Author: Dave Long

The Big Story – Education of Drake Maye: They lost another tight one where he again was driving in the final two minutes. But it was undone by an interception after miscommunication between Maye and DeMario Douglas to end it at 27-22. But overall it was a solid effort with career highs all around for the rookie QB as he went 30-40 for 283 yards and a pair of TDs, along with two turnovers. Plus they stayed in contention for a Top 5 draft pick while giving an encouraging effort. Win-win.

Sports 101: Nikola Jokic is trying to become the sixth player to win four or more MVP Awards. Name the five who’ve done it.

News Item – Sox Hot for Soto: Who’s buying that they are? Or that the “JuanSoto Was Impressed With Red Sox Presentation” idea is anything more than a Scott Boras-planted story to ratchet up leverage on the big-spending Yankees, Mets and Dodgers? Likely just the latest Red Sox PR ploy to get fans and the media off their back.

News Item – Alumni News: Not going well for Mac Jones in Jax. In two losses filling in for Trevor Lawrence, including Sunday’s 52-6 pasting by Detroit, he’s gone 31 of 51 for 249 yards with three interceptions and no TD passes as the Jags scored just 13 points.

News Item – Dimwit Analytics Mavens at it Again: No argument on Chris Sale being named NL Comeback Player of the Year, as his spectacular season followed years of injury travails. But exactly where did Garrett Crochet come back from to be the AL winner? He was a relief pitcher who never threw more than 56 innings in his career before going 6-12 this year. Which means he got it on analytics numbers because, I forget, wins by a pitcher don’t matter. What’s more important for those guys are WHIP, BIP and DIP.

The Numbers:

4 – woeful number of the 15 teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference that had a win-loss record over .500 as the new week began.

9.3 – best-in-the-NFL yards-per-rush average by Patriots rookie Drake Maye.

16.2 – points scored per game averaged so far by Celtic sixth man Payton Pritchard

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Down – NBA In-Season Tournament: I know the announcers are forced to talk it up like it’s the greatest thing ever, but who actually gives a flip about the NBA Cup? It’s a European thing that will never make any impact here. You know why? ’cause it’s stupid.

Clutch Play of the Week and Season – Josh Allen: His 26-yard TD scamper on fourth down with less than 3 minutes left in the game not only prevented another Patrick Mahomes miracle finish by icing Buffalo’s 30-21 win; it ended KC’s quest for an undefeated season as well.

Dumbest Thing of the Week: That 65 million people watched 58-year-old Mike Tyson step into the ring for the first time in two decades against someone no one ever heard of. Who won? The better question is, who cares?

RIP – Gerry Faust: Those of a certain age remember he was the coach of powerhouse Moeller High in Cincinnati shockingly hired by Notre Dame to take over their storied football program in 1981. He passed away last week at 89. He was on ND’s radar because he went a remarkable 174-17-2 in 17 seasons at Moeller. The story was different at ND, however, where his tortured five-year run ended after going 30-26-1.

Random Thoughts

Soto’s really good but not worth Ohtani money.

Anyone else noticeIme Udoka has Houston off to a 9-4 start?

Sports 101 Answer: The five who have been MVP four times are Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James.

Final Thought – Garrett Crochet: Yes the 209 strikeouts in 146 innings this summer were impressive. But as the robot used to say on the 1960s TV Show Lost in Space, WARNING! WARNING!, over rumors of Boston’s interest in trading for the White Sox lefty. First, there are durability concerns where he already missed the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery. Then those 146 were by far the most innings he’s ever thrown, with next high being 56 in 2021. He also didn’t go more than four innings in any of his 14 starts after July 1. So he’s not exactly an inning-eating horse. Then there were rumors he wanted a multi-year extension to OK any deal at the trade deadline. Which means he was OK staying on the worst team in history over going to a contender unless he got paid. That’s a big mark against for me. All of which pushes him way down my priority list behind the best free agent pitchers. They’d be much better off adding someone to their exciting young core, like 23-year-old Japanese import Roki Sasaki, rather than subtracting some from that core to get a guy with red flags like Crochet.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Patriots’ 10-Week Update: After Sunday’s 19-3 domination of Chicago they stand 3-7 in Week 10. Here’s a brief update.

