Author: Dave Long

With an awful lot going on, we’re following as many of the week’s top stories as we can today.

News Item: Boston Globe Preview Asks the Wrong Question

In their annual football preview the Boston Globe asked who would have the better year, Tom Brady or Cam Newton. A more relevant question is will Cam be better in 2020 than Tom was in 2019? What Brady does in Tampa is not apples and apples because he has better skilled players and a different air-it-out system that’s likely to skew numbers higher. But who cares what Brady does elsewhere? What the Patriots need is improved play at the quarterback over 2019, especially in the second part of the year. At the end of the day that is all that matters.

News Item: Mookie Betts is Going to Hurt for Five Years

Maybe it’s better that baseball only played 60 games, because then you don’t have to see what Mookie Betts’ first season away from Boston really was. His numbers over 60 games were 46 runs, 16 homers, 39 RBI with a .292 average. Projected over a full season they’re a more gruesome 126 – 43 – 105. On the bright side, in his first season away from the Green Monster his nine doubles would be just 24. Mookie’s numbers are gonna give Red Sox Nation heartburn for probably the next five to eight years. The issue to focus on is what they do with the $70 million they rid themselves of by attaching David Price’s contract to letting L.A. get Mookie. As well as how the three players they got for him — Connor Wong, Jeter Downs and Alex Verdugo — come along, which is off to a good start with Verdugo hitting .308 in year one.

News Item: Natives Are Restless Over Celts Getting Scorched by Heat

The folks on talk radio call their season a “failure” because they lost to lower seed Miami. But they didn’t bounce Milwaukee in five because they were lucky. It was because they’re good and tough. So, while there were disappointing parts to their elimination, I’m going with it being a learning experience. First to show the brass what roster adjustments are needed to make them better going forward. Larry Bird won his first title at 24; Michael Jordan and LeBron James were 27. Five-time champs Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant each won for the first time at 22, but they were second bananas to 28-year-old Shaquille O’Neal and 34-year-old David Robinson as they won their first title on teams with several veterans like Jordan running mates Steve Kerr, Will Perdue, Horace Grant and Ron Harper, along with Big Shot Bob Horry. The point is winning a title generally comes after learning through experience. Pointing out that team leaders Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who both had their moments and disappearances vs. Miami, are just 22 and 23. Some say, that’s an excuse. But 70 years of history shows experience plays a vital role in eventually winning.

News Item: Let the Cora Speculation Begin

With Ron Roenicke’s term as fill-in, interim Red Sox manager ended, speculation has begun for who their next boss will be. While Chaim Bloom likely wants his own stat geek type guy, bringing back Alex Cora is a no-brainer choice for us. True the Astros’ cheating scandal was a black mark, but when the World Series is over he will have paid his debt to baseball. Drug offenders returned to their teams all the time, ditto for serial cheater Alex Rodriguez, and MLB almost let that dreg buy the Mets. So why not Cora in Boston? He was a perfect fit during his two seasons that included getting on fine with the media and his players, being a bilingual communicator in a bilingual game, an adept strategist and a World Series winner, when his unique strategy/game management de-pants Dave Roberts. In a year where little has made sense, the Sox should exercise the sense to end it by bringing Cora back.

