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Red Sox Face Tough Series vs ATL

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Atlanta Braves will attempt to jump-start their slumping offense when they visit the Boston Red Sox for the opener of a two-game series tonight. The Braves averaged 3.4 runs per game in May, which was fewer than every major league team except the White Sox and Reds. Atlanta scored nine runs in a 11-9 loss to Oakland on Saturday, but was held to seven hits in a 3-1 victory over the A’s on Sunday.

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“I look through individually and see a lot of positives, quite honestly, with some guys offensively, which is what we’ve been trying to do,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We haven’t been playing bad baseball — we’ve been playing good baseball — we just haven’t hit. I see light at the end of the tunnel with a bunch of those guys.

“I see a lot of really good things out of the offense, and the good thing is these guys have been struggling offensively and they’ve just been playing the heck out of defense. … From my seat the hitting thing is going to come. I can’t go in there and blow anything up because we’re not playing bad baseball. We’re playing good baseball, we’re just not hitting.”

Atlanta will be facing a Boston team trying to create some positive energy. The Red Sox lost two out of three games against Milwaukee and two out of three against Baltimore before splitting four games against Detroit in a series that ended Sunday. Boston had a 3-0 lead in Sunday’s game, but ended up losing 8-4 in 10 innings.

Boston manager Alex Cora said although his team was in position to win the series against Detroit, he was not frustrated with Sunday’s loss.

“Not really,” he said. “We know where we’re at. We were playing five rookies today. We got to be realistic. We’re playing good baseball, that’s the thing. We had a chance to win three out of four. It didn’t happen, but for some reason with this group we don’t get frustrated. Just keep teaching them the game and help them to be better.

“We got a tough one coming up with the Braves. Hopefully we win it and then go to Chicago (White Sox) and have a good weekend over there. It’ll be good for us this week to gain some momentum.”

Boston’s Rafael Devers went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, a triple and a game-tying home run in the eighth inning during Sunday’s loss. Devers enters Tuesday’s game batting .283 with 11 home runs, 29 RBIs and a .924 OPS.

“He keeps getting better and he understands who he is, not only on this team but in the industry,” Cora said. “He’s one of the best players in the league.”

Left-hander Max Fried (5-2, 2.97 ERA) is Atlanta’s probable starter for Tuesday’s game. Fried pitched eight innings in a 2-0 victory over Washington last Tuesday. He allowed seven hits, struck out six and walked one.

Fried is 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA in his only career start against Boston. He gave up two runs on five hits in five innings, struck out five and walked two.

Right-hander Kutter Crawford (2-4, 3.29) is scheduled to start for Boston. Crawford did not factor in the decision in his only career appearance against Atlanta. On May 7, he surrendered two runs on five hits in six innings, struck out six and walked two in a 4-2 loss at Atlanta.

–Field Level Media

Devers Doubles Sox to Victory

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s Rafael Devers hit a two-run double with two outs in the eighth inning to propel the Red Sox to a 4-2 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Saturday.

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Devers’ line-drive double hit the base of the wall in left field and broke a 2-2 tie by driving in Romy Gonzalez and Tyler O’Neill. Gonzalez reached on a fielder’s choice before O’Neill was walked intentionally. Devers had two of Boston’s six hits.

Wilyer Abreu hit his fourth home run of the season for Boston, which ended a three-game losing streak. The Red Sox were 2 for 29 with runners in scoring position during those three losses.

Chris Martin (2-1) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to earn the win. Kenley Jansen struck out two of three batters he faced in the ninth to record his sixth save.

Reliever Robert Garcia (0-2), who surrendered the double to Devers, took the loss.

Joey Meneses and Eddie Rosario each homered for Washington.

Boston starting pitcher Cooper Criswell went five innings. He allowed two runs on three hits, walked one and recorded a career-high nine strikeouts. It was a 2-2 game when he exited.

Washington’s Jake Irvin gave up two runs on four hits in seven innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.

Meneses opened the scoring by leading off the second with a solo home run, his first home run of the season.

The Red Sox tied the game at 1 on Abreu’s home run in the third.