The Good – Drake Maye: “I tell the guys all the time he looks like Josh Allen 2.0. I played Josh Allen in Miami his rookie year, and he didn’t look that good. Josh Allen is a phenomenal player. He’s an MVP-type player…. Drake looks better than Josh in his rookie year.” — D-tackle Davon Godchaux as told to the Boston Globe.

The Bad – The Coach We knew there’d be a learning curve for Jerod Mayo. But for much of his first 10 games he hasn’t looked ready for this assignment.

The Ugly – What Maye Has to Work With: With 32 sacks allowed and the QB under pressure 43 percent of the time the O-line has been mostly bad, and outside of Hunter Henry, with flashes from DeMario Douglas, ditto for the receivers.

Bottom Line: A lot of struggles, but they’ve won two of three, so things are looking better.

Sports 101: Name the only person to lead the NBA, ABA and NCAA in scoring for a season.

News Item – Sox Reset Starting: The brass was at the GM meetings last week to get the off-season re-shaping underway. The big rumor says Triston Casas may be trade bait because both he and Rafael Devers should play first base. If that’s the case, I trade Devers instead for two reasons. First, because trading the more established Devers frees up big money for free agency, which along with what they get back in the trade could net them two-three solid pitchers. Second, with as many four top minor prospects close to joining Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Brayan Bello, Tanner Houck and Casas in Boston, that is a deep, young, low-payroll (for now) core that can grow up in the way the Mookie Betts-JBJR-led group started in 2015. Plus the under-control low payroll lets them invest in additional pieces to fortify the team as it evolves.

News Item – Best Sign About The Celtics: That Jayson Tatum is looking to score from the jump — by scoring 14+ in five of their first six games. As opposed to the absolute nonsense Doris Burke spewed on ABC/ESPN all last year about it being good he wasn’t shooting early to get others involved. The only people who thought that was a good idea were those guarding him in the first quarter (phew!).

The Numbers:

1.5 & 13 – dismal sacks and solo tackles for ex-Patriot Matthew Judon with the 6-4 Falcons.

9 – second best in Patriots history sacks for the D vs. Chicago on Sunday.

13 – consecutive strikeouts by soon to be Japanese free agent hurler Roki Sasaki when the now 23-year-old had 19 overall in his 2022 perfect game.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – UNH Hoops: For hanging in against two-time defending champion UConn to be down by just five (29-24) in the final minute of the first half. Yes, it was Katie bar the door after that as the Huskies finished it with a that’s more like it 92-53 final. But it was a nice half for the one time Yankee Conference rivals.

Random Thoughts:

Rookie issues? Or did the Bears draft another QB bust? I saw nothing from first overall pick Caleb Williams vs. NE on Sunday to be impressed with.

How is it that Steph Curry goes down after every single shot he takes? Couldn’t be he flops on every single shot he takes? What happened to T’s for flopping, Adam Silver?

With Milwaukee off to a 2-8 start after blowing a big lead to the Celtics on Sunday, wonder if they still think it was Adrian Griffin’s fault last year. You may recall after starting out 30-13 in year one the ex-Celtic got axed and replaced by Doc Rivers, who is 20-27 since then.

Sports 101 Answer: Rick Barry led the NCAA in scoring at the University of Miami, the NBA with the San Francisco Warriors and the ABA with the Oakland Oaks.

Final Thought – Celtics Broadcasters: The trio of Abby Chin, Drew Carter and to a lesser extent Scal could not have sounded like bigger homer yahoos during last week’s game with GS talking about Steve Kerr not playing Jayson Tatum in the Olympics as much as everyone wanted. Earth to those people: He did it for one reason and it wasn’t match-ups. That was the excuse. It was because Tatum didn’t play well. Period. Slump, confidence loss or Kerr is his kryptonite, but do these yahoos know he was 0-10 from behind the line during the Olympics? Or that he averaged just five points per when he did play? Give it a rest. If he’d played better he’d have gotten more time, just like Derrick White and Jrue Holiday did.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Dodgers Win World Series: With the Dodgers and the Yankees facing each other for a record 12th time and having the season’s two biggest stars in Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, images of epic-ness were dancing in our heads. That didn’t turn out to be the case, but there still were some major notables, which we’ll outline a bit later.