News Item: The Great Gale Sayers Passes

I’m having a tough time comprehending that my favorite player ever was 77, let alone he just died in a clouded state of dementia. I’ve said many times before, but will again at his passing, that Gale Sayers was the most electrifying athlete I’ve ever seen. Because you knew he could go for a TD every time he touched the ball from anywhere on the field, and likely in spectacular fashion. Only Barry Sanders had the same ability to change direction by stopping on a dime while running full tilt to make people miss, then restart to run away from everyone thanks to astonishing zero-to-60 acceleration. But Sanders did it on artificial turf, while Sayers played only on grass and/or muddy fields. Like the rainy December day he scored a record-tying six TD’s vs. SF at Wrigley Field. That was part of the greatest rookie season ever when he scored a record 22 TD’s in the 14-game season of 1965 on 14 rushes, six receptions, a punt and a kick-off. He also buried my Giants with a perfect option pass in a game when he scored four other TD’s. Sadly, injuries limited him to just 68 games, which made him a Kansas Comet shooting across the sky and gone too soon. And then there’s the Brian Piccolo story. A friendship blossoming from rookie roommates to becoming best friends as the black Sayers competed with a white guy from North Carolina for the same job during a time of great civil rights strife. Brian’s Song, which depicts the events leading to Pic’s death of cancer at 26, is the only movie besides (gulp) Old Yeller I cried over as a kid. And I’m as sad at the passing of his life (and my youth) as I was when Billy D. Williams’ Sayers says at the end, “I love Brian Piccolo.”

RIP, Mr. Sayers. Thanks for the thrills and great memories

It’s an interesting start to NFL 2020, offering a few surprises, some predictability and a battle for player of the year off to a rousing start. Injuries have also started to rear their head as they always do, which makes team and individual predictions difficult because you never know who eventually will get hurt and when — just that someone will. What we do know is that usually the teams that get into the playoff mix are the ones who are best able to avoid a huge string of them. Especially to key guys, which KC managed to do on their way to their SB win with the dislocated knee that cost Pat Mahomes just a few weeks instead of the season-ending number it appeared to be when it happened.

So with that in mind, here’s a slightly tardy collection of observations, questions and predictions for 2020.

Can KC Do It Again? Yes. I don’t know if you’ve heard that Mahomes guy is pretty good and it appears he’s not of those guys who takes a breather after doing something really good like many others do. If you have any questions about that, see the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles.

Toughest Division – NFC West: With clear favorites in most divisions or a couple of dregs at the bottom of others there aren’t a lot of choices. So with San Francisco motivated by their SB loss, Russell Wilson in Seattle, the Rams looking to be rebounding and the up-coming Cards led by the Murray-to-newly-acquired-DeAndre Hopkins passing combo it’s best.

Weakest Division – NFC East: If the Cowboys can’t win a division that includes a bad team that’s already lost its best player, one who predictably did what the Patriots never did, melt away after one crummy year of success and another that doesn’t even have a nickname, then my super Cowboys fan friend George Copadis should rip up his autographed picture of Lee Roy Jordan and Don Meredith. And just wondering if stay-in-your-Lane Johnson is still having fun playing in Philly during its slide to the bottom.

Year of the Quarterback – Everyone: In college football it was 1970 when QB’s went 1-2-3 in the draft, later topped by 1983 when famers John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino were among five QB’s taken. But with young’ns Mahomes, Wilson and Lamar Jackson at the top of their game, Deshaun Watson not far behind, Murray emerging, Aaron Rodgers throwing for over 600 yards with six TD passes as the Packers scored 43 and 42 points in two wins, and Cam Newton looking like he’s healthy (for now), along with Tom Brady and Drew Brees not giving in yet, 2020 might get named that for the NFL.

Player of the Year: A lot to choose from — Mahomes, Wilson, Jackson, Derrick Henry and maybe Aaron Donald on D. But I’m going with Murray, who gets the benefit of the doubt for being the newcomer in the mix as Jackson did last year.

Good Teammate of the Week Award – Cam Newton: I liked how he stood up for N’Keal Harry amid incessant media yacking after that Week 1 fumble through the end zone. Don’t remember anything in recent memory like that from the last QB. Just the sour look when young receivers didn’t do what he wanted. But he justified Newton’s confidence with eight catches, including holding after getting drilled twice vs. Seattle.

Random Teammate Question of the Week: If Harry’s progress continues, does it point a finger at Brady’s diva-like behavior over necessary growing pains, a simple Year 2 step up?

Coaches on the Hot Seat – Adam Gase: With the Jets off to an 0-2 start he’s the most obvious, but with Matt Patricia 0-2 in Detroit it’s a neck-and-neck race.

