Author: Dave Long

After a week off to recharge the batteries and give injuries more time to heal, the Patriots begin the second half of their season vs. the J-e-t-s Jets, Jets, Jets at home on Sunday in Foxborough.

Before they do that, here’s a look at some of the biggest first happenings and what lies ahead.

MVP Defense — Matthew Judon: With a league–leading 11.5 sacks Judon has been the overall MVP, best Patriots edge rusher since Andre Tippett and in the conversation for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

MVP Offense — Rhamondre Stevenson: A better way to say it might be he is the offense, with a little help from the dependableJakobi Meyers.He’s been a three-down back who can catch it out of the backfield when it matters who with 618 yards and 35 catches is on pace for a 1,200-yard, 66-catch season.

Stat Sheet — Turnovers: The defense has created a second best in the NFL 17 turnovers, which is great. What’s not is the 29th worst 17 TOs committed by the offense. That needs to be cleaned up.

Most Damaging injury — David Andrews: If you asked for a prediction before the season, you’d say Mac if you knew he’d miss three games. But since the O got better when he was out that’s not the case. It was the concussion suffered by center because the O-line turned into mush in the two games he missed.

Wally Pipp Award: Given how Bailey Zappe played when he got a chance you’d think it was Mac. But while I felt it coming as far back as last December, Damien Harris’s pulled hamstring opened the door for Stevenson and he ran through it. However, given how solid Harris is and smart it is to play two backs he won’t get totally pipped but the biggest minutes now go to Stevenson.

Most Idiotic Media Story, So Far At Least: The one where SI.com disscussed, after the Bears loss, the pros and cons of trading Mac Jones. No wonder they’re going out of business.

Better Than Expected: I was wrong and Coach B was right for playing the J.C. Jackson departure correctly. I said he should’ve signed him early after 2021 when handing out all that free agent money. Instead, the now out for the season Jackson has not been missed at all. Jalen Mills has outperformed expectations and the rookie Jack Jones has been solid, while the entire group back there has been a major plus, in part for their third-best 11 interceptions.

Worse Than Expected — Toss-up: It goes to the O-line because their shortcomings are having a negative impact on the unexpected struggles of Mac Jones. The pass protection has been inconsistent at best, shoddy at worst, they are constantly being penalized to put the O behind in down and distance, Trent Brown is a couple of time zones shy of the dominant guy he was in 2018 before going to the Raiders and Isaiah Wynn has been downright awful.

So What’s The Story With Mac? He has not played close to what he did a year ago. Especially when throwing downfield. We could point to his protection, but Bailey Zappe looked far more comfortable and was better doing it in his time with the same line in his three-game stint. So the question I have is what is the root cause for the regression? Some say he’s locking on receivers. That could be a part of it, but it seems deeper than just that. I thought the media yakking about his issues in camp was an overreaction. But they started on Day 1 and given where we are now, it seems they were right. Which points to the possible reasons: (1) instilling a new offense; (2) losing the guidance of Josh McDaniels and QB coach Mick Lombardi; (3) the decision to put the offense’s development and play calling in the offensively inexperienced hands of Matt Patricia and Joe Judge; (4) an inability by Mac to adapt to change; (5) the disappearance of the play action passing game; (6) he’s developed bad habits like the locking-on thing.

It’s likely all of it, along with the o-line and receiving corps (outside of Meyers and Stevenson) inconsistency. But again Zappe played with the same guys and was better. But having said that I wonder if the problems would be as deep if a more experienced offensive teacher/mentor was here.

Going Forward

The Schedule: It is a bear the rest of the way with the opposition having a combined record of 40-30. Four of their eight games are against teams ahead of them in the playoff fight along with 8-1 Minnesota on the road. They start with the Jets, Vikings and Buffalo, then close with the Bengals and vs. Miami and Buffalo at home. They probably need to go 5-3, which won’t be easy.

Loss That Could Bite Them — Da Bears: Given that Chicago’s one win in the last seven was that Monday night debacle in Foxborough, it’s safe to say the spotlight will be on that if the Pats fall a game short of a playoff berth. And while the suddenly blossoming Bears offense has scored 29, it should be particularly galling for Patriot Nation for how lethargic the defense was from the first snap to the last. I rarely boo, but I did for that non-effort. BOOOO!

