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Three Down, Now Three Up

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DETROIT – Boston’s rookie first baseman Triston Casas homered and added an RBI double as the Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 4-1 on Sunday to take a three-game sweep immediately after they dropped three straight to Pittsburgh in their opening home stand.

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“This is what we came here to do,” Casas said. “We knew we underperformed in (a three-game sweep at) Pittsburgh, and we couldn’t let that happen again. The offense was great, the pitching was great and so was the bullpen. This is how we are capable of playing.”

Boston starter Kutter Crawford (1-1) allowed one run and five hits in five innings. He struck out six without walking a batter.

“Kutter did what we need, which is what we got from the starters in all three games, and the bullpen was terrific,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “Triston put two really good swings on the ball and helped us win the game.”

Red Sox outfielder Adam Duvall, hitting .455 with four homers and 14 RBI, left in the ninth after injuring his left wrist while diving for Spencer Torkelson’s bloop single.

Duvall, who had surgery on the same wrist in 2022, was having X-rays after the game. Cora said the team was still waiting for results.

Rob Refsnyder reached base three times, scored once and drove in a run for the Red Sox, who outscored Detroit 24-9 in the series.

Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his second save. Detroit loaded the bases with one out, but Zach McKinstry flied out and Akil Baddoo struck out.

“We kept fighting all the way, and we had some chances late in the game,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re still chasing a little bit and that keeps coming back to haunt us. We have to get more balls into play.”

Matthew Boyd (0-1) yielded two runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings as Detroit fell to 2-7.

“I could have been a lot better,” said Boyd, who hasn’t gotten out of the fifth inning in either start this season. “I just had a couple spurts where I lost my rhythm and delivery.”

The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the first with some help from Boston’s defense. With two outs, shortstop Kiké Hernandez threw wide to first on Javy Baez’s infield single, and Kerry Carpenter reached when the third strike got away from catcher Connor Wong. Torkelson followed with an RBI single.

Casas tied it with an RBI double in the second, and the Red Sox took the lead in the fifth when Wong doubled and scored on Refsnyder’s single.

The Red Sox took a 3-1 lead in the seventh. Refsnyder walked, went to third on a single by Rafael Devers and scored on Justin Turner’s sacrifice fly.

The Tigers had runners on second and third against Chris Martin in the eighth, but Carpenter grounded out to first.

Casas led off the ninth with a long homer to right-center.

Red Sox Drop Three to Pirates

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BOSTON – Three up, three down.

Pittsburgh’s starting pitcher Mitch Keller struck out seven, Carlos Santana homered and Bryan Reynolds knocked in his seventh run of the season as the Pirates completed a three-game sweep of the Red Sox with a 4-1 win Wednesday.

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Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in a run with a perfectly-placed bunt in the sixth and Santana added an RBI double during a two-run seventh that put the Pirates up 4-0.

It was the Pirates’ first road sweep of an American League opponent since Pittsburgh took three at Detroit in 2018.

“That’s a good Red Sox team and they score a bunch of runs. I was really proud of our pitchers and how they did a good job of neutralizing them,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said.

Pittsburgh improved to 4-2 on a cold, gray and blustery afternoon at Fenway Park, where the game-time temperature was 41 degrees. The Red Sox fell to 2-4.

Keller (1-0) braved short sleeves despite the conditions and held Boston to one run on four hits, striking out seven and walking two in seven innings. He carried a shutout into the seventh, when Triston Triston Casas doubled with two out and scored on a single by Christian Arroyo.

“We had used a lot of our leverage guys and were a little short,” Shelton said of Keller. “For him to give us seven strong and finish was really important. Outstanding outing by him.”

Boston’s Corey Kluber (0-1) held the Pirates to one run on three hits over five innings. The only run charged to Kluber was in the fourth, when Santana pounced on an inside cutter and drove it out to right for his first homer of the season, giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

“It’s good. Last night and today, I’m feeling much better,” said Santana, who was hitless in his previous 13 at-bats before the homer. “When you focus, something happens positive.”

John Schreiber started the sixth for Boston and faced Reynolds, who had homered in three straight games. He lined Schreiber’s first pitch for a double to left. Reynolds took third on an infield single by Andrew McCutchen and scored easily when Hayes dropped a bunt just a few feet inside the first-base line and ran it out for an infield hit.

Duane Underwood threw just five pitches in the ninth for his first save.

Keller and the Pirates had to weather a brief scare when a drive to right by pinch-hitter Reese McGuire with two on was initially called a home run, which would have tied it. The umpires briefly met and concluded it was foul, which was confirmed on a video review.

“That was kind of a crazy turn of events there,” Keller said. “I was watching the ball. I was kind of amazed that they called it fair.”

 

Sox Take Two of Three from O’s

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Wire Service Accounts) – After taking two of three from the visiting Baltimore Orioles on this 2023 season opening series, the Boston Red Sox know scoring nine runs in every game is satisfying — though not sustainable.

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“We’re probably not going to average nine runs a game all year long,” Kiké Hernández said after collecting two of the team’s 14 hits in a 9-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. “But I do believe that’s what we’re capable of.”

Coming off a last-place finish in 2022 and predicted to finish at the bottom of the AL East again this season, the Red Sox opened by beating Baltimore two out of three — scoring nine runs in each game. They are the third team in baseball history to score at least nine in three straight games to start a season, joining Cincinnati’s 1976 Big Red Machine and the ’78 Milwaukee Brewers known as “Bambi’s Bombers.”

One day after amassing four hits, including a walk-off homer, Adam Duvall had three more hits — two doubles and a two-run single to break a fifth-inning tie. The free agent outfielder collected his sixth extra-base hit of the season, becoming the first player in franchise history with six in his first three games with the team.