After Rosario homered on a ball that hit the Carlton Fisk pole in left field to give Washington a 2-1 lead in the fifth, Boston pulled even when Jarren Duran’s two-out double drove in David Hamilton to make it a 2-2 game in the bottom half of the inning. Rosario’s homer was his fourth of the season.

CJ Abrams had two of Washington’s four hits.

-Field Level Media

SMU in Enemy Territory at Fenway Bowl

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – No. 24 SMU aims for its 10th consecutive win when it treks north to meet future Atlantic Coast Conference foe Boston College in the second-ever Fenway Bowl on Thursday at Boston’s beloved Fenway Park.

The Mustangs are 11-2, beating Tulane 26-14 to win the American Athletic Conference championship — their first crown since 1984 in the Southwest Conference — following an 8-0 record in league play.

SMU has outscored opponents by more than 23 points per game and has logged 466.2 yards of offense per game. The Mustangs’ only two losses came at then-No. 18 Oklahoma and TCU, which played for the national championship last January.

Despite the success, SMU was not selected for a New Year’s Six game.

“The bottom line is we’re still celebrating (a conference championship) and we’re not going to let things that maybe we don’t agree with overshadow that,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said of the bowl announcement.

After star sophomore quarterback Preston Stone broke his leg in the regular-season finale against Navy, SMU turned to Kevin Jennings for his first career start in the AAC title game. The redshirt freshman threw for 203 yards and a touchdown.

The Mustangs’ balanced offense has accounted for 32 passing and 28 rushing touchdowns. SMU has eight 300-yard receivers, led by RJ Maryland’s 518 with seven touchdowns. Jaylan Knighton has 720 rushing yards and seven scores.

SMU ranks second nationally in sacks with 47, behind Elijah Roberts’ 10. The Mustangs are sixth in scoring offense at 40.6 points per game.

Lashlee, who was UConn’s offensive coordinator for a 2017 game against Boston College at Fenway Park, knows the significance of finishing the season on a high note.

“We haven’t won a bowl game here (since 2012), we need to try to accomplish that,” Lashlee said. “Getting (win) No. 12 to tie the school record would be big time. Whether or not we win or lose, that game’s not going to really validate or diminish this team’s accomplishment, I think it’s pretty cemented.”

The Eagles (6-6) look to the bowl invitation as a fresh start after losing to Virginia Tech, Pitt and Miami consecutively to end the regular season, following a five-game win streak that was their longest since 2010.

Thomas Castellanos ranks third in the country for rushing yards by a quarterback with 957. The UCF transfer threw for 15 touchdowns – including seven to Lewis Bond – and ran for 11 during the regular year.

Coach Jeff Hafley feels that Castellanos is throwing the ball as well as he has as an Eagle.

“He’s got a chance to be special,” Hafley said. “I think we’re only seeing the very surface of it.”

The bowl will offer a glimpse of Boston College’s future. Team-leading linebacker and captain Vinny DePalma (87 total tackles) is one of only three graduate students listed as a definite starter on the depth chart.

“That’s rare around college football right now,” Hafley said. “The guys that are gonna play in this game, maybe less than five are leaving. I think it’s really important to keep building.”

The Eagles have been bowl eligible four times since 2018, but only the 2020 Birmingham Bowl was actually played due to weather or COVID-19 protocols during that stretch.

Louisville beat Cincinnati 24-7 in the inaugural Fenway Bowl in 2022.

–Field Level Media

Rays Hobble Into Fenway for Pair

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Tampa Bay Rays’ chances of an American League East championship are fading as their injury list grows ahead of Tuesday’s visit to Boston, the first of a two-game series against the division rival Red Sox.

With a wild-card spot already in hand, Tampa Bay (95-62) sits 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the East with a week of the regular season to play, but three more players were sidelined for at least part of this past weekend’s series at Toronto.

The Rays lost 9-5 in Sunday’s deciding game of the series – and lost All-Star first baseman Yandy Diaz due to right hamstring tightness in the second inning.

