanover
  7. State College
  8. Buies Creek (North Carolina)
  9. Stanford
  10. Morgantown (West Virginia)

Much to its credit, the report also broke down the various cities by the major sports. Ryan was quick to point out that Boston ranked No. 5 in Baseball, No. 1 in ice hockey, No. 3 in football and No. 2 in basketball while also placing the very-much “pro” sports town as No. 15 in college basketball. … You ‘gotta love’ the Buffalo, Green Bay, Clemson and West Point mentions, too.

The college basketball rankings had Durham as No. 1 (thanks Coach K and Duke) and Lexington as No. 2 (thanks Coach Cal and UK). All things considered, Boston’s rather high ranking had to come from the fact you can see no fewer than seven Division I college programs, including:

  1. America East – UMass Lowell
  2. Atlantic 10 – UMass
  3. ACC – Boston College
  4. BIG EAST – Providence
  5. Colonial – Northeastern
  6. IVY League – Harvard
  7. Patriot League – Boston U, and Holy Cross

With all things considered, there’s no real way to determine the No. 1 Sports City. Do you consider success in a calendar year by pro sports teams and then add some college programs when it is appropriate? How many sports in the NCAA athletics do you consider?

Do you base it on a loyal fan base? Attendance? TV Ratings logged when the clubs play on national TV and/or the playoffs?

Do you base the rankings on the athletes themselves and try to pinpoint the cities which have had the most champions, MVPs, league leaders in scoring and the other key stats? Do you base it on players who might be considered the Greatest of All-Time (G.O.A.T.S) who all played in the same city?

If the last question provides the full criteria, then there’s no question that Boston would rank as the No. 1 sports city, with all due respect to Jim Brownof football’s Cleveland Browns, Babe Ruth (who played in Boston before his incredible baseball career with the New York Yankees), Wayne Gretzky (who put Edmonton on the map when he led the Oilers to four Stanley Cup championships between 1983-84 and 1987-88, and basketball’s Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

This is where the 2021-22 DIGGIES for Best Sports Towns come into the picture.

The criteria:

  • Winning
  • Loyal Fans who come out to the park and watch on TV
  • Deep knowledge by large numbers of fans “on the streets”
  • LOUD buildings from sold-out crowds supporting their team
  • History
  • Great players, coaches and organizations (G.O.A.T.S included)
  • New Trends in sports success

Here we go:

