As Bartolo Colon starts his outing at Fenway, the Red Sox coaching staff has more plate appearances against him (63) than do the players on the roster (62).
@MikeSegalov
In an elevator. Billy Crystal and Robin Williams get on. Billy sees my press credential and we chat about baseball. I tell him I love Princess Bride. After a second, Robin says, "You don't love any of my fucking movies?" I'm horrified. Then he bursts out laughing. "Got you, pal."
"This game was ripped out of my hands. I had a hole in my chest for two years ... I'm not wasting another damn day in my big league career."
A very emotional Chris Sale post game.
So I wrote this story — — a year ago about Mookie Betts being distantly related to Meghan Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex.
They met today and Mookie told her about the story. Then they hugged.
What a thing.
Nick Cafardo was the person most responsible for getting me to the Globe after I gave up on what was my dream job.
When I thanked him, he waved me off every time.
I'd give anything to do it again.
So if somebody has helped you, thank them again before you miss another chance.
A little story for you: The Red Sox had one photo in their clubhouse for many years, an old black-and-white shot of Johnny Pesky, who gave decades of service to the franchise as a player, coach, manager and advisor.
Xander Bogaerts came out of the game after the sixth inning. Many of the players leave the stadium and head for home once they exit the game but he stuck around. Said he wanted to get to know some players and spend time with Benintendi.
Brasier's father, David, died in February. He frequently traveled to see his son play and the last game he saw in person was at the Trop in 2019.
Ryan told me last month he'd be thinking of his dad the next time he pitched here.
That was tonight: Three swinging K's.
Chris Sale on his motivation after winning the World Series for the first time:
“Nothing changes. My wife asked me that same question. You worked your entire life to achieve this goal, what do you do once you achieve it? Shit, you do it again.”
The Indians left a spot for Nick Cafardo in the press box with flowers — and a ball autographed by Terry Francona. Really touching because there was a lot of mutual respect in their relationship. Thanks to the Indians media staff and Tito.
This is the hallway from the clubhouse to the steps that lead down to the field at Fenway. It used to be just bricks.
(Photo: The Globe's John Tlumacki)
Ohtani on Fenway: “It’s one of my favorite parks, so I always look forward to pitching here. But the conditions didn’t allow me to have fun fully. Other than that I always look forward to pitching here."
Tomorrow's Globe: Sox must put retractable roof on Fenway.
Vazquez got a bit emotional talking about his time with the Sox. “I love you guys,” he said when asked by
@TomCaron
if he had a message for the Sox fans.
We live in a world where A-Rod is a beloved figure who gets a birthday cake on TV from Jennifer Lopez and Jeter is the villainous owner of the worst team in the National League. How did this happen?
High-paid consultant: "So let me get this straight, you decided to trade Mookie Betts?"
Red Sox: "That's right. We didn't think he was worth a huge contract. We also fired the GM who put together the 108-win championship team."
High-paid consultant: "I think we're done here."
Angels just announced that LHP Tyler Skaggs, 27, died this morning. He had just pitched two days ago. The Angels-Rangers game tonight was postponed.
What terrible news.
Alex Cora has a "Los Celtics" t-shirt on this morning.
He and "a lot" of the Sox players are going to Game 6 tonight. The Cardinals, who have a day off in Boston before the weekend series, have a suite. Albert Pujols made the arrangements.
Curt Schilling said on his podcast the Wakefields are fighting cancer. Hard to imagine why he would do that, but he did. To say that people with the Sox and others around Tim and Stacy are furious is an understatement.
All the best to the Wakefields, who are very nice people.
So Wake and Johnny are up on the wall. Not Ted, or Yaz or David. Those guys get plenty of recognition elsewhere. If you ask me why I love baseball, stuff like that is why I love baseball.
Have a good night.
One of the ushers said Jarren Duran was outside the park for an hour after the rainout yesterday signing for people, staying until he took care of everybody.
You hear a lot about baseball trying to build its fan base and get younger people interested.
That's how you do it.
Been covering baseball games since I was 16. High school, Legion, college, minors and now the big leagues. What Eovaldi is doing is the most impressive thing I've seen in a game.
Tom Brady praised the Patriots when he left and was even more gracious when he was in Foxboro this season. If you’re making something about him not mentioning them today, it’s contrived. The Bucs deserved his thanks, but they’re ultimately a footnote. He’s a Patriot.
Lou Brock was the hitter Tom Seaver faced the most in his career.
Seaver was the pitcher Brock faced the most times in his career.
The two Hall of Famers passed five days apart. What a thing.
Kiké Hernández, comedian:
"As I was about to walk to the plate, they called Christian back to the dugout and they brought in Danny. That took a little bit of pressure off because obviously they're different types of runners. At the time, I was like a homer scores Christian."