“It’s going to be very difficult (down the stretch),” infielder Isaac Paredes said through a translator. “We’ve lost a lot of key players and position players as well. I think we need to just make sure these young guys are going to do a good job of making up for it.”

Paredes hit his 30th home run of the season during the Sunday loss.

Outfielder Randy Arozarena (right quad tightness) and setup man Robert Stephenson (neck soreness) missed the entire weekend. And that was after center fielder Jose Siri and second baseman Brandon Lowe were among four additions to the injured list in a 12-day span.

“The expectation this year was to win at a high clip and put ourselves in position to get to the postseason,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “(But) if you would have told me in spring training that all of this stuff would have happened – the injuries and everything else – I probably would have been scratching my head a little bit.”

With Aaron Civale “under the weather,” according to Cash, the Tuesday pitching nod goes to fellow right-hander Zach Eflin (15-8, 3.44).

The 29-year-old Eflin struck out double-digit batters in two of his past six starts, including his Thursday outing against the Los Angeles Angels when he fanned 10 across five innings of two-run ball but did not factor into the decision. His two starts prior were victories.

Eflin has made three starts against Boston in his career, logging a 6.43 ERA and 21 strikeouts over 14 innings.

After consecutive one-run losses and not scoring more than three runs in all three weekend games against the Chicago White Sox, Boston (76-80) will counter with Tanner Houck (5-9, 4.92) in its penultimate home game of the season.

The 27-year-old righty allowed two runs in four innings Tuesday at Texas, breaking up a streak of three straight five-inning starts that included six shutout frames against the New York Yankees five days earlier.

Houck, Kutter Crawford and Garrett Whitlock are all essentially auditioning for a spot in the starting rotation to begin next season. Crawford struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings in Sunday’s rain-shortened loss.

“I think it applies to all (three),” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “I mean, you can always adjust to the other role. Right now, we don’t know (who will be starters in 2024). … And then at one point, somebody’s going to take over, and if we have to make adjustments, we will.”

Houck is 0-2 with a 6.30 ERA in two career starts against Tampa Bay.

The Red Sox have also seen contributions from youngsters in the lineup in September, including the talented, versatile Ceddanne Rafaela and fellow rookie Wilyer Abreu, who hit his second career homer Sunday.

–Field Level Media

Yankees: Not Ready for Prime Time

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Justin Turner had a career-high-tying six RBIs and Masataka Yoshida posted his first career four-hit game as the host Boston Red Sox rolled past the rival New York Yankees 15-5 on Friday night. The Red Sox reached their season high in both runs and hits (17).

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Turner went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and a grand slam, and Yoshida finished 4-for-4 to help Boston compile a season-high 17 hits.

Alex Verdugo, Triston Casas and Pablo Reyes had two hits apiece for the Red Sox, who have won back-to-back games and improved to 3-1 against New York this season.

Red Sox starter Tanner Houck exited the game after taking Kyle Higashioka’s comebacker off the head in the top of the fifth. He walked off under his own power, with blood on his right cheek, and he was diagnosed with a facial contusion.

Joe Jacques (1-0) earned his first major league win despite allowing three runs (one earned) in two innings.

Josh Donaldson went 2-for-4 and Anthony Rizzo had three RBIs for New York.

Boston led 4-1 before a six-run third broke the game wide open. Adam Duvall hit a leadoff double, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Yoshida’s base hit. Christian Arroyo followed with a double that ended Yankees starter Domingo German’s outing and continued the inning.

Reyes hit an RBI single off Matt Krook to make it 6-1. After a Verdugo single, Turner crushed a grand slam to straightaway center to bring the Red Sox into double digits.

In the fourth, Connor Wong and Reyes hit back-to-back RBI singles.

New York got back on the board in the sixth as Rizzo lined a two-run double to center and scored on Billy McKinney’s single. A Casas RBI single gave Boston a run in the next half-inning.

Donaldson hit a towering solo homer in the eighth, and Casas replied with an RBI double in the bottom of the frame.

The Yankees got on the board in the first inning as Jake Bauers hit a leadoff double into the right field corner and scored on Rizzo’s groundout.

