Author: Dave Long

The Big Story – Sox at the All-Star Break:

The second half of the season gets under way tomorrow. And if you’re a Red Sox fan you like where they are. After being a best-in-baseball 9-3 in July and going 20-8 since June 12 they’re 11 games over .500 at 53-42, 4.5 games behind Baltimore in the AL East and two games up on KC for the last wild card spot. Plus with Triston Casas about to return from a rib cage injury that has kept him sidelined since late April there’s more good news on the way. But close followers know even with the return of Casas, they still need to add a starting pitcher and a right-handed bat by the July 31 trade deadline to fortify their chances to get into the postseason tournament.

There are doubters who believe Sox owner John Henry doesn’t care about the postseason and is more likely to sell off free-agents-to-be Kenley Jansen and Tyler O’Neill. However, with public pressure building for adding, that seems unlikely. So we’ll see.

Sports 101: Name the only college to have players taken first overall in the NBA and NFL drafts in the same year. Also name those players.

News Item – Jaylen Brown Passed Over for Olympic Team: He surprisingly didn’t get the final spot on the Olympic basketball team after Kawhi Leonard dropped out last week. Instead it went to his versatile teammate Derrick White.

Goofballs on Felger & Mazz immediately tried to make it into a brewing feud between Brown and Jayson Tatum because the latter didn’t lobby for JB, which is ridiculous.

But, while Brown is the better player and coming off a stellar performance in the NBA playoffs, you can make a case for White for two reasons. On a team of stars, he’s a better fit as the 12th man because in playing with Tatum and Brown he’s already used to sacrificing for the team. A more likely reason probably lies in Nike’s influence over the selection and their preference to keep politics off this stage. That hurts the outspoken Brown, who’s demonstrated a willingness to take Nike to task for its practice of exploiting overseas workers to benefit its bottom line.

News Item – Trade Deadline Approaching: Of all the mock Red Sox trades I’ve seen, the one involving White Sox lefty Garrett Crochet is the best approach. The proposed cost is high — three of their Top 10 prospects (but not their three best) for a 25-year-old with two more years of contractual control after 2024. Much smarter than a rental for a building team not likely to go deep in the playoffs. And if both sides are happy it gives them a chance to extend Crochet to buy out a few more years of free agency as well.

The Numbers

6 – years in the big house for former Dodgers outfielder Raul Mondesi after being convicted of embezzling $5 million while mayor of the Dominican Republic city of San Cristóbal.

10 – team-leading wins for Sox hurler Brayan Bello, as well as how many strikeouts he had while getting the first 10 outs as he earned No. 9 in a 12-9 win over the A’s last week.

… Of the Week

Thumbs Up – Jalen Brunson: For the diminutive Knicks point guard for passing on roughly $113 million in guaranteed money to give the Knicks salary cap flexibility (for now) to add more players to his up and coming team. And while the $37 million he’ll make annually is nothing to sneeze at, his Tom Brady-like financial sacrifice in the name of helping the team is rare in the me, me, me world of professional sports economics. Bravo, Jalen.

Quote of the Week – Ceddanne Rafaela: When the versatile rookie was asked what his job with the team was he said, “Just help us win.”

Random Thoughts:

Contrary to last Sunday’s ESPN broadcast suggesting that Chaim Bloom had a lot to do with the rampaging Red Sox success, let the record show he has not. All of the young core fueling their surge — Devers, Rafaela, Duran, Casas, Bello, Houck and Winkowski — were drafted by Dave Dombrowski before he was fired in 2019.

Sports 101 Answer: In 2005 the Utah duo of Andrew Bogut and Alex Smith became the first and only guys taken first overall in both the NFL and NBA drafts in the same year.

Final Thought – Jayson Tatum: While I enjoyed the Celtics championship run, sorry to the folks who are saying it sets Tatum’s legacy. What? Earth to those folks. He plays for the Boston Celtics, where luminaries like Russell (11), Sam Jones (10), Havlicek (9), Cousy (6) and Bird (3) won multiple titles. He won one, as short-time contributors like Emmette Bryant and Rick Carlisle and many others have.