Sports 101 – Name the only teams to play their home games in a dome stadium during the season they won the Super Bowl.

News Item – Education of Drake Maye: In a boring 20-17 loss strewn with penalties and bad O-line play there were some good and bad moments for the rookie QB. The bad included three turnovers, where a strip sack handed Tennessee field position for their second TD and his second interception came on a bad decision that ended the game. Not throwing it down field enough, thanks to curious play calling, as evidenced by DeMario Douglas only gaining 35 yards on 7 catches, led Maye to having just 206 passing yards. However, his scrambling was superb in running for 95 yards on eight carries and he again led a drive ending with a TD on the final play to send it to OT. Overall, C+.

News Item – World Series Takeaways

For hitting the first walk-off grand slam to win Game 1 and becoming the first person to hit homers in six consecutive Series games Freddie Freeman clearly was the MVP.

NY’s fifth-inning defensive meltdown in Game 5 when Aaron Judge made the worst Series error since Bill Buckner in 1986 and Gerrit Cole forgot to cover first on a ball hit to Anthony Rizzo was indicative of why they lost. They just couldn’t make a play when needed.

The oddest stat L.A. had from Freeman’s slam on is that they only outscored NY 25 to 24.

Hey, John Henry, if you want to win, spending money matters.

Thanks to the power of L.A.’s two Japanese stars, Game 1 drew more TV viewers in Japan (15.1 million) than in the U.S. (14.75).

What a colossal mistake letting Mookie Betts leave Boston was.

By going just four for 23 Judge was hardly the first star to have a bad World Series. Ted Williams hit .200 with no extra-base hits and one RBI in 1946. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner called Dave Winfield “Mr. May” after he was 1 for 22 in 1981. And the great Willie Mays hit just .230 in four World Series with no homers and just six RBI. It happens.

The Numbers:

0 – catches Sunday for Ja’Lynn Polk to make it just 10 in nine games for the Patriots’ second-round pick.

16 – rushing yards vs. Tennessee on 10 carries for Rhamondre Stevenson, though he did score both Patriot TDs.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Bob Costas retires: He hangs up his baseball announcing mic after 40 years. Of the many high-profile sports people I’ve worked with he was the nicest, most accommodating and real of them all. Well done, young fella.

Thumbs Down – The Yankees and MLB: For not banning the nitwits who ripped the ball out of Mookie’sglove forever from Yankee Stadium.

Random Thoughts:

Hard to imagine anyone more in love with the sound of their own voice than Mark Schlereth was doing Sunday’s Patriots game on Fox.

Grant Williams, what exactly were you trying to do purposely bulldozing Jayson Tatum while not making any normal defensive play on Friday?

Sports 101 Answer: The three dome team SB winners were the (St. Louis) Rams (1999), Colts (2007) and Saints (2010).

Final Thought – Fox Broadcasting Malpractice in World Series: Hey, Joe Davis, career postseason home runs are not the same as career World Series homers. Thus when Fox showed a graphic for career postseason home runs that had Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle way down the list you should have made a distinction between the two. There were no playoffs when they played, thus while he trails Bernie Williams’ 22 all of Mantle’s 18 came in the Series, while the three postseason leaders, Williams, Derek Jeter and Giancarlo Stanton, have just five, four and two respectively. Mantle’s Series record 18 are followed by the Babe (15), Yogi Berra (12) and Reggie Jackson and Lou Gehrig with 10.

Then there was saying “Walker (Ferris) Buehler joined Sandy Koufax as the only Dodgers pitchers to not allow runs in consecutive postseason starts” when departing Game 3. True, but Buehler going four scoreless against the Mets and a gut-wrenching five vs. the Yanks wasn’t close to what Koufax did, which was throwing complete game shutouts in Games 5 and 7 vs. Minnesota in 1965 when he threw 134 pitches in Game 5 and 130 in Game 7 on two days’ rest. So to compare what Buehler did to what Koufax did is misleading and silly. Come on, Joe.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Celtics Open Season in Record-Setting Fashion: Setting aside the World Series, where L.A. is just up 2-0 as I write this, let’s focus on the historic 3-point shooting by the Celtics in their opening day 132-109 annihilation of the New York Knicks, where they tied a league record with 29 3-balls.