  1. CHICAGO: When you combine the friendly confines of Wrigley, the passion for the Cubs, the up & coming White Sox, the incredible Michael Jordan-led run and newfound resurgence of the Bulls and the loyalty of the Blackhawks and Bears fans, Chi-town has to be No. 1. There was no sports venue any louder than the old Chicago Stadium. There never will be.
  2. PHILADELPHIA: Although the City of Brotherly Love has not cashed-in on a major sports championship since the Philly Eagles upset the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS in Super Bowl LII in 2017, the rabid (and sometimes felonious) fanbase that is a Philly sports fan earns the No. 2 spot. … On two different occasions, while seeking information on the great Red Sox vs NY Yankees rivalry and crazy fans, I was told by security honchos at both Yankees Stadium and Fenway Park that the Phillies fans were “by far” the rowdiest group.
  3. BOSTON: The incredible history and winning ways of the Celtics and Patriots combined with the recent successes of the NHL Bruins and Red Sox place Boston HIGH on any list of great sports towns. That success, however, has spoiled the average fan as its now an expectation for teams to reach “The Finals” in every sport.
  4. TAMPA BAY: Maybe a surprise, but the recent trend of winning by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL, the consistent winning teams put on the baseball field by the Tampa Bay Rays of late and the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning. Rays fans deserve a new baseball stadium as opposed to the giant Hefty Bag that is Tropicana Field.
  5. NEW YORK: There’s been a bit of a drought for champions in New York but sports fans can not overlook the 27 World Series championships by the Yankees and sporadic success of the New York Giants. While the Mets, Knicks, Jets, and Rangers have struggled of late, NY fans have hope with the Nets in Brooklyn and the Islanders in their brand new Belmont building. New York sports fans are loyal, loud and knowledgeable but very demanding. Madison Square Garden, the Mecca of College Basketball and home for the Knicks and Rangers, is reason enough to get a Top 5 listing.
  6. SAN FRANCISCO BAY: Roller Derby’s Bay Area Bombers come right to mind as one of the greatest teams of all-time, but the Golden State Warriors are the reason the SF-Oakland area is listed so high. The Bay Area can also lay claim to the 49ers (now playing in nearby Santa Clara) but perennial contenders in the NFL as the SF 49ers and their five Super Bowl victories. This year, the SF Giants surprised everyone while winning 107 games to take the highly competitive National League West. The Giants disappointed in Postseason, losing to the LA Dodgers.
  7. LOS ANGELES: The Hall of Fame players, sold-out crowds and historical success of the Dodgers and Lakers carry weight for LA, even though the current version of the Lakers are struggling. The LA Kings had their 15 minutes of fame, which is reason enough not to allow LA to crack the Top 5, but with this season’s Super Bowl scheduled for February 13th at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, both the LA Rams and LA Chargers are bound to make the NFL Playoffs come January. In college basketball, U.C.L.A. is ranked No. 1 and could do some damage come March Madness time.
  8. DALLAS: The iconic NFL franchise valued at $6.5 billion by Forbes Magazine puts Dallas on every Top 10 list for sports towns and the relative success of the Dallas Mavericks (NBA), Stars (NHL) and a brand new ballpark for the Texas Rangers (MLB) fill-out the list of pro teams. Dallas is also noted as a top Nielsen TV market for national sports, no matter the teams playing. Of course, College football is king in Texas and the AT&T Dome (the house that Jerry Jones built) plays host to all kinds of sports championships.
  9. ST. LOUIS: With the support baseball fans show year-after-year to the Cardinals, that alone places St. Louis as a Top 10 sports town in the USA. The 2019 St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup, too, but the fact there’s no NFL (good-bye Rams) and no NBA (good-bye Hawks) in town sets St. Louis back.
  10. MIAMI: Pat Riley’s winning ways for the Heat, combined with the iconic ways of the Miami Dolphins and the upstart 2021-22 Florida Panthers put the heart of South Florida as our No. 10 great sports city.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: The Top 10 listing deserves a few “also rans” and certainly great sports cities like Detroit, Pittsburgh and its Terrible Towels and Steelers, Salt Lake City for its support of the Jazz, Seattle, Wash DC/Baltimore, and Atlanta – home of the 2021 World Series champion Braves are all worthy of consideration. Small towns? How about Annapolis?

Parting Words …

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE: Former Celtics champion Kevin Garnett’s documentary, entitled with his famous exclamation of joy, post 2008 NBA Championship debuted on Showtime this past Friday. Look for a review in next week’s notebook.

Sox Exercise Option on Vázquez

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official Club News Release) – The Boston Red Sox exercised their club option on veteran catcher Christian Vázquez for the 2022 season. Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the decision.

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Vázquez, 31, played in 614 major league games, all with the Red Sox. He was selected by Boston in the ninth round of the 2008 MLB Draft and ranks seventh in franchise history with 573 games at catcher. A 2018 World Series champion, he has appeared in 25 postseason games, second most among Red Sox catchers behind only Jason Varitek (62).

In 2021, Vázquez matched a career high with 138 games played. He led the majors in innings caught (1,051.1), the most by a Red Sox backstop since Varitek in 2008 (1,064.1). The Puerto Rican native was voted the American League’s best defensive catcher by managers and coaches in Baseball America’s annual Best Tools survey, finishing the season with 18 runners caught stealing and three pickoffs. In addition to his 132 games at catcher, Vázquez appeared in two games at third base, two at second base, and one at first base.

Vázquez has hit .259 (527-for-2,035) with 46 home runs and 224 RBI in his career. In 2021, he batted .258 (118-for-458) with six home runs, 49 RBI, 51 runs scored, and a .659 OPS, also leading the Red Sox with eight stolen bases. He went 9-for-32 (.281) in 11 Postseason games, including 6-for-16 (.375) with one home run and four RBI in the Division Series.

The Sun Came Up Again for Astros

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Just as Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker predicted, the sun came up for the Houston Astros on Tuesday morning and it set in time for Game 4 of their American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox at Jam-packed Fenway Park. After the 12-3 throttling the ‘Stros took at the hands of the Sox on Monday, all signs pointed towards another Boston victory.