It did not take much time for the home team to respond and flip the score as Yoshida’s two-out, two-run double made it 2-1 in the bottom of the first. A Turner double and Rafael Devers walk with one out set up the Japanese star.

The Red Sox extended their lead when Turner hit a two-run shot into the Green Monster seats after Verdugo’s two-out double in the second.

German (4-4) was charged with seven hits and seven runs over two-plus innings. He walked two and struck out one.

–Field Level Media

Can Rockies Sweep Sockies?

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Colorado Rockies hope left-hander Austin Gomber can improve on his recent form as they attempt to complete a three-game road sweep of the Boston Red Sox  tonight. Colorado earned 10-inning wins at Boston the past two nights, prevailing 4-3 on Monday and 7-6 on Tuesday.

The Rockies scored three runs in the top of the 10th on Tuesday, then held on despite Rafael Devers‘ second two-run homer of the night in the bottom of the frame to seal their third straight victory.

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“It was a good team win,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “A lot of guys in a lot of different spots helped out.”

The Red Sox have lost their past five home games, and they are just 4-11 in their past 15 games in Boston. They have dropped five of the past seven contests overall.

“Keep playing hard, clean up a few things and go from there,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said following the Tuesday defeat. “We just have to play well. That’s it. Two extra-inning games, kind of a flip of the coin, right? … From my end, it’s not deflating.”

Gomber (4-5, 7.57 ERA) allowed 15 runs on 25 hits in just 10 2/3 innings over his past three starts. He walked eight and struck out eight during that span.

Gomber took the loss in his latest outing after he surrendered 11 hits — including three home runs — and seven runs in four-plus innings during a 9-6 defeat against the San Diego Padres on Friday. All three home runs came on four-seam fastballs.

The 29-year-old Florida native, who is in his fifth major league season, has not pitched against the Red Sox.

Rockies reliever Daniel Bard earned the win in each of the first two games in the series. The Red Sox selected Bard with the 28th overall pick in the 2006 draft, and he pitched for Boston from 2009-13.

“We’re pushing Daniel a bit because we think things are coming together for him,” Rockies manager Bud Black said of Bard, who has a 0.87 ERA in 20 2/3 innings over 20 appearances this season.

The Rockies haven’t swept an opponent since they won three straight against the Milwaukee Brewers from May 2-4.

Right-hander Garrett Whitlock (3-2, 4.78 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for Boston, and unlike Gomber, he’s trending in a positive direction. He is a 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in his past three starts.

Whitlock outdueled Gerrit Cole in his most recent outing, a 3-2 win against the New York Yankees on Friday. Whitlock yielded two runs (one earned) on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out six and issued one walk.

Whitlock replaced Corey Kluber in Boston’s rotation after Kluber, a two-time American League Cy Young Award winner, began the season with a 2-6 record and a 6.26 ERA in his first nine appearances. Whitlock has not faced Colorado during his career.

Despite Devers’ heroics on Tuesday, the Red Sox went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

The Wednesday game will be the third contest of a 10-game road trip for the Rockies, who will start a four-game series at Atlanta on Thursday before finishing the trip with three at Cincinnati.

The Red Sox are 0-2 to start a six-game homestand that concludes with a three-game visit from the New York Yankees this weekend.

–Field Level Media

Sox vs. Twins: Strange Game – Indeed

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston outfielder Alex Verdugo’s RBI single off the base of the right field wall, near the famed Pesky Pole, came with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning and capped a three-run rally and gave the Boston Red Sox a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins Tuesday night.

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The Red Sox trailed 4-2 until Reese McGuire hit a two-run single with no outs in the 10th. After Jarren Duran singled to load the bases, the Twins turned a double play before Verdugo’s third hit of the game scored McGuire with the winning run.

The Twins took a 3-2 lead when Byron Buxton’s sacrifice fly scored Nick Gordon in the top of the 10th. Minnesota made it 4-2 when Donovan Solano scored from third on Jose Miranda’s groundout later in the inning.

Chris Sale started for the Red Sox and struck out 11 in six innings. He allowed a run on three hits and walked two.