In lieu of the usual pre-game Q&A, Alex Cora spoke for about seven minutes about Nick Cafardo, about losing his own father and the value of life and family. He also addressed the players. An extraordinary few minutes.
Masataka Yoshida leaves to join Team Japan tomorrow. The Sox told him to relay a message that they'd prefer him to play DH in one pre-WBC exhibition game and LF in the other.
Yoshida shook his head. No DH for him.
"Ohtani," he said.
(1/2) Jackie Bradley Jr. was at Mookie Betts' wedding in LA, which had a no-phones policy.
He was at the reception and stepped out to call his wife. A minute later David Stearns called and said the Brewers had traded him to the Red Sox.
Then Chaim Bloom called.
Chris Sale on Bryce Harper coming back so quickly from Tommy John surgery:
“I want to talk to him about that. He’s making us look bad. But good on him. Good on their staff. You don’t get in that position without working your ass off. I have a lot of respect for him.”
A lot of people have reached out about Nick and on behalf of the Globe, thank you.
Nick loved his family, his friends, the paper and baseball and being around him for 10 years as a colleague was a joy. We had so much fun.
This won't be the same without him. Just an awful day.
For me, the issue is not that the Sox didn't match the $280 million. It's that when they had a chance in spring training to get it done they badly misread Bogaerts' value and his confidence that he could succeed away from Boston.
#RedSox
leaving Fenway with their Bruins gear on. But Andrew Benintendi, who lives in St. Louis in the offseason, stayed with a blue St. Louis t-shirt.
Chris Sale says Jarren Duran is his favorite All-Star. “That guy gives every ounce of effort he has.”
He’s also not surprised the Sox are in contention. “I know who’s leading that clubhouse,” he said, referring to Alex Cora.
Eduardo Rodriguez says to wear a mask, wash your hands and be careful. COVID-19 hit him hard. It was all he could do to get out of bed.
"I felt like I was 100 years old."
This is a 27-year-old professional athlete.
Christian Vázquez said he would welcome a return to Boston if the opportunity presented itself. “I don’t know, man. I hope so. I’d love it. It was my house for a long time. We’ll see how it goes.”
As a joke, Alex Cora called Jarren Duran into the office after the game last night and told him he was getting his first day off of the season.
“F—- that,” Duran said.
Mentioned this in passing last night. But it really would be cool if Dave Roberts threw out a first pitch at Fenway and Alex Cora caught it.
Roberts is an ex-Sox player the fan love, a very respected man in the game and Cora's former teammate.
Be a great sign of sportsmanship.
One final note before signing off:
The Red Sox did not finish, second, third or maybe even fourth.
Via various sources, there were 3-4 other teams willing to go to $200M+ on Bogaerts. He wowed teams in interviews.
Sox valued their own player differently than other teams did.
Dustin Pedroia and Julian Edelman, two guys with similar approaches and spirits, both done in by knee issues within a few months of each other.
People throw around praise for athletes "giving their all." They really did. They played until they literally couldn't.
In 2014, Red Sox did not want to invest in Jon Lester, who was built like a linebacker. He played seven more years and didn't miss a start. He could probably give you 5 innings today if you needed it.
In 2019, they went all in on a pitcher nicknamed Stickman.
#RedSox
:
* 227-225 last four seasons.
* 111-119 last two seasons.
* 4 home sellouts this season.
* Last place all but 27 days since July 26, 2022.
* Endless roster churn.
At what point does ownership decide this is not working? Because it's clearly not.
Special night at Fenway tonight. Nick Cafardo's family was on the field for first pitches thrown out by his grandchildren Annabella and Noah.
Thanks to the Red Sox staff for putting this together. The kids really enjoyed it and the rest of us got to pay tribute to Nick again.
Devers is a terrific hitter. But please stop with the “Most RBI by as a Red Sox hitter before turning 28” stuff.
Ted Williams missed his age 24-25-26 seasons because of WWII after driving in 515 his first four years.
#RedSox
rotation:
Sale
Price
Porcello
Eovaldi
Rodriguez
Plus Johnson, Velazquez and Wright in reserve. Excellent depth, which will be important early as they won't push the main guys too much coming off the postseason.
Classic Triston Casas quote here:
"The batter's box was really good today. I don't know what it was about it, the dirt was just compact. So I felt confident with the ground."
The
#RedSox
have a principal owner, a chairman, a team president and as of yesterday four people running baseball operations.
But they all left it to Alex Cora to answer questions about the firing of the president of baseball operations by himself for 22 minutes.
Xander Bogaerts deferred when asked about his confidence in the direction of the franchise. Said he doesn’t see how they got better losing Vázquez. He was downcast, as you would expect.