GM’s on the Hot Seat – Dave Gettleman: After starting 0-2 with San Francisco, a trip out west to face the Rams in the next two games and Saquon Barkley expected gone for the year as I write this, it seems the G-Men’s GM has the pole position. And if he does, will that mean the G-Men will broom a new coach for the third time in four years to let the new guy pick his own guy?

2018 NFL Draft Award – Giants and Jets: If Barkley is gone for the year after his injury-plagued 2019 it could revive heavy criticism from the NY media for selecting a running back who gets pounded over a QB with the end nearing for Eli Manning. Except the second-guessing is going to be harder this time since they were all in on Sam Darnold, who, after two less than stellar efforts to start his third season and more are-you-kidding moments than those of real promise in first two years, has the arrow starting to point toward him joining the line of highly touted USC quarterbacks to have busted this century, which includes Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez and Matt Barkley.

I Told You So Award – Josh Allen: OK, it’s only Week 2 and it came against the Jets and Dolphins, so I’ll pump my brakes on this till mid-season, but after leading once offensively challenged Buffalo to 27 and 31 points and throwing for a career best 417 yards with four TD’s and no picks Sunday, my “he’s better than most think” belief is off to a good start.

All-Name Team MVP – Senorise Perry: If you’ve never heard of him, neither have I. But he’s the Titans’ 29 back-up runner to Henry who’s on his fourth team in five years, not including being out of football totally in 2015 and ’16.

Saddest and Worst News of the Week – James White: Condolences and prayers for the awful news of his father’s death and mom’s catastrophic injuries in their Miami car crash on Sunday.

In a normal year we preview big leaguewide NFL stories as the season starts moving into high gear in Week 2 September. But, since this year isn’t normal, we’ll push to next week, mentioning that Cam Newton had more rushing yards in his first Patriots game on Sunday than Tom Brady had in any entire season during 20 years in New England. Instead, with the NBA playoffs going on in September for the first time ever, we’re focused on the Eastern Conference Final matchup between the Celtics and the Miami Heat that got underway on Tuesday night.

How’s Boston Doing Without Kyrie?

Well, with much of the basketball media, including the clueless crew in New York, somehow still calling him a “superstar” after he did the same thing to the Nets he did to the Celtics, they’re going to the Eastern Conference Final for the third time in four years. The only time they didn’t go? The year Kyrie played and choked his way through Round II by shooting 30 percent as they got croaked in five by Milwaukee. As I said when he left for Brooklyn, addition by subtraction, and that’s clearly the case.

Udonis Haslem Effect: Miami must really like his effect in the locker room because the 40-year-old one-time starter hasn’t played as many as 30 games since 2015-16 and he’s still on the team. He’s also the last playing link to Matt Bonner; they were teammates when Florida went to the NCAA Finals in 2000.

Five Quick Thoughts on Miami:(1) They play great team D. (2) Bam Adebayo is a lot better than most people realize. He shot 52 percent, grabs 10 boards a game and is a solid defender. (3) Ditto for tragic Goran Dragic, a versatile and physical offensive player who averaged 19.8 vs. the Bucks. (4) They’re good and very consistent shooting threes. (5) Erik Spoelstra is an excellent coach and not in the whiney, what a tool, way Rob (good night) Nurse is.

New Hampshire Connection: The three-point bomber from New Castle, Duncan Robinson, is trying to become just the second New Hampshire native to win an NBA title. At the moment he’s seven or eight wins away from joining Bonner, who won two with San Antonio. But if the Celtics don’t take away his and Tyler Herro’s long-range shooting room, he’ll just be four shy come Sept. 30.

How’d They’d Get There? – Heat: They’re 8-1 in the playoffs and easily took out Milwaukee in five games. They did it by building a defensive wall that held 29.5 per game scoring Giannis Antetokounmpo to just 21 per and by being a whopping 63 better on threes. Part of that was due to holding Milwaukee to 32 percent behind the line to their 37 percent, but a bigger factor was taking 36 more long-range bombs.