Momentum be damned.

The pundits’ predictions for three straight for the Red Sox at Fenway were plentiful. Yet, experience and past results showed that one game does not a series make. Best-of-seven playoff series often have pendulum-like sways and they play with the minds of the media, the fans but not the teams and players.

Case in point:

  • Game 1: The Houston Astros won, 5-4, at home and took control of the series
  • Game 2: The Boston Red Sox won, 9-5, at Houston and escaped Texas with home field advantage in their pockets.
  • Game 3: The Red Sox lambaste the Astros, 12-3, to go up 2-1 in the series and gain control and all momentum.
  • Game 4: The Astros strike back, 9-2 at Fenway, making the series a best-of-three with Houston regaining home field ad.

Game 5 is late this afternoon at Fenway Park where the bright setting sun will cast shadows on the field, and make right fielders cringe upon every fly ball hit towards the Pru. If you ask the old Oakland Raiders of the NFL, you’ll also be reminded that the Autumn Wind is a Pirate. We’ll just have to see as Mother Nature has been kind to MLB as October 20’s weather forecast could easily be for September 1st.

Houston will send Framber Valdez out to the mound while Boston will stake its season with Chris Sale pitching the pivotal fifth game of the ALCS. Sox fans yearn for the days of yesteryear when Sale was an automatic “W,” and 10 strike-outs were the norm. Instead, we’ll see if Sale can bounce back from two subpar postseason outings, each coming after he’s battled an inflamed elbow, Tommy John surgery (March 30, 2020) and a slow return as the 2020 and 2021 MLB seasons marched on while the world battled COVID-19.

Sale’s last outing was Game 1 of the ALCS in Houston. He gave up five hits and an earned run but only pitched 2.2 innings. His first start of the MLB Postseason was Game 2 of the AL Divisional Series vs. Tampa Bay when he allowed five earned runs on four hits and lasted just one inning.

Not great.

Sale and Valdez matched-up in Game 1 of this series and Valdez wasn’t much better, allowing three runs (two earned.thank-you Jose Altuve), six hits with three walks in 2.2 innings pitched. In that series opener, each team utilized eight pitchers in another four hour epic.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora remains quite confident he’ll see a batter version of his one-time ace.

“He’ll be fine,” said Cora after Tuesday night’s Boston loss. “The way he threw the ball at the end of that outing in Houston, it was good. The way he worked in between starts, it was good. He will be ready.”

What did veteran and perfect prognosticator Baker think?

“This (series) is enjoying baseball as if you are a child,” said the Astros manager as if he were reading scrips for the motion picture, Field of Dreams.  “You know, this is one of the great things about baseball. When you’re dead in the water and things aren’t going good, and then all of a sudden, ‘boom, boom, boom,’ and you’ve got seven runs. That’s what they’ve been doing to us this whole series, and we’re capable of doing that as well.”

Baker is an amazing and respected baseball man who boils it down, knew the sun would rise once again for his ‘Stros, and that his team is close and getting closer by the game and the series.

Game 5s are a better prognosticator than Baker, however. This afternoon marks the seventh ALCS to be tied at 2-2 since the best-of-7 format began in 1985. Since then, six of the clubs that won Game 5 went on to win the pennant (all except the 2017 Yankees vs. these Houston Astros).

In other words, expect one hell of a Game 5 and to the winner … a ticket to the World Series awaits.

 

Red Sox Making an October Statement

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – If it’s possible to make a statement in an October Major League Baseball game, the Boston Red Sox did so Monday night with a 12-3 demolition of the Houston Astros. The Boston victory in Game 3 of their American League Championship Series (ALCS), complete with three towering home runs came while while the Red Sox pitching staff limited the potent Houston offense to five scattered hits. The win gave Boston a 2-1 series lead.

In nearly all of professional sports, a combination of losing home field advantage in Game 2 and then getting throttled by nine in Game 3 would be such devastation that the losing team would fold up the tents and make vacation plans for Cancun for October 26-to-November 3.

But, not so for baseball. Not so for the Houston Astros.