“We all knew that he was going to love Fenway Park, he’s going to love the Green Monster being that close,” Hernández said. “He drives in runs; that’s what he does. And when he hits the ball he hits it very hard. So so far, that’s been great.”

Tanner Houck (1-0) lasted five innings – the longest outing for a Red Sox starter this season — giving up three runs, five hits and a walk while striking out five. Hernández hit a solo homer, and Rafael Devers, Masataka Yoshida and Alex Verdugo each had two of Boston’s 14 hits.

Duvall played the first 10 years of his career in the NL before signing with Boston this offseason. But he already knew he liked Fenway Park, batting .407 with six homers and 12 RBI in six interleague games.

“He has done damage in this stadium before, and we’ve seen it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “But to do it with us means a lot. And to see that wall 81 times — hopefully plus — I think there’s a comfort level for him.”

After falling behind by six runs in each of the first two games, Boston led 3-0 after three innings. The Orioles tied it in the fifth with home runs by Adam Frazier and Cedric Mullins, but the Red Sox came back with three in the bottom half.

Red Sox Sign Non-Roster Camp Invitees

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – The Boston Red Sox have added 10 non-roster invitees to the team’s 2023 Spring Training roster: right-handed pitchers Dan Altavilla, Taylor Broadway, Durbin Feltman, Victor Santos, and Chase Shugart; infielders Christian Koss and Matthew Lugo; infielder/outfielders Ryan Fitzgerald and Nick Sogard; and catcher Stephen Scott. Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom made the announcement.

Dan Altavilla, RHP – Altavilla, 30, did not pitch in 2022 while recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in June 2021. The right-hander last pitched in 2021, making two relief appearances with the San Diego Padres. He owns a 4.03 ERA (52 ER/116.0 IP) in 119 career Major League outings with the Seattle Mariners (2016-20) and San Diego (2020-21), holding opponents to a .220 batting average (93-for-423) and .388 slugging percentage. The Pennsylvania native was selected by Seattle in the fifth round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of Mercyhurst University. He pitched for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod Baseball League in the summer of 2013.

Taylor Broadway, RHP – Broadway, 25, will be attending his first Major League Spring Training camp. The right-hander was acquired by Boston from the Chicago White Sox on August 30, 2022, completing the August 1 trade for Jake Diekman. In five outings with Double-A Portland after joining the Red Sox organization, he allowed one earned run over 6.0 innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks. Broadway spent most of 2022 at the Double-A level, going 4-2 with a 4.39 ERA (27 ER/55.1 IP) and 84 strikeouts between Birmingham (37 outings) and Portland. The Texas native was selected by the White Sox in the sixth round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Mississippi.

Durbin Feltman, RHP – Feltman, 25, will be attending his third consecutive Major League Spring Training camp with Boston. He spent all of 2022 with Triple-A Worcester, posting a 7.63 ERA (41 ER/48.1 IP) with 56 strikeouts in 40 outings. The right-hander has made 144 career minor league appearances, all in relief, going 14-10 with a 4.79 ERA (93 ER/174.2 IP) and 208 strikeouts. Named Red Sox Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year by the organization in 2021, the Texas native was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Texas Christian University.

Victor Santos, RHP – Santos, 22, finished his first full season with the Red Sox organization in 2022 after being acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies in July 2021. He posted a 4.97 ERA (80 ER/145.0 IP), setting career highs in strikeouts (126), appearances (28), and starts (25) between Double-A Portland (19 appearances/16 starts) and Triple-A Worcester (nine starts). Following the season, he pitched for Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Professional Baseball League, recording a 1.88 ERA (3 ER/14.1 IP) in 11 appearances (three starts). Signed out of the Dominican Republic by Philadelphia in November 2016, the right-hander owns a 3.72 ERA (184 ER/ 445.0 IP) with 0.97 home runs allowed per 9.0 innings over 101 career minor league appearances (71 starts).

Chase Shugart, RHP – Shugart, 26, will be attending his first Major League Spring Training camp. The right-hander split the 2022 season between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester, going 5-5 with a 5.31 ERA (37 ER/62.2 IP) in 45 appearances (one start) while making his debut at each level. Following the season, he pitched for Estrellas Orientales of the Dominican Professional Baseball League, allowing six runs in 3.1 innings over four appearances. Selected by Boston in the 12th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Texas at Austin, Shugart is 17-16 with a 4.13 ERA (122 ER/265.2 IP) in 87 minor league appearances (43 starts).

Christian Koss, INF – Koss, 25, will be attending his second Major League Spring Training camp after appearing in seven Grapefruit League games last season. In 2022, he batted .260 (127-for-488) in 125 games with Double-A Portland, setting career highs in doubles (22), home runs (17), RBI (84), and stolen bases (16). Following the season, he played for Criollos de Caguas of Liga de Béisbol Professional Roberto Clemente, batting .230 (20-for-87) with three doubles, one triple, and nine RBI in 29 games. A California native, Koss was traded to the Red Sox from the Colorado Rockies on December 3, 2020. The right-handed hitter has batted .277 (306-for-1,106) over 282 career minor league games, making 179 starts at shortstop, 49 at second base, 41 at third base, three in center field, and one in left field.