How’d They Get There? – Celtics: Team defense and getting to the line. The Raptors were held to 32 percent on threes and 44 percent on twos when in the regular season it was 37 percent and 52 percent. Which is how they held their own despite Toronto taking 29 more shots, 20 of which were from downtown. But overall the C’s were just a +1 in points from the field. The difference was at the foul line, where they outscored Toronto 128-108 by taking it inside to get fouled (Tatum was a series best 43-54) and earning more opportunities by being better in transition.

The Key Players

Guys who need to be the game-to-game best player for their team to win.

Heat – Jimmy Butler: There are things I don’t like about him and I probably don’t give him as much credit as he deserves. But he’s a good fit in Miami because it demands maximum effort from everyone so his chirping about that is less irritating. He’s also their leading scorer and a strong defender who’ll give Kemba, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown trouble.

Celtics – Jayson Tatum:

There was a lot of gushing over him during the Raptor series, but there was a lot to not gush about too. The rebounding, defense and passing, especially on the move, have all improved, as has his versatility in scoring, so he’s on his way to becoming something. But he needs to knock off the stream of brain dead plays that kill half-court flow and lead to turnovers or forced shots. Plus stop whining after every call and non-call. It diverts attention from getting back on D or being in the moment while building a rep as a whiner. In short, time to grow up. Though I must continually remind myself he’s just 22. By contrast Larry Bird was 26 in his third NBA season. Next step to being the Top 10 player he can be is greater full-time focus and growing maturity.

X-Factors

Things the pundits don’t talk enough about that can have a big impact.

Heat – The Bench: The mid-year additions of grizzled Andre Iguodala and old friend Jae Crowder made them more physical defensively and lengthened their bench, which could be a key since we’re never sure what the Celtics bench will do.

Celtics – Marcus Smart: It’d be nice to get Gordon Hayward back, but it’s Marcus who makes big plays in so many different ways. He’s got no fear, which is why he’s the only inconsistent shooter I’m OK seeing take the last shot because he’s convinced he’ll make it even when he’s 1-25.

Five Things Boston Must Do To Win: (1) Do not drift on Miami’s three-point shooters. Especially Robinson and Herro, who they must make put it on the floor, because when they catch and shoot they’re deadly. (2) Solid man defense on everyone because double teams and rotations leave the weak side open, where Miami kills you. (3) Win the transition game. (4) Make threes. Miami will take more, so Boston needs to shoot a better percentage. (5) Tatum can’t drift mentally, because they need him in the moment the whole series.

Here’s our annual look at what lies ahead for the Patriots as they begin the quest for another Super Bowl title on longer odds than they’ve had in quite a while.

2020 Schedule: With all the division games likely to be tougher and Pat Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson on the docket, along with 2019 top pick Kyler Murray and Jimmy G, it’s challenging. Though a Jimmy G-vs.-Tom game would have been fun.

Coronavirus Defections: With a league-leading nine guys including key cogs Dont’a Hightower, Pat Chung and Marcus Cannon they got hit hard.

Secondary: Everyone is back from the league’s best secondary but Chung and the traded Duron Harmon, for whom untested but versatile 2019 No. 2 pick Joejuan Williams will step in. But with versatility, depth and having the NFL’s best corner, Stephon Gilmore, it should be a major strength again.

The O-Line: With anchor Dave Andrews back at center, Shaq Mason healthy and after finally seeing what Isaiah Wynn can do, this looked to be a real strength after being such a disaster much of last year. But with Cannon opting out there’s a question at right tackle with no obvious answer. Jermaine Eluemunor has the inside track, but he played just 29 snaps last year, so it bears watching.

Running Back: On paper there’s depth with the most reliable being outstanding third down back James White. But there are issues. Sony Michel is wildly up and down, Rex Burkhead is brittle, I wonder why Damien Harris never played last year and free agent Lamar Miller had success in Houston but is coming off ACL surgery. Plus, I don’t see a goal line and short yardage back, do you?