What To Expect: The unacceptable non-effort vs. Chicago aside, I think the defense will be solid going forward. But they will not beat Buffalo or Miami scoring 17 points against them. So it comes down to can the offensive line get it together and what they get from Mac, or Zappe in the unlikely event a change is made, at QB. The good news is, with four games left vs. division opponents, their fate is in their hands in the suddenly wide open AFC East.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

It was another week of, as Johnny Carson used to say, weird, wild stuff. Among the happenings were Tom Brady ending a tough week with his billionth final-minute drive for a win, and the latest analytics-driven decision to cost a team the World Series.

Flash back to the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 1962 World Series. After a two-out double down the right field line that sent Matty Alou to third, Willie Mays was the winning run on second with the Yanks leading 1-0. If it were 2022, it would be, as Arnold would say, hasta la vista baby for starter Ralph Terry. Ditto for Jack Morris when he told Twins manager Tom Kelly to get back in the dugout in far more colorful language than that after he gave up a single and double to start the eighth inning while leading 1-0 in Game 7 of the 1991 series vs. Atlanta. He got the next three hitters and went for a complete game win in the 10th as the Twins won a second title in five years under Kelly.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson had that same decision on Saturday in Houston. He went with those in the stat geek suite and yanked Zack Wheeler in the sixth with two aboard after giving up just three hits, for Jose Alvarado, to get a lefty-lefty match-up with Willie McCovey look-alike Yordan Alvarez. Instead of hitting the rope that second baseman Bobby Richardson caught to end the ’62 Series, Alvarez hit a homer to center to give the Astros a 3-1 lead they would never surrender to take the Series in six.

Other than to revel in the second Series-costing failure in three years by the stat geeks, my point isn’t to hammer Thomson, especially since Alvarado had struck out all three Houston batters in the only inning he had pitched in the Series. It’s to say sometimes the right decision doesn’t work out and analytics are just a tool in the decision-making process. All the numbers they trumpet are what happened in the past and have nothing to do with the moment at hand, which is under an entirely unique set of circumstances.

World Series 101:Terry figures in an even more historic World Series moment than winning Game 7 in 1962. What was it?

Dusty Baker getting mobbed in the dugout by his players after Houston closed out the Phillies to win his first World Series as a manager after 25 years in the dugout has got to be a nominee for most heartwarming moment of the year.

UCLA and USC in the Big 10, yeah, that makes perfect sense. How many weeks do the, ahh, student-athletes get off from school when they do the Rutgers and Maryland swing in the Big 10 schedule? All of which Bill Walton sounded off on last week.

The Now I’ve Seen Everything Award goes to news that sportsbooks have put odds on who will be Gisele Bundchen’s first boyfriend after her divorce from TB-12. The favorite is ex-SNLer Pete Davidson. Nonsense like that probably made leading struggling Tampa Bay on a game-winning 60-yard final-minute drive over the Rams on Sunday a little sweeter for Tom.

There must be more to the Ime Udoka story, because I can’t see Red letting a guy who did such a great job as a rookie coach go to a division rival for no compensation. That says they just wanted to get rid of him for other misconduct or personality issues. I’d have tried to get Nic Claxton, who’s the athletic kind of big they need behind Al Horford and Rob Williams, and if it took expanding the deal beyond Udoka I’d do that.

World Series 101 Answer: When Bill Mazeroski hit the only Game 7 walk-off homer in 1960 to win a World Series it was Ralph Terry who threw the pitch Maz hit out of Forbes Field, making Ralph Houk’s decision to stick with Terry all the more revealing about the difference in thinking between then and the micro-management of today.

Finally, for the record: I haven’t liked Herschel Walker since he got run down from behind by a kicker (Adam Vinatieri) with nothing but the goal line in front of him on a kick return vs. the Patriots in 1996.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

When I come back in my next life I’m going to concentrate on making serious money.

The plan would be to come back in the ’70s and head straight to Vegas to bet on all the games I know the outcome of already, like Biff in Back to the Future Part II. Then after I get banned from the casinos I take my winnings to Wall Street to buy stocks like CMGI when it was at $1 a share and dump it at $140 right before the tech bubble burst.Then I’d find young Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and be the angel investor for Apple and Microsoft, which would give me real money after the initial public offering.

All this would be for the purpose of going on a spending spree to buy my own professional teams and/or entire sports leagues or media-related entities so I could bring back good things that have faded away and eliminate insanities that have emerged as people are afraid to go against trends and say the emperor has no clothes.

I would do so emphatically if I owned any of the following.

Boston Red Sox

I’d fire the analytics department before I found my new office.