The Astros are making their fifth consecutive appearance in the ALCS, splitting the previous four championship series, 2-2, and winning the World Series in 2017. To say they’ve been battle tested is an understatement. In the 2020 ALCS, the ‘Stros dropped the first three games to the Tampa Bay Rays only to become the second team in MLB history to fight back to play a Game 7. The Rays advanced but lost to the LA Dodgers, 4-2, in the 2020 World Series.

In Game 2 of the 2019 World Series against the Washington Nationals, the Astros dropped the first two games of the series at home with Game 2 a 12-3 shellacking (sound familiar?) That statement game by the Washington Nationals resulted in the Nationals returning home and proceeding to drop three straight to the Astros in a World Series where no team won on their home field.

When the Astros won their World Championship in 2017, they endured a devastating 6-2 loss in Game 4, allowing five runs to the LA Dodgers in the top of the 9th inning but bounced back to take an incredible 13-12 extra inning Game 5 win. After Justin Verlander and the Astros lost Game 6 in LA, Houston rebounded to take Game 7 with a 5-1 win. That series victory was tainted when Sports Illustrated revealed a pitch-tipping controversy a month after the series concluded.

Big-time victories don’t seem to carry over in Major League Baseball. when Nick Pivetta and Zack Greinke warm-up for Game 4 tonight, the canvas will be clean and Boston’s 12-3 Monday night win will be a distant memory for an Astros lineup that can crank it just as hard as the Red Sox did in Game 3.

In the pivotal game, Boston lived by the long-ball. In the bottom of the 2nd inning with the score already 2-0 Red Sox, newly acquired 1B Kyle Schwarber stepped-up to the plate with the bases loaded after a costly error by Houston All-Star 2B Jose Altuve. Astros starting pitcher Jose Urquidy misfired three times, twice with his four seam fastball and once with a change-up to take the count to 3-0 versus the dangerous, Fenway-loving bat of Schwarber.

Despite the 3-0 count and pressure mounting on the 26-year old Urquidy, pitching in his second season in the majors, Boston Manager Alex Coro gave his slugger the “green light” and Schwarber delivered with a 430-foot blast of a Grand Slam to right field to make the score 6-0, Boston.

Insurance runs were supplied by Sox 2B Christian Arroyo who hit a 399-foot, two-run homer in the bottom of the 3rd inning to elevate the Sox lead to 9-0 and J.D. Martinez’ 395-foot, two run dinger over Fenway’s Green Monster left field wall to put the Red Sox ahead 11-3 in the 6th. Two innings later, Raphael Devers placed an exclamation point on the Sox statement when he took Ryne Stanek for a 372-foot blast, crushing a 96 mph fastball over the Monster.

Not to be lost in the offensive barrage, Boston starter Eduardo “E-Rod” Rodriguez pitched for six innings, allowing only five hits, three runs while striking out seven. He was backed-up by scoreless innings tossed by each of Hansel Robles, Martin Perez and Hirokazu Sawamura.

“We’re playing good baseball, I think, all around, running the bases well, playing good defense, pitching well,” said Coro after the 12-3, Game 3 win. “Offensively this is the best we’ve been the whole season, and they’re locked in right now. The preparation – it’s a lot better right now. The communication is a lot better. Like I said, now it’s not about 30 homers or 100 RBIs. Now it’s about winning four games, and they’re doing everything possible in that batter’s box to grind at-bats and to put good at-bats, and they’re doing that.”

All that said, the scores will be wiped clean, by hand, on Fenway’s ancient scoreboard when the first pitch of Game 4 is thrown at 8:08pm (ET) tonight.

Houston Manager, the great Dusty Baker said it best, “They count as one (win). We come back and win tomorrow, the season — the series is even. I mean, you don’t like it. I’m not very happy about it, but you got to flush this one because you can’t bring this one or the last one back until tomorrow. And so, like I said, you don’t like it tonight, but the sun is going to come up in the morning.”

ALCS: Sox and ‘Stros Vie for Game 3

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BOSTON –  (Staff and Wire Services Reports and Preview Material – Boston’s DH J.D. Martinez and 3B Rafael Devers uncorked two grand samplings of power Saturday to lead the Red Sox and even their American League Championship Series with the Houston Astros at one game apiece. Tonight, the Red Sox return to Fenway Park with home field advantage and some serious momentum on their side as they host the Astros for a pivotal Game 3 in their best-of-seven showdown.