Linebacker: Their top four linebackers — Hightower, Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts and Jamie Collins — are gone and, sorry, that’s a bigger loss than the 2019 version of Brady. And I just don’t see their production being replaced by Ja’Whaun Bentley, two high draft picks and a bunch of who-the-heck-are-they free agents. Chase Winovich had his 2019 moments, but until I see more consistency, he’s just a guy with Mark Gastineau-esque “hey, look at me” gyrations after he occasionally does something good.

Receivers: Beyond Julian Edelman who knows what they’ll get here and at 34 I’m expecting a tick down from him. Mohamed Sanu? N’Keal Harry? Jakobi Meyers? The rookie tight ends? Two had better emerge or they’ve got big problems. OK, cross off Sanu, who got cut already after giving up a second pick for him.

The Draft: They need players to contribute from both the 2020 and 2019 draft classes. But with just five guys left from the three before that, I’m not filled with confidence.

Kicking Game: They’ve had two kickers in 24 years. Will rookie Justin Rohrwasser make it three in 36? Or will he lose out to the capable Nick Folk to break the string?

X-Factor – Cam Newton: Not sure what he’s going to be. But I do know if they want to make the playoffs he’s got to be good because the O must carry a bigger part of the load this year than last year.

AFC East: For 20 years the Pats have mostly had a giant edge in coaching during division play. But that’s not likely the case vs. Sean McDermott and Brian Flores in Buffalo and Miami at least. So with that gap smaller and all three teams dramatically improved in the second half last year, I expect a more tense race than usual with everyone bunched between 11-5 and 8-8.

Prediction – Because he’s reduced his TO’s considerably and can make enough plays to win with their defense I’m a believer in Buffalo QB Josh Allen. SoI’m picking Buffalo to win the East followed by NE, Miami and NY.

Departure of You Know Who: Thanks for the memories, but based on what he did just last year the bar is not set all that high for his replacement.

Bill Belichick: The real “was it Tom or Bill?” battle begins, where I suspect, with his rep in doubt to a degree, we’ll be reminded of just how much more impact a good coach in football has over the top guys in other sports.

Normally, when the calendar hits Aug. 1 I irrationally begin mourning the end of summer. I just love the freedom of summer, even though from a sports perspective I actually enjoy the other eight months more. I like baseball, but it is a distant third to the fall and winter sports, because the season is endless and many of its so called “progressive” changes have turned a crisp two-hour-and-30-minute game into a daily mini-series, which drives me nuts.

But after the pandemic stole our summer, it’s the first week of September and I barely noticed or even cared. I mean, I spent the most perfect day of the summer on Sunday indoors watching the Celtics spank the Raptors 112-94 in Game 1 of their playoff series. Good game, but it’s something I truly hate doing when the Patriots play 1 p.m. games during September because it feels like I’m stealing my last days of summer.

But that was then and this is now, the new normal. And even in a week where players’ boycotts and game suspensions in support of Black Lives Matters protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, were the biggest story in sports, the pandemic was still there lurking and taking its toll. So with summer gone and the sport most likely to be disrupted by its impossible-to-avoid close contact set to start when the Patriots take on the Dolphins next Sunday at, ugh, 1 p.m., let’s take a look at what the pandemic has wrought on sports since March.

Bucks fans might disagree because the team’s run at a historic won-lost record was disrupted by the shutdown. But of all the teams and fans getting disappointed most, my vote goes to L.A. and Las Vegas, who’ll both miss the opening of spectacular football stadiums in their cities and things are only brand new once. Especially Vegas fans, who’ll miss the transplanted Raiders first game ever in sin city.