In doing it with 33 assists the passing was even better than the shooting. But even with both those numbers, the stat of the game was New York somehow finding itself down 29 at 99-70 despite shooting 59 percent from the field. The C’s followed that up with a 122-102 rout vs. Washington and a sorta lucky 124-118 win over spunky Detroit. So mission accomplished with the 3-0 start sparked by sharp 3-point shooting and Jayson Tatum going for 37, 25 and 37.

Sports 101: Who’s the only pitcher to win Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the same season?

News Item – Thoughts on the World Series:

Wow, what a Game 1 to start it off. Hey, Aaron Boone, why in the name of Miller Huggins would you bring Nestor Cortes into a bottom-of-the-10th, winning-runs-on-base situation when he hadn’t pitched in a month? Then, BANG, Freddie Freeman hits the game-winning walk-off grand slam.

Dave Roberts, why would you yank Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the seventh when he’d given up just one hit and thrown 86 pitches and the two guys due up were 0-4 against him?

L.A. wins despite the analytics-crazed Roberts. Batting Shohei Ohtani lead-off with low OBP eighth and ninth hitters batting in front of him four times a game is just dumb.

News Item – Jets Crash at Gillette: It had all the makings of disaster when Drake Maye went down after taking a blow to the head. That brought in the maligned Jacoby Brissett. But he surprised by sparking the offense to 17 second-half points, with the high point coming after the Jets took the lead with 3 minutes left. As then came the game-winning drive culminating with Rhamondre Stevenson’s 1-yard TD dive with 22 seconds left for the 25-23 win while dropping New York to 2-6 and basically ending their season.

The Numbers:

4.39 – most-ever-paid-for-a-baseball-at-auction million dollars for the ball Ohtani hit to make him the first 50 homer and 50 steals player in history.

5 – with the hiring of former Tampa Bay executive Taylor Smith, the number of assistant general managers the Red Sox have in their front office.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Down – Drake Maye Injury: Let’s hope he’s OK and the concussion is not serious.

Play of the Week: I know the Freeman grand slam was historic, but that was aided by a bad managerial decision. Instead it goes to rookie QB Jayden Daniels, who put another notch in his MVP portfolio with a miraculous 52-yard walk-off hail mary TD pass to Noah Brown that turned a certain loss into an 18-15 win over Chicago on the final play.

Choke of the Week – The Celtics Bench: Sitting in the aforementioned tie with Milwaukee for most threes in history at 29 and the crowd roaring for the record, the bench guys bricked 10 in a row to leave it a tie. Which brought them from over 60 percent on threes to 47.5 percent.

Random Thoughts:

In case you ain’t been paying attention six Red Sox alums — Mookie Betts, Ryan Brasier, Michael Kopech, Alex Verdugo, Kike Hernandez and Anthony Rizzo — are playing in the Series.

Sports 101 Answer: The only joint RoY and Cy Young winner was Dodger lefty Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.

A Little History – Fernando Valenzuela. The big Dodger lefty, who passed last week at 63, was a sensation when he broke in as a 21-year-old rookie. He won his first eight starts, with five being cg shutouts. Equally surprising to my usually reliable memory was that given all the L.A. hoo-ha then, he only won five more games in the strike-shortened ’81 season to finish 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA. However, he was 3-1 in the playoffs and in Game 3 of the World Series he delivered a 5-4, 147-pitch complete game win. Overall it was 173-153 with a 3.53 ERA to make it a solid career, rather than the one many thought was Hall-bound during his magical rookie season.

Final Thought – Thumbs Up Maura Healey: To the New Hampshire native and Massachusetts governor for demonstrating what a true basketball person she is by telling the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy at last week’s banner-raising why she loved wearing Bob Cousy’s No. 14 from before her days as a Winnacunnet HS star through her years as the Harvard point guard.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Celtics Return: Banner 18 went to the rafters Tuesday night to let the Celtics reclaim the top spot for most titles won in NBA history. They then began their quest (vs. the Knicks) to put distance between them and the Lakers in their historical race for NBA supremacy by repeating to win No. 19 this year. They’ll have to do it with Kristaps Porzingis missing around 30 games and in a much improved Conference where the Knicks, 76ers and Pacers will be significantly better. But that’s the fun part. So buckle up.