Matthew Lugo, SS – Lugo, 21, will be attending his first Major League Spring Training camp. In 2022, he batted .282 (135-for-478) with 26 doubles, 10 triples, 18 home runs, and 79 RBI with High-A Greenville (114 games) and Double-A Portland (3 games), leading the South Atlantic League in hits (134), extra-base hits (tied, 53), and triples (tied, 10). Following the season, the Puerto Rico native played for Criollos de Caguas of Liga de Béisbol Professional Roberto Clemente, earning Co-Rookie of the Year honors after batting .275 (33-for-120) with six home runs and 19 RBI in 39 games. A right-handed hitter, Lugo was selected by Boston in the second round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft. He has made 197 starts at shortstop, 26 at third base, and 15 at second base.

Ryan Fitzgerald, INF/OF – Fitzgerald, 28, will be attending his second Major League Spring Training camp after hitting four home runs in 11 Grapefruit League games last season. The left-handed hitter batted .219 (99-for-452) with 26 doubles, four triples, 16 home runs, and 72 RBI in 127 games for Triple-A Worcester in 2022. Signed by Boston as a non-drafted free agent in 2018, the Illinois native has appeared at every defensive position except pitcher and catcher during his minor league career, playing 442 games and making 298 starts at shortstop, 56 at third base, 40 at second base, 18 in right field, 10 in left field, 10 at first base, and nine in center field.

Nick Sogard, INF/OF – Sogard, 25, will be attending his first Major League Spring Training camp. In 2022, the switch-hitter batted .254 (102-for-401) with 22 doubles, two triples, four home runs, and 43 RBI with Double-A Portland (60 games) and Triple-A Worcester (65 games). Following the season, he played for Gigantes del Cibao of the Dominican Professional Baseball League, batting .250 (7-for-28) in eight games. Acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays on February 17, 2021, the California native has played in 268 career minor league games and made 107 starts at third base, 73 at second base, 59 at shortstop, nine in right field, three in center field, and two in left field.

Stephen Scott C – Scott, 25, will be attending his first Major League Spring Training camp. The left-handed hitter spent 2022 with Double-A Portland (59 games) and High-A Greenville (37 games), batting .219 (73-for-334) with 19 doubles, 10 home runs, and 45 RBI while making 67 starts at catcher and 28 as the designated hitter. Following the season, he played for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League, batting .298 (17-for-57) with five home runs and 16 RBI in 15 games. Selected by Boston in the 10th round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University, the North Carolina native has hit .255 (207-for-813) with an .812 OPS in 235 career minor league games. Scott has made 85 career starts at catcher, 57 at first base, 48 as the designated hitter, 19 in left field, and 17 in right field.

BOSTON RED SOX 40-MAN ROSTER (40)

Pitchers (21): Brayan Bello, Richard Bleier, Ryan Brasier, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Kenley Jansen, Zack Kelly, Corey Kluber, Chris Martin, Bryan Mata, Wyatt Mills, Chris Murphy, Kaleb Ort, James Paxton, Nick Pivetta, Joely Rodríguez, Chris Sale, John Schreiber, Brandon Walter, Garrett Whitlock, Josh Winckowski

Catchers (2): Reese McGuire, Connor Wong

Infielders (7): Triston Casas, Bobby Dalbec, Rafael Devers, David Hamilton, Adalberto Mondesi, Trevor Story, Justin Turner

Outfielders (6): Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, Adam Duvall, Rob Refsnyder, Alex Verdugo, Masataka Yoshida

Infielder/Outfielders (4): Christian Arroyo, Kiké Hernández, Ceddanne Rafaela, Enmanuel Valdez

Sources: Sox to Sign Kenley Jansen

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SAN DIEGO – (Staff and Media Reports via ESPN) – The Boston Red Sox are reportedly signing free-agent reliever Kenley Jansen to a two-year, $32 million deal, ESPN reported Wednesday.

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The closer of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jansen spent the 2022 season in the bullpen role with the Atlanta Braves, posted a 5-2 record with a 3.38 ERA and a National League-leading 41 saves in 64 innings pitched. He signed a one-year, $16 million contract with the Braves as a free agent for 2022..

Jansen, 35, spent his first 12 seasons with the Dodgers, where he was a three-time All-Star and won the Hoffman National League Reliever of the Year Award twice (2016 and ’17). In his career, Jansen has a 42-28 record and a 2.46 ERA with 391 saves. His 573 games finished are most among active players.

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Nov. 13th

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – Since the ‘70s, Free Agency in Major League Baseball has been a fact of life, yet the sting of major league clubs losing prized and maybe homegrown players hurts just as much in 2022-23 as it did in 1972 when St. Louis Cards outfielder Curt Flood vs (MLB Commissioner) Bowie Kuhn challenged the “reserve clause” in Baseball and arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in favor of pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally who were officially granted free agency on March 16, 1976. The Supreme Court later ruled in favor of Kuhn and Baseball, but MLB’s next collective bargaining agreement introduced the Curt Flood rule, and, the rest, as they say, is HIS-TOR-EE.

CHICAGO – MAY 16: A general view of Wrigley Field as the Chicago Cubs take on the Houston Astros on May 16, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs defeated the Astros 5-4. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Forty-eight years ago and slightly before the historic Messersmith/McNallyrulings, Seitz also ruled that Jim “Catfish” Hunter was free of his contract as he signed a then-whopping five-year, $3.25m contract with the New York Yankees, leaving his “Swingin’ A’s” behind in a new era of Baseball.

This winter, baseball stars like OF Aaron Judge (NYY), SP Jacob deGrom(NYM), SS Trea Turner (LAD), SS Carlos Correo (Minn), hometown Boston shortstop Xander Bogaerts (BOS), SP Justin Verlander (HOU), INF Dansby Swanson (ATL), OF Brandon Nimmo (NYM), 1B Jose Abreau(CWS), and a host of others will test the free agent market. Others, by virtue of opting-out or no Qualifying Offers being rendered, are thrust into the free agent market. For the Red Sox, DH J.D, Martinez and SP Michael Wachaare two examples of the latter group.