If he wants to move up to be an all-time Celtic, he’s got to win at least two more.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Red Sox Are Rolling: After coming back to beat the Yanks in dramatic fashion 5-3 on Friday with ninth- and 10th-inning homers and again 3-0 on Sunday with three more, they’ve won 16 of their last 21. It’s turned a 13.5-game Yankees lead over them to just 4.5 by Monday. It also has them 1.5 games up on KC for the final wild card spot. That’s shaken up the conversation over what to do at the trade deadline and let the thought creep into Red Sox Nation’s mind that maybe John Henry’s been right and they’ve been wrong all along.

Sports 101: Name the five pitchers who have started the All-Star game for both the AL and NL.

News Item – Who’s Hot:

Jarren Duran: With three homers last week he became the first person ever to have 100 hits, 10 homers, 10 triples and 20 stolen bases before the All-Star break. Which is why he was named to the AL All-Star team.

CeddanneRafaela: After doing what Dustin Pedroia did as a rookie in battling to get over the Mendoza line through the first two months, he’s now on a tear. And it’s not just the two big homers he hit over the weekend. Friday’s 10th-inning game-winner came in his first ever game at Yankee Stadium. The 412-foot shot to dead center raised his average to .311 since the switch got flipped on June 1. Then he did it again in the eighth in Sunday’s win.

It left him with 11 homers and 50 RBI in his first 85 games. Both are the most by anyone hitting in the 9-hole this year.

Rafael Devers: He topped his young friend by hitting three homers and having six hits vs. the Yanks. That pushed him over the 1,000 career hit plateau, while the homers are something not even all-time great sluggers like Jimmie Foxx, Harmon Killebrew, Yaz or even Ted Williams ever did. They gave him 16 career homers at Yankee Stadium to tie him with Big Papi and leave him just three behind all-time visiting Stadium homer king Jose Bautista.

Which I find amazing.

News Item – Celtics Keep Team Together: Brad Stevens wasted little time locking up his team for a run to repeat. That included signing Jayson Tatum and Derrick White to max extensions that run through 2027, and also bringing back Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman.

The Numbers:

11 – MLB-leading wins for Chris Sale after allowing one run on six hits over six innings while striking out nine in a 3-1 win over the Giants.

12 – record-tying consecutive hits recorded by Twins infielder Jose Miranda over four games last week, last done in 1952 by Sox first baseman Walt Dropo.

$1,193,248.20 – annual payment Bobby Bonilla has received every July 1 from the Mets in deferred income since 2011 and will continue to get until 2035 even though the ex-Met and Pirate outfielder retired in 2001.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Celtics Brass: For putting their money where their mouth is to keep the team together.

Thumbs Down – Celtics For Sale: Because Wyc Grousbeck and company have been great owners and they’re really hard to come by. So, Celtics Nation, keep your fingers crossed.

Good News / Bad News Award – Caleb MartinTo 76ers: He hurt the C’s badly in the playoffs two years ago. So his leaving Miami is good for them. Except he signed a four-year deal with a better team in Philly, so they’ll still likely face him in the playoffs.

Har Dee Har Har Award: To the Lakers brass for saying at his introductory press conference that four-point-a-game-scorer-at-USC Bronny James “earned” being drafted in the second round last week to counteract the belief by every other person in the universe that it only happened to keep papa LeBron from leaving as a free agent.

Random Thoughts:

If the Red Sox are going to add at the trade deadline, forget rentals. Make a major/real deal that brings back a starter who’ll be under their control for a few more years.

Sports 101 Answer: The five who started All-Star games for both leagues are Vida Blue, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer.

Final Thought – Caitlin Clark Records First WNBA Triple Double: This is not aimed at Clark’s 19-point, 13-assist, 12-rebound effort in Indiana’s win over New York on Saturday. It’s just that folks are making a big deal about that being the first triple D in WNBA history and I’m asking why it took so long.