I’d hire a stadium architect to figure out a way to make up the equal number of seats that would be lost if they pulled out all the old/ancient seats at Fenway to put in modern replacements wide enough to actually be comfortable through a whole game. With the proviso that not a blade of grass will be changed on the playing field.

Then for on the field in 2023, I’d do the following;

(1) Fire Chaim Bloom as GM. No hard feelings, buddy. You’re just not my cup of tea.

(2) Sign Xander Bogaerts to a six-year deal at high market rates with the proviso that when Marcelo Mayer is ready he moves to center field, or third if Raffy Devers leaves or goes to first.

(3) Get seriously into the Aaron Judge sweepstakes to get the right fielder they need and make 3-4-5 in the order a bear, or to drive up the price for the Yankees to inhibit future spending.

(4) Give in to the bullpen-crazed world of today and make Chris Sale the closer, to save his arm, with Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck the set-up guys to lock up the last three innings.

(5) Entertain trade offers made on everyone else to reset the team with the right deals. Though it would take a whopper to send Devers away.

The Patriots

Don’t care if it takes 20 years, I’d sign Coach B to a lifetime contract to insure he makes it to win record 348 as a Patriot to go past Don Shula after his classless 2007 during the failed undefeated season, especially the “Beli-cheat” comments.

I’d go back to the colonial army-inspired blue and silver uniforms they won all their Super Bowls wearing, ’cause the new ones ain’t bringing them any luck.

To heck with the border war; I’d immediately put Bill Parcells in the team Hall of Fame because he’s the guy who resurrected the franchise when no one cared and set it on course to be the dynasty it became. The guy’s 81, time’s running out.

The Celtics

I’d dump the black uniforms with the green trim. Yuck.

On the belief you have to give up something to get something, I’d trade Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams to Cleveland for point guard Darius Garland and Evan Mobley because it would improve their ball handling, make them bigger up front and give them the eventual replacement for Al Horford. And if they want to dump Kevin Love’s $30 million expiring contract I’d take that on because it would give them $55 million to spend on free agency next summer.

Tell Jayson Tatum to stop whining about every foul call and bench him when he takes it to the extreme and sulks the rest of the game. I mean who gets kicked out of an exhibition game for getting techs?

If not traded, I’d make Grant Williams an inactive — coaching decision until he stops complaining about every call against him. Because he doesn’t understand it’s costing him the benefit of the doubt on 50-50 calls.

Major League Baseball

I’d ban all the stat geeks and robot managers like they’re going to do with the shift.

It would be illegal to take a pitcher out of any game with a no-hitter in progress.

Sports Media

All in-game coaches interviews with play underway would be banned.

It would be No Soup for anyone making contrived signature phrases to stand out, like John Sterling’s annoying “the Yaaankeees win.” Authentic ones that come out of the moment like Mike Gorman’s “Got it” or Marv Albert’s “Yes!” that make the experience better get big year-end bonuses.

Since “superstar” is the most inflationary, inaccurately used and overused word in sports, it would be a month’s suspension of press passes for using it to describe any player below the level of Tom Brady, LeBron James, Bobby Orr or Secretariat. And it’s a lifetime ban for anyone on my staff if Kyrie Irving is ever called that.

Finally, I do know CMGI came after Microsoft and Apple. But since it’s my fantasy I make the rules how I like. So this one goes back and forth in time as well. With stops in 1927 to see the Babe in person, 1941 for the 56-game hitting streak and as the Kid hit .406, 1951 to see the Giants win the pennant, 1962 to watch Wilt score 100, and 1970 to feel the electricity in MSG as he ended the suspense of whether he could or couldn’t play by drilling the elbow jumper to start the magical Willis Reed game.

Now, sadly, back to reality.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

With the Celtics starting out 3-0 local optimism continues to be very high. And while it’s just three games, I will say they have done the most important thing they needed to do to show they will be picking up where they were when last season ended: attacking the basket over firing lazy threes. So the season started out as hoped.

Now some thoughts on the opening of the NBA season.

Six Biggest Stories To Start The Year: (1) LeBron James will pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time NBA scoring leader sometime after the new year. (2)How long before it implodes in Brooklyn? (3) Zion is (finally) back and the Pels have him. (4)Drama, drama, drama in Laker-land.(5) When will the Draymond Green departure happen at Golden State? After the sucker punch heard round the Chase Center, the Warriors signaled the end is coming by investing big money in young guys Andrew Wiggins and punch-ee Jordan Poole instead of saving some for when the tiresome Draymond’s deal is up at the end of the year. (6) After giving away its future, will pairing bigs Rudy Gobert and KAT work in Minnesota?