The best line summing up the difficulty baseball had with nine teams playing in the four states with the highest concentration of Covid-19 came from a woman on Twitter after 17 members of the Miami organization tested positive: “the entire city of Toronto has fewer cases than the Marlins.” Which was ironic since the Blue Jays couldn’t even play in that clean city or their own country because of Canada’s quarantine wall of the U.S. Thus they shuffled off to Buffalo to play there.

Speaking of the Marlins, even though they got hit with those 17 positive tests in one day they weren’t the hardest hit by coronavirus. They managed to carry on with replacement players presumably off the docks in Miami to beat the moribund Orioles 4-0 in Game 1 after the quarantine started. It’s the Cardinals, who at the point of their 20th scheduled game already had 15 games canceled. While Ernie Banks would’ve loved to play 15 doubleheaders, doing it in a 60-game schedule is 25 percent of the season! So you have to wonder how they’ll find enough pitchers to do that.

As a result of things like that, injuries are piling up. According to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, 104 pitchers are on the IL, including Nathan Eovaldi, who went there Saturday with a calf injury. At a similar point last year 51 were IL’d, not counting 20 more who tested positive.

At the outset of NFL camp word was released Matthew Stafford had tested positive, leading to real family problems. Turned out it was a false positive, but it was already out there, which led to his children and wife Jill being harassed in the grocery store and elsewhere for putting others in danger. Jill was ticked at being put in that predicament by the League, and who can blame her.

The early leader for biggest bonehead of the pandemic was L.A. Clipper Lou Williams for going to an Atlanta strip club while on leave from the bubble for a, ah, “family emergency.” That got discovered when some rapper I never heard of put a picture of the two on social media after Williams supposedly went there for their famous chicken wings. It led to a 14-day quarantine and three missed games. Chicken wings – really? Sounds like a 21st-century version of those who said in the ’60s they bought Playboy for the articles.

That was quickly surpassed by Indians hurlers Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac for sneaking out of their hotel for a night out in Chicago in violation of league protocol. Plesac was sent home immediately while Clevinger a day later after first lying to the team then exposing all at a team meeting. Plesac later sent a rambling video on Instagram recorded while driving his car, which blamed the media for reporting it and not him for doing it. Don’t think their jobs after baseball will be as rocket scientists.

If you’re like me and not following the baseball standings closely, Tampa Bay is leading the AL East and has the second best record in baseball to Oakland. That after Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy mocked TB’s approach all winter after Chaim Bloom was hired from that org to be Sox GM.

Tampa Bay vs. Oakland in the ALCS should be a real TV ratings grabber.

The A+ among commissioners goes to Adam Silver. Both for his plan to operate in the Orlando bubble leading to zero positive tests among all involved, and for avoiding a potential season-ending social justice boycott by NBA players after Monday’s police shooting in Kenosha.

This isn’t Covid- 19 per se, but did anyone else see the Facebook picture of Becky Bonner, of the Concord Bonners, furiously diagramming a play in the Magic huddle during an August game? She’s listed as VP of Player Development but guess she’s getting game action time too. Nice.

With most of the college football season wiped out, what in the name of Bernie Kosar will Mel Kiper Jr. do all year?

We’ll get to the Patriots next week.

Another hectic week during the Covid era in sports inspired the following thoughts and many more.

All I have to say to Bruins fans angered about the Tuukka Rask departure is do you really want a guy in goal whose heart’s not in it? Because if he’s not fully into it, they’re better off without him, as shown by the Bruins’ winning three straight to eliminate Carolina after he bolted the bubble.

Every once in a while comes a reminder that shows how much better professional athletes are than normal people. The latest was PGA rookie Scottie Scheffler shooting a 59 at the Northern Trust event on Friday at the TPC course in Norton, Mass. I played there when my handicap was at its lowest point ever, and that’s an unfathomable number. Then throw in the fact that it was from as far back as the tees go and that it’s in competition. Long and short of it: They’re better than me.

Not that it’s his fault, but it always seems to be something with Gordon Hayward, doesn’t it? The latest is being out until mid-September after badly rolling his ankle early in Round I. And even if they’re still alive when healthy, he’s going home around then to rightfully be with his wife as she delivers baby No. 4.