Let the “Hot Stove” games begin.

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: If the NFL wants to assure safer playing conditions for its players, the league and teams need immediate changes to the turf at some stadiums and make other safety modifications, NFL players association president JC Tretter said. … Tretter, in a post on the NFLPA’s website Saturday, called for the league to ban the thin playing surface, saying it has led to “statistically higher in-game injury rates,” compared to all other surfaces for non-contact injuries and injuries to the lower extremities, such as ankles and feet. … Seven teams currently play home games in stadiums with slit film turf, according to the NFLPA: New York Jets and Giants (with shared Met Life Stadium), Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. … “Player leadership wrote a letter to the NFL this week demanding the immediate removal of these fields and a ban on them going forward, both in stadiums and for practice fields,” Tretter wrote. “The NFL has not only refused to mandate this change immediately, but they have also refused to commit to mandating a change away from slit film in the future at all.”

NFL POWER 10: The National Football League season is shaking-out and by Thanksgiving Weekend we should have a clear vision of the contenders and pretenders for the 2022-23 postseason.

The real pro-NFL pundits laud the “parity” of the NFL while those of us on planet earth recognize there are really only three good teams. Here is the WWYI POWER 10 with that in mind:

Philadelphia Eagles
Buffalo Bills – (*Josh Allen injury is hanging)
Kansas City Chiefs
Minnesota Vikings – (They’re not that great)
New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks
Cincinnati Bengals
Baltimore Ravens
New York Giants
All of the Mediocre Teams: Tampa Bay, New England, LA Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, Tennessee Titans, and SF 49ers.

NOVA = NO GO: There’s an old Marketing 101 meets Globalization 101 story that said General Motors did not think through the naming of the popular “NOVA” sedan as Nova translated in some way to “Doesn’t Go” in Spanish, thus crushing sales in Spanish speaking Latin America.

Not true. It’s all a myth conjured up by some Marketing professor.

First, it’s a strange translation issue that really doesn’t work. Secondly, the car sold quite well in Latin America and outsold expectations of Chevrolet in countries like Mexico and Venezuela.

That brings us to ‘Nova, as in Villanova.

Villanova’s trip across the Schuylkill River to Temple Friday night resulted with a 68-64 defeat by the Owls and an early-season storming of the court by Temple fans. The Villanova Wildcats overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half and held a 64-62 lead with 58 seconds remaining in the game. The Owls made two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to earn a 66-64 advantage. Nova coach Kyle Neptune is now (1-1).

The warning was in place last weekend, as WWYI reminded fans of coach Jay Wright’s retirement and the No. 16 Villanova Wildcats being a giant question mark coming into the season. It’s far too early to draw any conclusions, but the BIG EAST will be wide open come 2023.

PIONEERS IN JOURNALISM AND CABLE TV SPORTS: Thursday morning brought the news of the passing of legendary reporter Jane Gross and of sports cable TV icon Fred Hickman.

Wrote Richard Sandomir in The New York Times, “Jane Gross, who in 1975 became the first female sportswriter known to have entered a professional basketball locker room, and who later distinguished herself at The New York Times with her compassionate reporting on aging and a well-received book about her mother’s decline in a nursing home, died on Wednesday in the Bronx. She was 75.

Her death, at the same Riverdale nursing home in which her mother had died, was caused by a traumatic brain injury after a series of falls, said Michael Gross, her brother and only immediate survivor,” wrote Sandomir.

Gross, first to rightly do her job doing interviews on deadline in the lockers, covered the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association for NEWSDAY, the Long Island newspaper once delivered door-to-door by this reporter. In 1975, Gross was covering a New York Knicks game and asked coach Red Holzman for access to the locker so she could compete evenly with the other reporters entering the room to gain access to the players and their viewpoints of the game.

Added Sandomir in his obituary on his colleague, “Jane Lee Gross was born on Sept. 10, 1947, in Manhattan. Her father, Milton Gross, was a syndicated sports columnist for The New York Post. Her mother, Estelle (Murov) Gross, was a nurse. From an early age, Jane was enamored of the sports world that her father covered, and she and her younger brother would sometimes accompany him on his assignments.”

Aside from her work in the Health section, Gross wrote for the Education sections of the Times.

Hickman made his mark as one of the first nationally known cable tv sports anchors. Together with the late Nick Charles (1946-2011) they anchored the 11pm (ET) “CNN Sports Tonight” which went head-to-head against ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1980-2001.

The duo were regarded as an informative and reliable source of sports news and highlights and they were equally applauded by fans and co-workers for their hard work and camaraderie.

For those of us fortunate enough to work with Hickman as he and his production team created Sports Tonight and later, This Week in the NBA, and later Inside the NBA, Hickman was a welcome presence in NBA arenas around the league when the shows went remote during the NBA All-Star weekend, Playoffs and Finals.

The cause of death for both Charles and Hickman was cancer.


SOME GOOD NEWS: To continue the fight against cancer, the Pan-Mass Challenge bike race, the nation’s single most successful athletic fundraiser, announced a record-breaking $69 million gift to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. This gift brings the PMC’s total contribution to the fight against cancer to $900 million since 1980 and is the largest single donation Dana-Farber has ever received. Incredible. Congratulations to PMC superstar Billy Starr and his staff, all volunteers and PMC riders and to the great people at Dana-Farber, The JIMMY Fund, all medical and technical teams at all the great Boston-area hospitals, including Mass General.