Sports 101: Name the four players who won NBA titles with three different teams. Hint: All four won one with the Lakers.

News Item – Drake Maye: His uneven Game 2 during the 32-16 loss to the Jaguars in London was not as good as Game 1, even with no turnovers this time. But in throwing for 270 yards he again clearly showed two things over Mac Jones, who was on the other sideline Sunday — better athleticism to escape trouble to gain positive yards and a much stronger arm.

News Item – Jets Not Flying High Into Foxboro: Remember what I said when people were giving the Jets a berth in the SB after trading for Aaron Rodgers — it’s the Jets, something will go wrong. It’s not quite the disaster Joe Namath was going to QB-desperate L.A. at the end of his career. But with them coming to Foxboro this week 2-5 and their coach already fired after Rodgers missed all but four plays last year, it’s not far off.

News Item – Five Interesting NBA Stories to Follow in 2024-25:

The first real NY-Boston basketball rivalry since the early 1970s.

Getting Karl-Anthony Towns for two lesser players makes sense. But will jettisoning one of the Nova 4 be a hit to the Knicks’ team chemistry and backfire? Early returns say no.

In building around soon-to-be-superstar Anthony Edwards and the KAT trade giving them a deeper, better balanced team, will the T-Wolves be better without KAT than with him?

Who will really be in charge in L.A., 40-year-old first time coach JJ Redick or the younger by eight months LeBron James?

How big will the step forward be for Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in Year 2?

The Numbers:

13 – record-setting consecutive games Dodger Max Muncy reached base during the 2024 playoffs.

16 – career postseason homers by the Yanks’ Giancarlo Stanton after hitting five bombs vs. Cleveland in the ALCS to move him past (gulp) Babe Ruth on the all-time list.

18 – percent increase in viewers MLB playoffs have enjoyed over 2023, which translates to 3.3 million vs 2.82 million. And now they have the L.A. and New York markets in the Series.

… Of the Week Awards

Har-Har-Har-Dee-Har-Har Award: To ESPN dimwits for ranking the most overrated player in history, Kyrie Irving, as the NBA’s 25th best player, ahead of Jrue Holiday (34) and Derrick White (39), despite both clearly outplaying him in the Finals when Mr. Clutch choked (again) to average an embarrassing 13 points per in the three games played in Boston.

Alumni News – Mookie Betts: He added the first four-RBI day to his extensive playoff resume with a two-run double and a two-run homer in a 10-2 Game 4 cakewalk over the Mets.

Quote of the Week – Coach B: He put a fork in rumors he’s headed there next year by saying on ESPN’s ManningCast in support of the fired Robert Saleh,“Kind of what it’s been there at the Jets. Barely won over 30 percent in the last 10 years. The owner being the owner, just, ready, fire, aim.”

A Little History – Subway Series: It’s been 43 years since the Yankees and the Dodgers met in the World Series. But still, their 12 match-ups — 1941, ’47, ’49, ’52, ’53, ’55, ’56, ’63, ’77, ’78, ’81 and now 2024 — are the most in history. The Yanks hold a 9-3 edge and before the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn in 1958 the first 7 were intra-city affairs known as Subway Series.

Sports 101 Answer: The four who won NBA titles with three different teams are Danny Green (Spurs, Raptors, Lakers), “Big Shot Bob” Robert Horry (Rockets, Lakers, Spurs), LeBron James (Heat, Cavs and Lakers) and John Salley (Pistons, Bulls and Lakers).

Final Thought – 5 Celtics Predictions:

Burning from his Olympic Team snub Jaylen Brown has a monster year.

Jayson Tatum gets no added drive from his embarrassing Olympic DNP’s because he doesn’t have that same gene.

Thanks to greater outside shooting consistency Payton Pritchardbecomes a killer nightly scorer off the bench.

Luke Kornet surprises even himself with solid play filling in for Porzingis.

They feel the loss of KP in certain games, but still go 61-21 while playing in a tougher conference. Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Drake Maye’s Debut: With two picks and a strip sack fumble, Maye’s first start wasn’t perfect. But it’s hard not to be encouraged by what the rookie showed in the 41-21 loss to Houston.