It was a 1-1 game when Sale exited the mound, and Max Kepler homered on the second pitch from reliever Josh Winckowski to give the Twins a 2-1 lead in the seventh. It was Kepler’s second home run of the season.

Boston tied the game in the eighth, when Enrique Hernandez scored from third on a fielder’s-choice grounder from Duran. Hernandez had gone from first to third when Minnesota’s Christian Vazquez was called for catcher’s interference.

Rafael Devers, Justin Turner and Duran each collected two hits for the Red Sox, who outhit the Twins 12-4. Minnesota also committed two errors.

Minnesota starting pitcher Sonny Gray limited the Red Sox to one run on seven hits in five innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

The Red Sox opened the scoring in the first, when Verdugo led off with a double and came home on a Devers single. The Twins tied the game in the fifth on a Carlos Correa bases-loaded sacrifice fly that scored Michael Taylor.

John Schreiber (1-0) got the win despite allowing two runs, one earned, in the top of the 10th. The Red Sox earned their fourth victory in five games.

Jovani Moran (0-1) took the loss, Minnesota’s third in a row.

–Field Level Media

It’s Opening Day at Fenway Park

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BOSTON – The Boston Red Sox face the Minnesota Twins in their home opener at Fenway Park after a six-game road trip to open the season. Boston split the six games and meet a Twins team that is (2-4) over their first six contests of 2022.

Between the fact it’s Opening Day, along with MLB’s league-wide tribute to Jackie Robinson, the 75th anniversary of NY/MLB’s first game at Ebbets Field, The Hub’s “ONE Boston” day to memorialize the victims of the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and a home opening tribute to longtime Red Sox second baseman and TV commentator Jerry Remy, there’s a lot going on at the ballpark.

The Red Sox are in the midst of a stretch of six consecutive games when they play afternoon baseball. Eight of the Red Sox first 10 games of 2022 are scheduled for day games, including this Monday’s 11:10am (ET) start to celebrate Patriots’ Day in the Commonwealth and the running of the Boston Marathon.

The next time Boston plays a night game will be Monday, April 19th vs Toronto.

Boston will be playing games on 17 consecutive days (April 15-May 1)

TODAY’S STARTING PITCHERS: Twins: Joe Ryan (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, four strikeouts); Red Sox: Nick Pivetta (0-1, 6.35 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, four strikeouts).

 

 

The 2021 Gutter Bowls

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BOSTON – The (Wasabi) Fenway Bowl, which was scheduled to feature Virginia and SMU, was cancelled and the Boston College Eagles will have “no contest” declared for the second time since 2018 as the 2021 Military Bowl was scrapped for the second year in a row because of concerns of COVID-19. It is the second straight year the Fenway Bowl game, which has never been played, has been canceled because of the virus.

Boston College was forced to decline participation of its matchup against East Carolina, scheduled for Monday, due to a combination of COVID-19 cases and injuries while the Fenway Bowl, featuring SMU and Virginia, was canceled Sunday after positive COVID-19 test results on its roster. The game was set to be the final one for coach Bronco Mendenhall at Virginia after he resigned from the program earlier this month. SMU had already traveled to Boston for the game.

The bowls are the second and third outright cancellations of the 2021-22 College Football bowl season, joining Hawaii pulling out of the Hawaii Bowl against Memphis on Christmas Eve. Additionally, Texas A&M was forced to pull out of the Gator Bowl due to COVID issues, but Rutgers stepped up to take the Aggies’ place as a 5-7 squad. Last season, 18 bowls were canceled by the pandemic.

The matchup is the second straight bowl game canceled for SMU, though the Mustangs would have been without a bulk of the coaching staff after former coach Sonny Dykes left for TCU. The Virginia Cavaliers were in pursuit of their third winning season in the last four years under Mendenhall before new coach Tony Elliott takes over the program.

For East Carolina, the cancellation is especially disappointing. The Pirates have not played in a bowl game since 2014 but earned a 7-5 record in Coach Mike Houston’s third season. Boston College has not won a bowl game since 2016.

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.