 

Astros Clinch ’22 World Series

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HOUSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Yordan Alvarez did what he had done twice before this postseason, drilling a game-altering home run that ultimately sent the Houston Astros to victory. But in all three instances, Alvarez delivered on the heels of a rookie shortstop coming through in the clutch.

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Alvarez bashed a three-run home run to straightaway center field with one out in the sixth inning to support another strong effort from Framber Valdez as the Astros defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in Game 6 on Saturday to claim their second World Series title in six seasons.

Alvarez clubbed his homer off Phillies left-hander Jose Alvarado, who was summoned from the bullpen to face the left-handed-hitting Alvarez. Facing a 2-1 count, Alvarez drilled a 98.9-mph sinker 450 feet over the batting eye in center to score Jose Altuve and Jeremy Pena, whose single off Phillies starter Zack Wheeler facilitated the decisive pitching change.

Pena finished 2-for-4 and added World Series MVP honors to his American League Gold Glove and AL Championship Series MVP awards. When Alvarez hit key homers against the Seattle Mariners in Games 1 and 2 of the AL Division Series, Pena had reached ahead of him both times.

“Shoutout to my teammates. They took me in since Day 1,” said Pena, who batted .400 in the World Series. “They gave me the confidence to go out and play my game. This is special.”

Houston added an insurance run three batters later when Christian Vazquez greeted Phillies reliever Seranthony Dominguez with a single to left that scored Alex Bregman, who worked a walk off Alvarado following the Alvarez homer. Two of the three batters Alvarado faced scored.

Valdez (3-0) carried a shutout into the seventh inning while recording nine strikeouts in Game 2. He was equally effective in his third start against the Phillies in one month, allowing two hits and two walks while again posting nine strikeouts. He fanned five consecutive batters bridging the third and fourth innings and retired 10 consecutive batters entering the top of the sixth inning.

At that point, Valdez had matched zeroes with Wheeler, but Kyle Schwarber delivered the Phillies a 1-0 lead by driving a 2-2 sinker from Valdez out to right field for his sixth postseason homer.

Valdez responded by retiring Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper in order to complete his outing, and Alvarez took Valdez off the hook soon thereafter.

Wheeler (1-3) was exceptional before running into trouble in the sixth.

He had surrendered just three baserunners through five innings and faced only two batters over the minimum before plunking Martin Maldonado with a pitch to open the sixth. Pena added a single two batters later before Alvarado entered to face Alvarez and the tide immediately turned.

“I thought Wheels still had really good stuff. It wasn’t about that,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of the decision to pull Wheeler. “It was just I thought the matchup was better with Alvarado on Alvarez at that time.

“I’m sure he (Wheeler) was (surprised). Yeah, I’m sure he was. I mean, he still had his good stuff. I just thought that that was a key moment in the game and that was a momentum swing that I thought Alvarado had a chance to strike him out.”

Houston right-handers Hector Neris, Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly held the lead with aplomb, with Neris and Abreu retiring the Phillies in order in the seventh and eighth and Pressly needing only seven pitches to notch his sixth save of the postseason.

After bashing five home runs in their 7-0 victory in Game 3, the Phillies amassed only three runs over the final three games of the series. Their silenced bats offered a reflection of the Astros’ excellent pitching and the adroit handling of that staff by Houston manager Dusty Baker, whose 25-year managerial career was missing a World Series championship before Saturday.

“I tried to have faith and perseverance in knowing that with the right team and the right personnel and the right everything that this was going to happen,” Baker said. “Had this happened years ago I might not even be here.

“Maybe it wasn’t supposed to happen so that I can hopefully influence a few young men’s lives and families and a number of people in the country and show them what perseverance and character can do for you in the long run.”

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | Sept. 18

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By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – This week’s column goes out to the many readers/subscribers who work in the sports industry. They often read this weekly missive seeking sports business news, tidbits from industry conferences and behind-the-scenes insights into newsworthy happenings ripped from the headlines.

Instead of providing 100% sports business news from this week, it’s important to take a step back and realize the real reason many of us dedicate our lives to working in sports and to enhance our love for the game(s). Here’s the real life example and my personal schedule for the weekend:

Friday:

7:10pm – Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox: Instead of a usual view of the game from the press box, Friday night was enjoyed with visiting friends from the center field bleachers at Fenway Park, the exact 180-degree turn-around. The Red Sox won, 2-1, despite registering just two hits through seven innings and trailing 1-0 heading into the 8th. In that situation, the Red Sox won for just the fourth time this year and are 4-57. J.D. Martinez hit a two-out, bases-loaded RBI single in the 8th to give the Red Sox their 2-1 lead, much to the delight of the 33,180 fans still standing with me for the come-from-behind Boston victory.

Saturday:

The full day of “Sports for the Fun of It” schedule is provided as this column is being written as the temperatures dip into the high 40s early Saturday morning to accommodate:

9am: Cambridge: Meet-up with the friends to prep for a 10am tailgate in Somerville, Massachusetts leading into the first of three events for the day.

Noon: Trinity College at Tufts in a New England Small College Athletic Conference Division III game, featuring senior TE, No. 85 Thomas Walsh, son of dear friends Nancy and Tom Walsh who made the short trek from New York to watch their son play college football. As a junior, No. 85 led Trinity in yards per reception and was fifth on his team in pass receptions and receiving yards. He opened the game with a 22-yard catch that set-up his teammate William Kirby’s 53-yard run to make it 7-0, Trinity. The Bantams took a 26-3 halftime lead before allowing 20 unanswered second half points to win 26-23. The game was the opener for both the Jumbos and the visiting Bantams.