His 243 passing yards (20-33) was the first time the Patriots had over 200 all year, and the previously non-existent outside passing game appeared as the wideouts caught a season-high 10 balls. That can’t be a coincidence. And finally Maye’s three TD passes are more than Jacoby Brissett had in all five of his starts combined. So while you don’t want to go overboard since they still lost by 20 points, the debut left Patriot Nation dying to see more.

Sports 101: Washington’s Jayden Daniels’ spectacular start has him in the early MVP conversation. So who was the last NFL rookie to be MVP?

News Item – Drake Maye Observations: (1) His perfectly thrown 40-yard TD pass to Kayshon Boutte right before halftime was a thing of beauty. (2) He showed an ability to escape the rush while running out of trouble for three first downs and again on his outside-the-pocket 30-yard hook-up to Hunter Henry. (3) Liked his rhythm with Demario Douglas leading DD to six catches for 92 yards and a TD.

News Item – Baseball Playoffs a Winner: The baseball playoffs are delivering in a big way, with titanic signature moments, like Francisco Lindor’s epic series-winning grand slam vs. Philly; the injury-riddled Dodgers surviving from down 1-2; out-of-nowhere upstarts in Detroit and KC showing quite well, and rivalries ignited between LA and SD and reignited between ’70s rivals KC and NY.

News Item – Sickening Trend: I personally hate it. But with both the Dodgers and Cleveland closing out their playoff series while using openers to start their games and eight pitchers each in their deciding games, get ready to see that strategy employed more going forward.

The Numbers:

2:36 – average time of games in the major leagues this year, which according to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe is the lowest average since 1979. Thank you, pitch clock.

7 – receptions by JuJu Smith-Schuster for 130 yards on MNF makes you wonder why that didn’t happen in NE.

26 – times Patriot QBs have targeted second-round pick Ja’Lynn Polk when per the CBS broadcast he’s only caught 10.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Jeff Ulbrich: The interim Jets coach gets thumbs up for demoting Aaron Rodgers binky/OC Nathaniel Hackett from his play calling three days after the rumor mill had Rodgers placing a knife in Ulbrich’s ex-boss Robert Saleh’s back right before he got fired. That lets Rodgers knows who’s boss. About time somebody stood up to Rodgers. Bravo.

Deja Vu All Over Again Award: Given that it hasn’t happened in 64 years it’s been a long time between the Deja and the Vu. But for the first time since 1960 Army and Navy are both ranked in college football’s Top 25 teams this week.

Blow Your Top Award: Hurricane Milton did more than anything even the best D-Ray teams were able to do, which was to blow the roof clean off the Tropicana Dome as it roared through Tampa last week.

Random Thoughts: In baseball a starting pitcher can’t be credited with a win unless he goes five full innings. So how does it make sense that Detroit hurler Brant Hurter entered Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Cleveland in the second inning and didn’t last to the end of the fifth inning during a 3.1-inning stint, yet somehow he gets a win he wouldn’t have if he were the starter?

Sports 101 Answer: The great Jim Brown went straight from Syracuse to be NFL’s last rookie named MVP in 1957.

A Little History – Jim Brown: He was MVP as a rookie after winning the first of his eight rushing crowns (in nine seasons) by running for 962 yards and nine TDs in the then 12-game regular season. He won it again in 1958 when the numbers ballooned to 1,527 and 17 in just those 12 games again.

Final Thought – Luis Tiant: There is nothing I hate more than voters suddenly deciding a guy should go into a Hall of Fame just after they die. They did it with Dennis Johnson in basketball and Ron Santo in baseball. And mark my words they’re going to do it with Sox great Luis Tiant, who passed last week. He should have gotten in long ago given that his stats line up to Catfish Hunter, Jim Bunning and Don Drysdale to go along with his great season of 1968 and being one of the best big game pitchers of his era. And thanks to the wild gyrations in his wind-up and variety of arm angles of his delivery he was arguably the most entertaining mound artist of his time. So RIP to the great El Tiante and boos to voters who never gave him a chance to enjoy the honor he earned.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].