It’s not like dunking, which is a size and jumping thing. It comes from just playing, where it happens all the time in the NBA and I even did it five or six times myself in college.

The league started in 1997, so why did it take that long? Style of play, bad coaching or the players themselves not playing all-round games? It just seems weird.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

full season to 14 homers and 60 RBI.

2.67 – seventh best in baseball ERA of Tanner Houck, who has been their best pitcher after the spring training discussion was “should he be a reliever?”

82 – projected RBI total for Ceddanne Rafaela, the second best on the team, despite hitting under .200 for most of the first two months. But he’s come on in June to be up to .245 with numbers that project to 26 doubles, 16 homers and 20 stolen bases. And that doesn’t even take into account his Mookie Betts-like defensive versatility or Jackie Bradley-level play in center field.

78– their surprising stolen bases total that lets them play small ball when runs need to be manufactured, like when they stole a team record nine in a win over the Yanks as team leaders David Hamilton (21) and Duran (20) combined for six steals.

News Item – Alumni Update

Chris Sale – leads NL in wins with 10 against two losses with a 2.91 ERA and 107 k’s in 86 innings.

Kyle Schwarber – with just 17 he’s projecting to hit 35 bombs for Philly.

Mookie Betts – out till August with a broken hand. He went to the DL hitting .304 with 10 homers and 40 RBI.

Xander Bogaerts – being at .219 with four homers and 14 RBI says he’s the latest guy to really miss playing at Fenway.

The Numbers:

4 – after trading for Mikal Bridges last week, the number of players the New York Knicks now have from Villanova’s 2016 national championship team.

10 – after getting five more for Bridges, the total number of first-round draft picks the Nets have now gotten from their trade of Kevin Durant to Phoenix, which also sent Bridges to them 18 months ago.

… Of the Week Awards

Newest All-Name Team Member of the Week – Jhostynxon Garcia: If you can pronounce the first name of the Red Sox Single A outfielder who was on a 7-homers-in-19-games stretch last week you are a better person than me.

Random Thoughts:

I played college basketball with a 6’7” guy named Dean Letourneau. Wonder if he’s any relation to that 6’7” Dean Letourneau guy the Bruins drafted in Round I last week?

Just checked the spelling of our center. So never mind.

Sports 101 Answer: The 100 RBI near All-Star snub was Hank Greenberg because he was competing with two of the greatest first basemen in history for the job in Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx.

Final Thought – NBA Draft: First-round picks certainly are looked at differently in the NBA today. They once were treated like gold and teams were loath to trade them. But not so any longer.

For instance I thought including two of them along with Robert Williams and Malcolm Brogdon for Jrue Holiday was an overpay. But he was the final piece for Brad Stevens, so he said go and look at what that meant.

Now come the Knicks giving up five of them (to the crosstown rival Nets no less) for Bridges, who’s never made an All-Star team or been part of a team that has won a thing in the NBA.

He did, however, win at Villanova, which I think figures into the Knicks’ thinking, as along with being a big talent addition with no one coming off the roster they probably like what he’ll add to the team chemistry his three Nova teammates already have created.

So it’s deemed worth the five because he seems like the final piece to make them a major contender for next year’s title. Meanwhile Phoenix, who started it all, was one and done in the playoffs with Durant.

So 3-ball is not the only radical difference in the Association these days.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Celtics Win Banner 18: It remains our top story, which we’ll wrap up now, since they actually did it after last week’s deadline.

We’ll get to the Red Sox next week as they reach the midpoint in what’s becoming a surprising season with some major bright spots ahead.

Sports 101: Name the top five leaders for most fouls committed in NBA playoff history.

News Item – Who’s Hot: The Sox come into the week on a roll having won 10 of 12. It has them six games over .500 at 42-36 and a half game up on KC for the final wild card spot.