Speaking of injuries, I have never seen anyone, not even Larry Bird during the 1991 playoffs vs. the Pacers, ever smack their head as hard on the floor as Tobias Harris did vs. the Celtics on Sunday. It was the kind of incident where you envision the worst. But not only did he walk off under his own power, but after getting stitched up he was back in midway through the fourth quarter. That is what you call toughness and having a really hard head.

Incidentally, if it were up to me, I’d move Hayward and Jaylen Brown to the second unit and start Marcus Smart and probably Grant Williams. That would make the second group much more dynamic offensively and give better balance for shots taken by their top four scorers. Because when they all play together one or two have to defer to the other two. Better said, if wing players on the second unit are getting 35 shots a game, who would you rather see get most of them, Hayward and Brown or Williams, Brad Wanamaker and Carsen Edwards? Play it that way for the first three quarters and the fourth quarter based on match-ups and who’s hot, which probably would have them all together then anyway. Bet it would give them a big plus/minus when the bad guys starters aren’t on the floor.

Here’s the latest sign younger demos are losing interest in baseball for newer things. Portsmouth’s Great Bay Community College is advertising to hire an esports team coach. I didn’t even know esports had teams, let alone needed coaches.

Here’s another. Rangers manager Chris Woodward being visibly upset at San Diego’s Fernando Tatis for blasting an eighth-inning grand slam against his team during a 14-4 loss, followed by another idiotic baseball custom when Texas, of course, hit the next guy up. The offense according to Woodward? That it came on a 3-0 count while being up seven runs. Beyond suggesting a neurological work-up, my advice is (1) to see no lead is safe, try watching the Red Sox or Phillies bullpen a little more closely and (2) don’t have your pitchers throw 3-0 meatballs with the bases loaded. Tatis’ job is to hit pitches as far as he can regardless of the score, not worry about Woodward’s fragile ego. I’d say where do they find these boneheads, but baseball is full of them.

Speaking of Sox relief pitching: After trading Brandon Workman to the Phillies they should pull a Brian Cashman. That is, re-sign Workman in December as Cashman did with closer Aroldis Chapman after trading him to the eventual World Champion Cubs in 2016 as a rental.

Recently saw an interesting poll from ESPN’s Mike Greenberg that asked which of Pat Mahomes, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Zion Williamson and Mike Trout would you expect to have the best next 10 years. It came out Mahomes at 51.1 percent, Freak 19.1 percent, Zion a surprising third at 15 percent, and the stat geek nonsense that inflates value in baseball didn’t translate here as Trout was last at 14.8 percent.

Always have thought NFL pre-season games were a drone. But without them it’s hard building anticipation for the coming season.

Best joke from the Tiger Woods–Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson–Tom Brady golf, ah, duel in May that began the comeback of sports vs. coronavirus came from some guy I never heard of saying, “It’s not even football season and Tom Brady is falling apart without Bill Belichick.”

If you missed it, Wenyen Gabriel got the start out of the blue for Portland vs. the Lakers in Game 2 of their NBA playoff series. Not a bad run either, as he had seven points, five rebounds and an assist in 21 minutes before fouling out. Then, in the next game that day one-time D-III’er Duncan Robinson went for 24 as Miami downed Indy when the New Castle (N.H., not Indiana) bomber was 7 for 8 from downtown.

Nice stories, but neither is our New Hampshire Star of the Week. That would be Merrimack Valley middle school student Brayden Harrington for reminding all that the persistence to overcome obstacles can be helped along by encouragement from a friend. He gets a standing ovation for the gumption the 13-year-old showed in Thursday’s inspirational talk to a national TV audience about how his friend Joe Biden is helping him overcome the stuttering problem they share, and his amazement that someone like him could become vice president of the United States. The pair met at a CNN Town Hall meeting in February after candidate Biden invited Brayden backstage to talk about their common experiences.