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Martinez and Devers became the first pair of teammates in MLB’s postseason history to hit Grand Slams in the same game, doing so in the first and second innings respectively of Boston’s decisive 9-5 win in Game 2 on Saturday at Houston. Boston cruised to the key win with a fourth-inning solo homer from Enrique “Kike” Hernandez, who continued his big to be the new “Mr. October” with a 2-for-4 performance to make him 16-for-32 (.500) with five home runs and nine RBIs through seven 2021 MLB Postseason games.

A career .242 hitter, Hernandez has an MLB-record 15 hits over his last five playoff games and became the first Red Sox batter to homer five times in five postseason games. He has already matched Todd Walker (2003) and former Sox DH David Ortiz (2004 and 2013) for the club record for home runs in a single postseason.

Already without injured ace Lance McCullers Jr., the Astros’ rotation took another blow in the form of an injury to Game 2 starter Luis Garcia. He exited after serving up the grand slam to Martinez, leaving potential Game 4 starter Jake Odorizzi to pitch in a surprise mop-up role.

“I was caught off guard by it. I think everybody was,” Odorizzi said. “I sucked up four innings. That’s the best way of putting it. Those can be crucial as we move forward in the series.”

Houston right-hander Jose Urquidy is set to make his postseason debut in a critical spot as he starts Game 3. The 26-year-old had been in line to start Game 4 of the team’s AL Division Series against the Chicago White Sox before it was rained out. Urquidy went 8-3 with a 3.62 ERA over 20 starts in the regular season. In his postseason career, he is 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA in eight appearances (four starts).

Boston will counter with left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1, 5.40 ERA). The 28-year-old went winless in two playoff starts against Tampa Bay in the ALDS and is 0-1 with a 7.02 ERA in 10 career postseason games (three starts).

Rodriguez struggled in two regular-season starts against Houston as he went 0-1 with an 11.57 ERA in 9 1/3 innings. Overall, Rodriguez is 1-3 with an 8.53 ERA in six career starts against the Astros.

The Urquidy-Rodriguez duel has led to a relatively high (for postseason) Over/Under of 9.0 runs at DraftKings. Then, there’s the Fenway Park factor, as well.  Game 3 will mark the first of three ALCS games to be played at The Fens, a band-box for run scoring, especially if the New England winds kick in.

Boston Needs to Make Texas Toast

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – In a recent Digital Sports Desk column which had a general theme, “When they go low, we go high,” the finer points of the City of Tampa were underlined and applauded as opposed to the B.S. that the New York Post threw at the City of Boston when the New York Yankees were the guests at America’s Most Beloved Ballpark, Fenway Park. While the Post proclaimed, “Boston Sucks,” Digital Sports Desk took the high road and pointed out that Tampa had a title-town winning streak ongoing with the reigning Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL and the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL. Tampa also claimed direct connections with the likes of hometown heroes such as musicians Ray Charles, Cannonball Adderley, Stephen Stills, David Sanborn and the model and actress Lauren Hutton.

The obvious question as the weekend of October 15-16-17 approaches and the fans of Houston wonder “What Say You?”

Houston is NOT a “HELL HOLE,” as the New York Post’s Wallace Matthews once wrote when the Knicks faced the Rockets in the 1994 NBA Finals. It is the most populous city in the State of Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States with 2.3 million people and growing.

Certainly, Houston’s most famous claim to fame is the Johnson Space Center and “Mission Control” for the many NASA missions exploring outer space. Houston is called “Space City” and “H-Town.” The Houston Astros, once the “Colt 45s,” won the World Series in 2017 but not without controversy of sign stealing and drum-banging that cost GM Jeff Luhnow and Manager A.J. Hinch their jobs, along with Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora (who was then a bench coach for the ‘Stros before taking the reins in Boston for the 2018 World Series title season).

Houston was home to the then “mod” Astrodome, then known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” The indoor baseball venue was the very first “dome,” built beginning in 1962 and opened in 1965. It hosted rock shows (Elvis, The Stones, Pink Floyd), heavyweight title fights (Ali) and the college basketball game of the century which featured 52,963 fans watching Elvin Hayes (39 points) and the University of Houston defeat the UCLA Bruins of Coach John Wooden and center Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) 71-69 on January 20, 1968.