News Item – Unnoticed Moves By Joe Mazzulla: I’ve been a critic of his, but here are three excellent playoff moves that made a difference:

(1) Challenging a goal tend call on Al Horford 35 seconds into Game 1 vs. Indy. It seemed really dumb at the time. But it worked and two points were taken away. Flash forward to seconds left, Jaylen Brown makes a three that sends it to OT where the C’s win. But if Mazzulla doesn’t do it they lose Game 1.

(2) Inserting Payton Pritchard into Game 2 vs. Dallas with 3.5 seconds to go in Period 3 and he banked a 45-footer for a three-ball. Did it again at the end of the half in Game 5 — this time nothing but net. Both gave the team and crowd a huge lift.

(3) His Pete Maravich-like “when you’re hot shoot to stay hot, if you’re cold shoot to get hot” philosophy on three-point shooting. They stuck with that in Game 2 vs. Dallas when they couldn’t hit the pavement with a rock and it eventually paid off then and through the series when they were a +21 on 3-balls.

The Numbers:

5 – Celtics who shot over 60.0 percent, led by Luke Kornet’s 69.8 percent. Only Kevin McHale did that on the vaunted 67-win Celtics of 1985-’86.

13 – Celtics who shot 52.6 percent or better on two-point shots. Only seven guys did that on the ’85-’86 team.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Jamie Staton: It goes to my friend and one-time broadcast partner upon leaving WMUR, for the great work he did over the years with such passion and desire to cover sports in a way that reached all corners of our state. Congrats on a job well done, young fella!

Dumbest Guy Alive Award – Skip Bayless: For intimating on his TV show the reason Jayson Tatum took (“so many shots” — seven) while scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter of Game 5 was that he was making a last-ditch effort to be named Final’s MVP instead of trying to end the series. Lunacy.

Random Thoughts:

With the Sox in the wild card race and the trade deadline a month away, should they keep free agents-to-be Kenley Jansen and Tyler O’Neill to make a run for it? Or move them if they can get a prospect of real value like the Braves did with Single-A pitcher John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander (who went 9-0 and led Detroit to the AL East title) and hand their jobs to younger guys who’ll be here next year to see how they stand up under pennant race pressure? I vote the latter.

Sports 101 Answer: The top five playoff foulers areKareem Jabbar (797), Shaq (769), Robert Horry (717), Tim Duncan (701) and Scottie Pippen (686).

Final Thought – Finals Topics Settled:

Tatum and Brown Tandem – I’m old enough to remember hearing Felger and Maz blather on about how these two couldn’t play together. One of the local cries was to trade Brown for Tatum’s St. Louis buddy Bradley Beal, who was a dud in Phoenix’s misguided quest to force-feed ill-suited players together to form a Big 3, after Beal never won squat in D.C.

After that calmed down, the not happy unless they have something to be unhappy about duo was consumed with their own fiction that the Jays were in a jealous fight over who’d be playoffs MVP starting back in the Indiana series.

Kyrie Irving is a superstar – Can we please finally stop this nonsense now? He shot 33 percent when it counted in Boston this year, just as he did in his last series (vs. Milwaukee) with the C’s in 2018 and when Kyrie and Brooklyn were swept by Boston in 2022.

Real NBA King – Can we please stop the chatter between the L.A. Lakers and Celtics as being neck and neck in the NBA title race? Golden State has no relationship to the 1955 Philadelphia Warriors, and Indianapolis Colts fans have no connection to Baltimore Colts QB/star Johnny Unitas. Ditto for L.A. with Minneapolis Lakers stars George Mikan, Vern Mikkelsen or Jim Pollard. Since the C’s started dominating the NBA just before they moved to L.A., it’s even. So, sorry, Magic, the real title count is LOS ANGELES Lakers 12, Boston Celtics 18.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – Celtics Win Banner 18: Well, despite their infuriating year-long capacity to blow big leads the Celtics delivered NBA title number 18 with a Game 5 106-88 win.

Jaylen Brown was Finals MVP even though Jayson Tatum was better in the last two wins and Jrue Holiday actually should have won it.