4:10pm – Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox: The Royals and Sox played the second of their three-game set at Fenway. The (70-75) Sox lost to the (58-88) Royals, in a (9-0) ear-slapping, as Boston’s disappointing season creeps towards a close with Boston in the 5th place cellar of the American League East. Kansas City has been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention while Boston is 17 games back from the division-leading New York Yankees. The Sox are 10 games out of a wild card berth, a gap too far to mend.

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7:30pm – Maine Black Bears at Boston College: The (0-2) Bears – losses at New Mexico (41-0) and to visiting Colgate (21-18) – visit The Heights to play the (0-2) Eagles. BC’s suffered through a home loss to Rutgers, 22-21, and on the road at Blacksburg, Virginia where Virginia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference battle. Boston College can not afford a loss to Maine and we’ll be in the stands Saturday night as this column is sent to its loyal and fast-growing following. (BC won 38-17).

Sunday:

Early AM: After the temps dipped to the high 40s Saturday, seasonal last weekend of summer weather will return, sending temperature to the low 80s for a day of rest. That means:

Noon: The NFL Today will be on for a good hour or so as the NFL kicks-off its Week Two schedule.

1:00pm: The NFL RedZone will dominate the TV screen, an addictive, all-encompassing look at every NFL game. For those not in the know, the RedZone is the reason NFL game ratings have dipped a bit as fans can watch every single score by every team in the league, sometimes on split screen and sometimes in a ridiculous “OctoBox,” where eight games are on in near postage stamp-sized screens. It’s a fabulous way to keep an eye on every game, rather than the three or four OTA (over-the-air) games assigned to Boston which include New England at Pittsburgh.

8:20pm: Sunday Night Football, Dick Ebersol’s gift to American sports fans who can tune-in this week to the Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers game. There’s nothing like an NFL “Black & Blue” division game to finish my weekend of “Sports for the Fun of It,” shared here to underline the importance of – sometimes – stepping back to enjoy the games we cover,

HERE NOW, THE NOTES: As you return to our regularly scheduled programming, the subject of the Phoenix Suns and team governor Robert Sarver must be addressed. This week NBA Commissioner Adam Silver held a press conference to announce the findings of an independent investigation into workplace issues in the front office and arena operations for the Phoenix Suns. Formerly a model franchise of the NBA, the investigation by the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz found that during his time with the Suns and the WNBA’s Mercury, Sarver used the N-word at least five times “when recounting the statements of others.” … The investigation also uncovered “instances of inequitable conduct toward female employees,” including “sex-related comments” and inappropriate comments on employees’ appearances, among other violations of proper workplace culture.

Silver announced a one-year ban and $10 million fine levied on Sarver. The ban requires the franchise owner to refrain from attending any games, practices, meetings and involvement in any basketball decisions for the Suns. Silver made the announcement as the NBA convened a Board of Governors meeting, a regular occurrence in the NBA’s yearly business calendar.

The NBA’s suspension and hefty fine were met with significant backlash by many of the rank and file players and the NBA players association, among others involved with the league. Saturday, the players’ union called for a lifetime ban and Suns sponsor – PayPal – which issued a statement that read: “PayPal is a values-driven company and has a strong record of combatting racism, sexism and all forms of discrimination,” PayPal CEO and president Dan Schulman. “We have reviewed the report of the NBA league’s independent investigation into Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver and have found his conduct unacceptable and in conflict with our values.”… “In light of the findings of the NBA’s investigation, we will not renew our sponsorship should Robert Sarver remain involved with the Suns organization, after serving his suspension.”

SportsBetting.ag set odds on whether or not Sarver will be the Suns team owner in 2024, and the outlook isn’t good for the disgraced businessman.

Will Robert Sarver be the Suns franchise owner in 2024?

Yes +200

No -300

This story is in the second quarter, heading downhill. The first quarter was a disaster.

FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALL: Believe it or not, NBA training camps open this week for teams traveling overseas in the preseason. Here’s a list of key dates for the NBA for the rest of the year:

September 23: First allowable date for players participating in preseason games outside North America to report to their teams (no earlier than 11am local time).

September 24: Training camps open for all teams participating in preseason games outside North America.

September 26: First allowable date for all other veteran players to report to their teams (no earlier than 11am local time).

September 27: NBA training camps open.

September 30: NBA preseason games begin.

September 30 & Oct. 2: NBA Japan Games, Golden State Warriors vs. Washington Wizards (Tokyo, Japan).

October 6 & 8: NBA Abu Dhabi Games, Atlanta Hawks vs. Milwaukee Bucks (Abu Dhabi, UAE).

October 14: NBA preseason ends.

October 17: Rosters set for start of 2022-23 NBA regular season (5pm ET).

October 18: Start of 2022-23 NBA regular season.

October 22: NBA G League Draft.

October 24: NBA G League training camps open.

December 17: NBA Mexico City Game, Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs (Mexico City, Mexico).

December 27: NBA G League regular season begins (32 games per team).

DIAMOND DUST-UPs: First reported by Sportico, the business arm of Major League Baseball is dividing international markets for its franchises, giving baseball clubs new commercial rights in specific areas around the world, according to multiple people familiar with the plan. … Baseball and softball are played by an estimated 65 million people around the world, according to the sport’s international governing body. Large concentrations for baseball exist in parts of Asia, Australia, Europe and South/Central America.

BREAKING – as in REALLY BREAKING NEWS: One of baseball’s best – Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies – left Saturday night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies with a fractured right pinky finger, the team announced.

Albies was injured as he slid into second base in the fourth inning and the most recent setback occurred one day after he was activated from the 60-day injured list. Albies was sidelined because of a broken left foot suffered in June after making an awkward swing.