For the record, if passed, Kareem will have held that record for 37 years after surpassing previous leader Wilt Chamberlain’s 31,413 in 1985-86.

NBA 101: Who has committed the most personal fouls in NBA history?

Risers: Following a terrific year as a surprise young team last year until big injuries took their toll, Cleveland can’t be called a dark horse. Especially after adding a 25-point-per-game scorer in Donovan Mitchell to their rising young core led by Darius Garland and soon to be star Evan Mobley in a big trade over the summer. But they’ll be a riser to be reckoned with.

Overrated: 76ers: The Big 3 of Joel Embiid, James Harden and the underrated Tyrese Maxey will do damage in the regular season, but unless more is added to the roster at the deadline I don’t see it in the playoffs for them. Having said that, give Harden credit as he looks like he’s lost the many extra pounds he was hauling around last year. Combine that with taking less to stay in Philly than going for every extra penny in free agency. It says he wants to be part of the solution. Now if he actually starts trying on defense he’ll earn a tip of the cap from skeptics. Which as regular readers know includes me.

L.A. Lakers Saga: What they do depends on two things: (1) The health of ever fragile Anthony Davis. (2) Last year’s disaster wasn’t all his fault, though he did get blamed for all of it. But until Russell Westbrook gets a clue that he is not (and never has been) an actual point guard things won’t get better for him or likely the team either. It’s LBJ’s ball, so learn to incorporate what you do well into playing off the ball over dominating it.

Dark Horses: The East — Toronto. Ever whiny Nick (Good Night) Nurse gets a lot out of his players and basketball chief Masai Ujiri is good at finding unheralded talent. The West — New Orleans. Solid Big 3 and Brandon Ingram is better than almost everyone knows. All they need is luck in the health department.

Sorry, Scal, Jayson Tatum is not quite in the Top 5 players in the league just yet. And while it’s subject to change based on performance, here’s my Top 5 in top-to-bottom order: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. I didn’t want to put Jokic here until his team does something. But consecutive MVPs said to do it. Tatum, Luka Doncic and Ja Morant will be the next three to crash the party as Ja really came into his own last year as a dynamic force. Going for 49 on opening night backs that up

NBA 101 Answer: Since he played 20 years in the NBA, it makes sense Kareem has the most fouls ever with 4,657. By contrast, Wilt, who never fouled out of even one game, incredibly is not even in the Top 250 players of fouls committed. This is even more incredible given that he almost never came out of the game. Overall he had just 2,075. His rival Bill Russell committed 2,593, which ranks 181st. LeBron is 210th with 2,531, and second all-time is Karl Malone with 4,578.

What a way to start a career for Jalen Williams. The 12th overall pick out of Santa Clara’s NBA debut for Oklahoma City lasted all of six minutes before he took one in the head leading to surgery on his orbital bone around his right eye that’ll have him out for the foreseeable future.

Former UMass-Lowell coach and current TNT announcer Stan Van Gundy is not the only (semi) local playing a role in the NBA this year. There’s the guy we called “Little” Stevie Clifford because he looked about 14 when he was a fledgling assistant on Bob Brown’s and Keith Dickson’s staff at Saint Anselm in the ’80s, who’s back in Charlotte as HC again there. And on the bench for the bad guys when Boston played Miami Friday night was one-time Plymouth State hoopster Dan Craig.

Incidentally, if Tatum wants to be the best player in the league he can get there if he learns to channel his emotions and frustrations into mental toughness to play (and lead) through adversity. Step 1: Stop being a crybaby when you don’t agree with calls and just play.

OK, one more, I love Bill Russell as much as anyone and like the idea of the year-long tribute. But the song by the rapper in the Riddler getup (see Batman’s adversaries) on opening night was overkill. A great player and dignified man, but come on, he wasn’t Gandhi.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Do Pats Have A QB Controversy?
The results have been happily surprising for the Patriots after rookie Bailey Zappe stepped into what looked like a dire situation after their first- and second-string quarterbacks went down in consecutive quarters. Now that they are back to .500 from a 1-3 start, things are looking brighter.
Now the question is, have they played so well with Zappe because he’s played better than Mac Jones did in his three starts, or because the offense finally worked out the kinks that drew dire warnings from early in the pre-season?
By way of comparison: In Mac’s first three games as a rookie, the Pats were 1-2 as he threw two TD passes and three interceptions and averaged 243 passing yards as the Pats scored 57 points; Zappe has two wins and a loss in OT to Green Bay when he’s thrown four TD passes and one pick and averaged 199 yards per game as they scored 90 points, with the D chipping in 14 of them. Mac’s first 300-yard passing game came in Week 7; Zappe got his Sunday. All of which Coach B will have to mull in the immediate future. The one thing that is certain is that after what he’s seen of his rookie so far there is no need to rush Mac back until he’s fully healthy.