But most importantly it let them reclaim what they hold dearest, NBA title leader with 18.

Sports 101: Name the Top 5 Hall of Famers to play the most playoff games without winning an NBA title.

News Item – Red Sox Update: Nice week for the Red Sox in taking two of three from both the Phillies and the Yanks, who have the best two records in baseball. It had the Sox starting the week in third place at 37 up and 35 down with the Blue Jays and Reds on tap.

News Item – Jerry West Dies: Saddest news in sports this week was the unexpected passing of the ever classy Mr. Clutch at 86, a guy who had a greater long-term influence than anyone in NBA history as a player, coach and executive.

He was special to me because he and Oscar Robertson were the gold standard for guard play when I first became a basketball fan. And trust me, with all due respect to Kobe, Kobe Bryant was not better than West.

He and Oscar don’t have the same number of titles because they played in the same era as Bill Russell and he hasn’t played in 50 years so how great he was is a bit lost as the memory dims over time.

But, while his numbers were staggering, he was much more than that. As he also presided over two Lakers eras as GM that won eight titles before moving first to Memphis and as a special advisor in Golden State as it put together a team that won four more rings.

So hail to the logo because you ain’t kidding when he is described as the GREAT Jerry West.

RIP.

News Item – Who’s Hot – Jarren Duran: According to Fastball on FanNation, with 20 doubles, 10 triples and 15 stolen bases through the Red Sox’ first 69 games Duran joined no less than baseball figures Ty Cobb (1911 and 1917) and Shoeless Joe Jackson (1912) as the only other left-handed batter to reach those three marks in fewer than 70 games since 1900.

The Numbers:

9 – led by Billy Hamilton’s three,franchise record stolen bases the Red Sox hung on the Yanks in Sunday’s 9-3 win.

26 – after going yard at Fenway on Sunday, homers Aaron Judge has after 73 games in 2024 to put him on a pace close to 2022 when he hit an AL record 62.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Dan Hurley: For once someone turned down getting the king’s ransom to not walk out on his guys because he was smart enough to know the grass on his side of the fence was green enough.

Injury of the Week – Mookie Betts: Bad news for Mookie fans as broke his left hand when he was hit by a pitch batting against the Royals Sunday. It’s especially painful as he was in the midst of an MVP-caliber season while making a remarkable return to the infield for L.A. this time as a shortstop. No timetable given for his return, though the injury will require surgery.

Alumni News Update – Kyle Schwarber: Those two homers he hit in the Phillies’ 4-1 series opener win vs. the Sox last week gave him 105 homers — 46 (2022), 47 (2023) and 15 so far this year — since John Henry and company refused to pay him the same money after 2021 that they gave to Masataka Yoshida, who hit 15 in Year 1 with the Sox while making Schwarber look like Barry Bonds in comparison when Yoshida was in left field.

Sports 101 Answer: The Hall of Famers to play in the most playoff games without winning an NBA title are Karl Malone (193), John Stockton (182), Reggie Miller (144), Patrick Ewing (139) and Elgin Baylor (134).

Final Thought – Tom Brady Goes Into Patriots Hall: Congratulations to young Tom for the honor along with the news his #12 will be retired. Also great to see that 100 teammates showed up for his inductions. That says something about what a great teammate and leader he was, though for those of us who saw him play that’s hardly a news flash.

All of which is richly deserved.

The best part for me, however, was seeing sincere emotional warmth between Brady and Coach B, who showed up to honor his QB despite the glacial relationship between him and ever petty owner Bob Kraft.

And Brady couldn’t have gotten it more right when he said, “It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. It was us,” adding, “Here in New England, it’s always about we, and us. Not me, or my.” Oh, for the good old days.

Thanks for the memories, fellas.Email Dave Long at [email protected].

The Big Story – NBA Finals: The Celtics held serve by taking Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals in Boston. While Game 1 was a 107-89 blowout, Game 2 was more impressive because they shot poorly (especially Jayson Tatum) and still won 105-98 by grinding it out, which is the kind of games in years past they would lose.