BY THE WAY: The countdown clock is on its last two weeks for most Fantasy Baseball Leagues. The MLB regular season will come to a close Wednesday, October 5.

LIV SHADE: The LIV Golf circuit displayed quite a bit of cockiness as they gained traction after the PGA Tour Championship and a few more players jumped to the Saudi-funded rival to the PGA Tour. That said, this weekend’s LIV Tournament in Chicago showed one of two major flaws in the new golf entity.

  1. Lack of a Network television deal
  2. Low attendance at events

Those two factors equal a tainted business model for LIV in 2022, but the endless stack of bucks allow for years of “runway” for LIV to land a deal and gradually build an audience.

Phil Mickelson, longtime fan favorite and multi Major champion expressed his views in a Friday interview in Chicago:

“The PGA Tour, for the last 20 or 30 years have had all the best players in the world,” Mickelson said at a Chicago LIV event Friday, reported both Reuters and ESPN. “That will never be the case again. LIV Golf is here to stay.

“The best solution is for us to come together. I think that the world of professional golf has a need for the old historical ‘history of the game’ product that the PGA Tour provides. I think that LIV provides a really cool, updated feel that is attracting a lot of younger crowds,” Mickelson added.

“Both are good for the game of golf and the inclusion of LIV Golf in the ecosystem of the golf world is necessary. As soon as that happens, we all start working together. It’s going to be a really positive thing for everyone.”

Cameron Smith (-10) leads Dustin Johnson (-8) heading into Sunday’s final 18 holes. Johnson won the previous tournament in a sudden death playoff here in Boston. In Chicago, the purse is $20 mil.

This weekend, the PGA Tour was in Napa. So no whining.

NCAA FOOTBALL POWER 12: Now, three weeks into the NCAA college football season, the popular TL Power 12 is back. This list simulates what we’ll see by 2026 when the College Football Playoff system expands.

  1. Alabama
  2. Georgia
  3. Ohio State
  4. Michigan
  5. Clemson
  6. Oklahoma
  7. USC
  8. Oklahoma State
  9. Kentucky
  10. Tennessee
  11. Arkansas
  12. NC State

*Some results not final

NFL POWER 10: Here’s the WWYI power ten for the NFL heading into Week 2:

  1. Buffalo
  2. Kansas City
  3. Tampa Bay
  4. New Orleans
  5. Baltimore
  6. Green Bay
  7. Philadelphia
  8. Indianapolis
  9. LA Rams
  10. LA Chargers

THE SPORTS PROFESSOR: When Rick Horrow, known in sports business industry circles as “The Sports Professor,” first released The Sports Business Handbook at a joint Harvard Law/Harvard Business conference two years ago, it was heralded as the most unique collection of commentary and advice from industry leaders in the $1.3 trillion business of sports.

Digital Sports Desk was at HBS for the launch.

This October, the newly revised and expanded edition of Horrow’s book, The Sports Business Handbook: Insights from 100+ Leaders who Shaped 50 Years of the Industry will be on sale and available for order online. It will have more insights skimmed from many of the sports industry’s brightest minds and influential executives.  It will include guidance for the sports business in a post-pandemic world.

Horrow will co-host a special book launch event – “Sports Business @ 50 Lessons & Leadership from Legends of the Game” – in New York City on Thursday, September 22nd, with former Major League Baseball president and book contributor Bob DuPuy at the offices of Foley & Lardner LLP (90 Park Avenue, New York) from 5:30 to 8:30pm.

See You in September

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“I’ll be alone each and every night
While you’re away, don’t forget to write,

“Bye-bye, so long, farewell
Bye-bye, so long

“See you in September
See you when the summer’s through.”

– The Happenings but written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards for The Tempos

By TERRY LYONS

BOSTON – August, just like its namesake Caesar Augustus, is in the rearview mirror. We’ll See you in September.

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It will be a September without 2021 U.S. Open women’s tennis champion Emma Raducanu who lost her first round match to France’s Alize Cornet (6-3, 6-3) on the evening of August 30. It will be a September without two-time U.S. Open champions and multi-Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka who lost her first round match at Flushing Meadows to No. 19 seed Danielle Collins of America.

We’ll start September’s college football schedule with St. Francis of Pennsylvania at Akron (6pm, ET) but progress to match-ups like Central Michigan at No. 12 Oklahoma State, West Virginia at No. 17 Pittsburgh, and a tough B1G Ten opener for Penn State at Purdue. That’s just Thursday’s schedule.

We’ve already witnessed a Week Zero of college football with Northwestern upsetting Nebraska, 31-28, in Ireland, Illinois spanking Wyoming in similar style to Liz Cheney‘s recent primary defeat, 38-6.

We’ll have a lot to look forward to this weekend when college football really begins. On the local scene, Boston College opens with a “must win” at home vs the B1G Ten’s usual doormat, Rutgers. No. 11 Oregon will travel to play No. 3 Georgia in Atlanta, not Athens and No. 5 Notre Dame is getting (+17) when they play No. 2 Ohio St. before 102,780 fans at Columbus (7:30pm ET, September 3)

We’ll have to wait until Thursday, September 8 for the NFL to begin, but thankfully the NFL preseason is in the books and the regular season Week 1 awaits, complete with the AFC’s Buffalo Bills heading west to SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles to face the defending Super Bowl champion Rams.