Roberts Leads Dodgers Off Early Post-Season Cliff, Again
Our day was made Saturday when foolish decisions made by the biggest robot manager of them all, Dave Roberts, brought down the Dodgers again in the postseason, this time by yanking starter Tyler Anderson with a 3-0 lead in their win-or-go-home Game 4 vs. San Diego, even though he’d only thrown 86 pitches and was cruising along with a two-hit shutout after five innings. In comes their bullpen and, as John Madden would say, BOOM, an immediate five-run explosion as Roberts once again let down his team with robot managing to turn an in-control 3-0 lead into a 5-3 loss, removing L.A. from the playoffs early for the ninth time in 10 years. Moral of the story: Managers need to act in the moment and not let stat geek law of averages dictate every move because they’re just averages.

How You’ll Know If Celtics Are In Trouble Without Ime
The Celtics opened their season on Tuesday as one of the favorites to go to the NBA Finals. But I’m not sure. First there is the obvious issue of Robert Williams being out until perhaps sometime in December. You may recall after he had surgery last March I said in no way should they rush him back before he’s fully healthy for short-term gain, because his game is his legs and they were risking that. Now after missing several playoff games due to knee soreness he’s had a second operation. So I’ll need to assess whether he’ll be the same destructive defensive force again before I’ll join the crowd.
Second is how the team adjusts to untested 34-year-old head coach Joe Mazzulla in the wake of the Ime Udoka mess. You may recall that before they became spring darlings last year they were an incredibly frustrating bunch until Udoka finally got through in early January. That led to getting Marcus Smart to play like a real point guard instead of chucking up every three in sight. Ditto for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who helped turn the season around by making them harder to defend by taking to the basket as the first option. The question is, was that a learned behavior or did it happen because a forceful coach stayed on their backs to make them change?
The first sign will be their shot selection. If it was learned, good things will happen. If not it likely means the stars aren’t listening to their coach and that will lead to frustration in the cheap seats again.

The Bogaerts Dilemma
Since he’s looked up to as the face of the franchise, re-signing Xander Bogaerts if he opts out of his contract seems like an easy choice. But for the Red Sox brass it’s actually more like playing chess than checkers.
First there is the fact that he knows Texas gave a lesser and far less durable Corey Seager $330 million guaranteed over 10 years last winter. So the market is set, making the Sox’ decision how many years do they want to give a 31-year-old shortstop? Complicating that decision is the fact that their minor-league shortstop Marcelo Mayer is among the top prospects in all of baseball, which puts him two years away at most. Do they want to give a long-term deal to a guy who will likely change positions in two years? And if so, where does he go? Third base or maybe a late-career move to center field like Robin Yount made to pave the way for a shortstop no one remembers today? Or if he goes to third, what happens to Raffy Devers, who’ll be up for an expensive long-term deal next year?
If Devers goes to first (where he should play), what about the highly thought of Triston Casas,

who’s been ticketed as the first baseman of the future for two years? Do they then trade him?
The decision is, are they a team that wants to compete now or one aiming for the future? So the options are (a) build around Mayer and Casas, then keep Bogey for veteran leadership and trade Devers now for help elsewhere; (b) let Bogey walk, sign the younger Devers and move Trevor Story short-term; (c) go big payroll, keep the stars, move Devers to first and trade Casas, or (d) keep all four — move Bogey to center in 2023 and trade Story to free up payroll.
I say D. Which would you do?

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Round 2 of the MLB playoffs is now underway.

First, boo to the new best-of-three format for the Wild Card round. I liked starting it all off with winner-takes-all games to give it drama off the bat. Second, sorry, I just can’t call the Cleveland team the Guardians. I’m fine with the Buckeyes or Cleveland’s baseball team, but I don’t like “Guardians.” Third, I’m not sure giving up seven earned runs in his playoff start is why Mets owner Steve Cohen gave Max Scherzer an astonishing $49 million per to be their ace.

With that out of the way, let’s recap notable moments and Longshots Awards for the 2022 regular baseball season.