No surprise Jrue Holiday was the star with 26 points and, as important, holding Kyrie Irving to his second straight no-impact-scoring game at 16 points. But the real key was the team D, which made the amazing Luka Doncic work for all of his 62 combined points as Dallas was held under 100 twice.

Now on to Dallas for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday.

Sports 101: With 59, Larry Bird is the Celtics’ all-time triple double leader. Round out the Top 5 by naming the players who had the following numbers of triple D’s: 33, 32, 21 and 17.

News Item – Here Come The Yankees: After splitting four with moribund Chicago over the weekend, the Red Sox start the week in third place at 33-33. But a big test arrives this week as they face the best two teams in baseball. It starts with three against Dave Dombrowski’s Phillies and then it’s the high-flying Yanks making their first visit to Fenway Park this weekend.

News Item – Tanner Houck: It was supposed to be Brayan Bello. But as we hit mid-June the Red Sox ace is Houck after becoming what many thought he might become a few years back. It included shutting out Washington over five innings as the Sox clinched a 2021 playoff berth on the final day of the season.

While it’s not quite reflected in his 6-5 record thanks to a shaky bullpen and lack of offensive punch, his 1.91 ERA and .200 batting average against are among the league leaders, with the latest impressive effort coming in Thursday’s 14- 2 win over the White Sox when he allowed two runs and struck out nine over seven innings.

News Item – Homers United: The Boston Globe ran a piece on predictions made by hometown media members who cover the Celtics and Mavs. To no one’s surprise, all but one guy from Dallas — Sean McFarland — picked the Mavs and it was the same for Boston where only one, naturally Dan Shaughnessy, didn’t have the locals winning. Celtics fans can take heart, as the track record on predictions by Shaughnessy says he’s almost always wrong, so the Celtics are probably a lock.

The Numbers:

12 – consecutive losses to his former team by Kyrie after his 12-point, 6 of 19, and 16-point submissions in Game 1 and 2.

17 – NBA Finals record for biggest lead after the first quarter set by the Celtics when they led in Game 1 37-20.

96 – he may be hitting just .215 as he’s finding his footing, but after the 4-5, 4-RBI day vs. Chicago last week, it’s the number of RBI Sox rookie CF/SS Ceddanne Rafaela is on track to knock in from the ninth spot in the order.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Celtics Warm-Up Shirts: Love those Celtics warm up shirts with WALTON written across the front in tie-dye colors to honor the late great Bill Walton.

Mexico Will Pay For The Wall Award – Dallas Mavs: The Mavs’ announcement that Doncic was questionable for Game 2 (when he had a 31-11-11 triple double) was less believable than the claim made in the 2016 presidential race.

A Little History – Down Goes Rambis: Yup, it was (gulp) 40 years ago last week when Kevin McHale horse collared bespectacled Laker Kurt Rambis in Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals to prevent a breakaway lay-up as the C’s were getting run out by L.A. for the second straight game. It radically changed the momentum after that as the Celtics improbably rallied to even the series at 2-2.

That play and Gerald Henderson’s steal and score in OT of Game 1 were the plays that saved the series the C’s eventually won in seven.

Sports 101 Answer: No. 2 on the C’s triple D list is Bob Cousy with 33, followed by John Havlicek (32), Rajon Rondo (21) and Bill Russell (17). If you’re wondering, Tatum and Jaylen Brown have just two and three respectively.

Final Thought – Thumbs Down – John Henry: It’s ironic the Red Sox owner whined to the Financial Times of London that fans are too unrealistic in thinking you can win it all every year, just as the GM he fired to send the Sox crashing to the basement shows up at Fenway with his Phillies. Who immediately became contenders after he arrived thanks to moves like signing Kyle Schwarber (93 homers in two years) after the Sox let him walk.

True, you can’t win every year. But Dombo shows big-market teams can contend almost every year if they have the will Henry once had.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].