The NFL will start without Jon Gruden coaching in Las Vegas but with Jimmy Garrapolo quarterbacking in San Francisco (really Santa Clara). Gruden’s coaching career went up in flames when an NFL investigation into then-Washington football executive Bruce Allen unearthed a slew of racist, anti-gay and misogynistic language in emails which first came to light in a Wall Street Journal article last Oct. 8. Strangely, of the 650,000 emails collected in the NFL internal  investigation, the lawsuit contends, Gruden’s were the only ones made public. Go figure?

The New England Patriots leave training camp behind but face a tough September schedule that just might leave them 0-3, or maybe 1-2. Anything better than that and the team is improved over that of last season and might have a chance. Both the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins stand in the way in the AFC East. The toughest thing many overlook, the Patriots close-out the regular season with games vs. Cincinnati and Miami and at Buffalo on a sure-to-be ice COLD January 8th. Those August days will be a long lost dream when the Bills and Pats tee-up the kick-off that day.

The Red Sox are happy to leave August (and July) in the past, but doubt the month of September will treat the club much better. In Rich Hill they trust.

With Rory McIlroy coming back from six strokes down to defeat Scottie Scheffler and company at the TOUR Championship last weekend, the 2021-22 PGA Tour season is behind us with only a few Fall tournaments, the President’s Cup and a few silly season events (think Skins Game) awaiting until the January 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions starts off the PGA Tour schedule. In the meantime, we have a LIV Golf on-going in Boston (Bolton, Mass) where dozens of former PGA Tour golfers have jumped ship in an attempt to earn fortunes of Saudi Arabian bucks to the tune of some $4 million for the tournament winner, plus team bonuses.

Golf will never be the same, as the two Tours duke it out for best players, key dates, qualification to the Majors and Ryder Cup teams and just about everything else worth fighting for … or should it be “fore?”

One thing is for sure as the days grow shorter and the sun sets earlier, come September 1 or, maybe on Labor Day in the USA, everyone seems to think the Season of Summer is over but like so much in the world these days, that is “misinformation.” Summer in the USA lasts until September 21, or the end of Week 2 for you NFL fans, Week 3 for NCAA football fans. In fact, in the northeastern USA, the weekend of October 1-2 is often one of the most beautiful of the entire year.

See you in October.

Musical Note: “See You in September” is a song written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards. It was first recorded by the Pittsburgh vocal group The Tempos. This first version peaked at No. 23 in the summer of 1959. The most popular take on “See You In September,” by The Happenings in 1966, reached No. 3.

All-Star Break Turns to Sox Break Down

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By TERRY LYONS

FENWAY – The score of 28-3 has significant meaning to New England sports fans as it was the score the New England Patriots trailed by when they came back to win 34-28 over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI held in Houston in 2017. As of Friday night at Fenway Park, the new score to reckon with for all Boston Red Sox fans is 28-5.

Twenty-eight to five! In baseball!

Universal sign of distress

You have to look back in the record book a full 99 years to see that Friday night’s 28-5 Toronto Blue Jays shellacking of the Red Sox which set a franchise record for most runs allowed in a single game. The previous record of 27 runs came on July 7, 1923 in the first game of a twin bill scheduled that woeful summer day in Cleveland.

Aside from the record-setting embarrassment of the Sox in front of a sold-out but stoic Fenway, the loss marked Boston’s third consecutive game in the “L” column. They are (1-7) over their last eight games and (3-11) over their last 14 games, dropping Boston to fourth place in the competitive American League East and just one game in that important and previously mentioned “L” column ahead of the surging Baltimore Orioles.

On the flip side of the ledger, the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian football League are envious of the Blue Jays who set franchise records in both runs scored (28) and hits (29) in a single baseball game.The Blue Jays are only the sixth team in MLB history to score 28+ runs in a single game with the most recent being the Atlanta Braves scoring 29 against the Miami Marlins on September 9, 2020.

Other team records were plentiful

  • Toronto Became the first team to have all nine starters record multiple hits and runs scored
  • The Jays had multiple players record six or more RBI in a game for the 1st time in franchise history (Tapia and Jansen)
  • Toronto scored 11 runs in the top of the 5th inning, their most runs in one inning since 9/11/21 at BAL-G2 (7th inning, also 11 runs)
  • 12 straight Jays’ batters reached base via hit or walk in the 5th inning, all with 2 outs (10 H, 2 BB)
  • Toronto tied the major league record for runs scored in a game’s first 5 innings (25, also CHC on 8/25/1922 vs. PHI).

On the player side:

  • OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. went 6-for-7, scoring three runs, hitting a double, and recording five RBI which tied the Blue Jays’ franchise record for hits, joining Frank Catalanotto on 5/1/04 at CWS-G2.
  • OF Ramiel Tapia went 3-for-7, scoring twice, hit a 2B, and had six RBI, four resulting from an inside-the-park grand slam in the third inning to extend the Toronto lead to 10-0. He set his career high in RBI.
  • Catcher Danny Jansen recorded his fourth career multi-HR game (previous: 5/24 at STL) and tied a single-game franchise record for RBI by a catcher (6 RBI – four times with the previous: J.P. Arencibia 5/18/12 vs. NYM).
  • Pitcher Kevin Gausman went 5.0 IP, with seven hits allowed, three runs, 10 strike-outs) tied a season high in strikeouts
  • Gausman has struck out 28 batters in his three starts against Boston this year (20.0 IP).

“It was tough to be in the dugout to be honest with you,” said Boston Manager Alex Cora to the Boston Globe. “And, they know that it’s not a lack of preparation. It’s not a lack of effort, because we keep working on our stuff and we keep going through the process the right way. I love to say that this happens, but it doesn’t happen often, you know, and we just got to turn the page.”

The page is turned and the book re-opened at 4:10pm Saturday afternoon. Same two teams.