Houston was the home of United States Presidents George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush. It claims a wide variety of famous singers, songwriters, actresses and models, from Kenny Rogers to Lyle Lovett to Kelly Emberg (model) or Charlies’ Angels star Jaclyn Smith. Boxing great George Foreman hails from Houston, as does the greatest gymnast of all-time, Simone Biles.

Houston has active arts and theatre, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and is widely known as a tech and medical center of the world, especially fighting every dreaded form of cancer.

How could Matthews ever call Houston a hell hole when it is the hometown of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter and Destiny’s Child and two-time Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger is from nearby Katy, Texas?

The Red Sox will have their hands filled with the Astros this weekend, as the American League Championship Series (ALCS) opens up in Texas. The Astros went 95-67 this season and took the American League West title. This year will be the ‘Stros fifth consecutive appearance in the ALCS. The Astros lost the likes of outfielder George Springer (Toronto) and pitcher Gerrit Cole (NY Yankees) to free agency and are still great.

As MLB’s version of a “Final Four” has arrived, the sports world of Boston is not focused solely on baseball. Out in Foxboro, another Texas team, the vaunted Dallas Cowboys, will pay a visit to play the New England Patriots this Sunday (4:25pm). NFC East leader Dallas arrives with a 4-1 record and as winners of four straight, while the hometown Patriots are 2-3 and will need to compete mightily in order to gain a wild card berth in the NFL Playoffs. Nevertheless, the Cowboys vs Patriots will have “big game” status and higher TV ratings than the other three major sports combined.

Speaking of other major sports, the Boston Bruins will open their 2021-22 NHL season with a home game against another Texas team, the Dallas Stars, on Saturday night. The Bruins’ season begins with high hopes for another trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and maybe even another appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, largely dependent on the backline defense and goaltending sans the great, but injured, free agent Tuukka Rask (hip surgery).

It doesn’t end there, as the 75th Anniversary season of the NBA is soon to begin and the Boston Celtics will open on the road against longtime rival New York Knickerbockers with a Wednesday, October 20 appointment at Madison Square Garden. That game will be up against a possible Game 5 of the ALCS, as the series will move to Fenway Park for Game 3, 4, 5, scheduled October 18-19-20, with seasonal weather forecasts to delight the faithful fans at The Fens.

Lastly, the Boston College Eagles (4-1, 0-1 in ACC) will play a make it or break it ACC matchup in Chestnut Hill this Saturday night when the N.C. State Wolfpack (4-1, 1-0 in ACC) visits The Heights. Although it’s still relatively early in the college football season, the outcome of the game for the Eagles — especially at home — will determine their ability to compete for the upper echelons of the ACC. Believe it or not, this game is likely to determine Bowl eligibility and/or destinations for B.C.

The week of Boston sports festivities begins tonight in Houston when Red Sox ace Chris Sale (5-1) takes to the mound against Framber Valdez (11-6) of the Astros. Sale was shelled his last time out against the Tampa Bay Rays but has worked his mechanics ever since the October 8 debacle when he threw only one inning but let up five earned runs in a game the Red Sox managed to win 14-6. Boston exploded with five home runs in that game, which turned their series around and helped the Sox advance to the ALCS with a 3-1 series upset over Tampa.

Bruins Extend Defenseman McAvoy

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BOSTON – (Source: Official Team News Release) – Boston General Manager Don Sweeney signed Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy to an eight-year contract extension with an annual NHL cap hit of $9.5 million.

McAvoy, 23, played in 51 games with Boston in 2020-21, recording five goals and 25 assists for 30 points and a plus-22 rating to lead all Bruins defenseman. In 11 playoff games, McAvoy recorded one goal and 11 assists for 12 points. His 12 points tied with Brad Marchand for second on the team in playoff scoring, trailing only David Pastrnak.

Following the season, McAvoy finished fifth in the voting for the Norris Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top defenseman.

The Long Beach, NY native has appeared in 235 career NHL games with Boston, totaling 24 goals and 98 assists for 122 points. In 65 career playoff games with the Bruins, McAvoy has recorded five goals and 27 assists for 32 points. Since entering the league in 2017, McAvoy ranks second among all defenseman in plus-minus with a plus-80 rating.  McAvoy was originally selected by Boston in the first round (14th overall) of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.