Most notably, it was a year of historic achievements at Albert Pujols became just the fourth person to reach 700 homers, Miguel Cabrera became the newest member of the 500 homers and 3,000 hits club and Aaron Judge broke Roger Maris’s hallowed Yankees record (and, oh yeah, for the AL as well) for most homers hit in a season with 62.

Baseball 101: There are seven members of the 500/3,000 club. Name the six who did it before Cabrera.

Want to know how much the game has changed from the olden days? Once upon a time the 155 homers hit by the Red Sox was a respectable team total. The supposedly power-laden Big Red Machine that beat the Sox in the 1975 World Series hit just 124, and 141 when they beat the Yanks the next year. But today 155 ranked 20th overall as seven teams hit 200 or more.

In case you’re interested: No one reached 200 hits for the season. The Dodgers’ Freddy Freeman led the majors with 199. He was also the leader in doubles with 47. J.D. Martinez was fourth with 43.

But what ever happened to the triple, as the most astonishing stat is not one player hit double figures in triples? The leader was Cleveland shortstop Amed Rosario with 9. Not too long ago Curtis Granderson had a 20-20-20 year in doubles, triples and homers when he hit 38-23-23 with Detroit back in 2007.

Talk the Balk Award: Miami Marlins hurler Richard Bleier for balking three times in the same at-bat to become the first to do that since 1900. He did it while pitching to the Mets’ Pete Alonso to let NL batting champ Jeff McNeil come all the way around from first base to score without the benefit of a ball even being pitched! Weirdly, Bleier had never committed even one balk in his 303 MLB appearances prior to that. He avoided getting a fourth by being tossed for arguing after the third one, but only after retiring Alonso. The Marlins won 6-4 despite Bleier’s historic night.

Baseball 101 Answer: Cabrera joined Pujois, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro and Eddie Murray in the 500/3,000 club.

If the Mets outbid the Yanks to sign Judge it will give them a batting with three of the Top RBI guys from 2022. Judge and Alonso led with 131 and Fancisco Lindor was fifth with 107.

It had to be more than just losing their 2021 ace. But the dominos began falling when Kevin Gausman signed with Toronto as they tumbled from 107 wins a year ago to 81. Actually it probably started with the retirement of Giants great Buster Posey. And it helped that everyone had a big stats slide (except young’n Logan Webb) from 2021 and there were injuries. It basically made them to the NL what the Sox were to the AL: the major disappointment.

There was an actual 20-game winner in Atlanta’s Kyle Wright, who went 21-5 with a 3.17 ERA. He’s got my vote for the NL Cy Young award. But since wins don’t matter to the stat geeks, they’ll probably pick the WHIP leader.

Comeback Player: Guess Justin Verlander still has it. After coming back from almost two missed seasons due to Tommy John surgery, at 39 he amazingly went 18-4 in 28 starts with a 1.75 ERA. He should get the Cy Young (his third) in the AL.

In case you’re wondering: It was 35 homers, 82 RBI and .269 for Mookie Betts in L.A. while trademate Alex Verdugo went for 11-74-.280.

Yankees announcer Michael Kay’s call of Judge’s 62nd homer goes into the Top 5 Worst Calls of a Giant Sports Moment of all-time. Zero drama in the voice like an astonished Howard Cosell bellowing DOWN GOES FRAZIER, DOWN GOES FRAZIER after George Foreman shockingly dropped Joe Frazier with a thunderous right 2 minutes into Round 1 of their 1973 title fight. And worse, he talked all through Judge’s trip around the bases. The cardinal rule is make the call, then shut up to let the crowd and team reactions carry the moment. Like Joe Buck’s dad Jack saying after a barely able to walk Kirk Gibson’s pinch hit walkoff homer off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, “I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!” Then just crowd noise. Which is what Joe did when the Sox ended the curse in Game 4 of the 2004 series.

Speaking of which, the enduring argument for 2022 will be, given the suspicion from the era, is the real homer record the 62 hit by Judge or the 73 of Barry Bonds hit in 2001?

Oddly it’s similar to 1961’s “Does the record belong to Roger Maris or the Babe?” as Nos. 60 and 61 came during the new 161-game schedule and after the old 154-game season Babe Ruth hit his 60 in. At that time Commissioner and Ruth binky Ford Frick gave it an asterisk to diminish what Maris did before it eventually disappeared to make Maris the King.

Finally, congrats to the retiring Eck after 50 years of excellence in baseball. He will be missed.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].