Category: News

Baseball 2022 awards

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].

Updates on the mail

The plant manager at Manchester’s USPS center talks about improvements

As part of Delivering for America, a 10-year plan for the United States Postal Service “to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence,” the USPS has installed 270 new package sorting machines across the country, including one in New Hampshire at the USPS Processing and Distribution Center in Manchester. Plant manager Janie Beltran talked about the machine and other initiatives to improve and modernize the USPS.

What is this machine, and how does it work?

It’s an automated parcel sorter. … The mail handlers will place the mail on the conveyor belt. There’s a computer system that reads the bar code [on the package], and then the machine does its magic and sorts the packages by their zip codes. It can sort into 200 different destinations across the country. It’s very simple, but it does a lot. It currently runs 3,000 pieces an hour. I can’t run 3,000 pieces in an hour doing a manual operation. … We’re running it five days a week for now … and we’ve been processing first class mail — small packages, like something smaller than a shoebox — that originates here in New Hampshire, and we’re distributing to all 50 states.

How did Manchester USPS end up getting one of these machines?

The Postal Service is modernizing its operations to accommodate the growing customer demand for packages. When Covid hit, everybody was at home, and that’s when the packages really increased. It’s grown significantly over the several holiday seasons. So Delivering for America is a 10-year plan where they’re investing almost $40 billion, and that’s an investment in people, equipment and technology. They just deployed about 137 of these new package sorters across the country … which will give us the capacity across the country to process 60 million packages a day. … [Manchester USPS] had the space, the right location, the right mail mix, so we got one of them installed here in Manchester.

Is this machine replacing any of your workforce?

No — on the contrary. It has created more need for employees to staff the machine.

How will this improve service? Will people notice a difference this holiday season?

During the holiday season, we get double to triple the amount that we normally do the other 10 months of the year. … This will ensure that we’re well-positioned to handle the peak volumes … and provide customers with efficient, predictable, reliable service that they expect and deserve this holiday and beyond … and that’s even better than last year. … The goal is to run it for 15 to 18 hours a day during the holiday season. … It’s going to help us run parcels to help Nashua [USPS] and give them some flexibility to concentrate on priority packages. … We envision that this machine can also run some priority packages, which are a little bigger, so during the peak volumes we’ll also be running some priority mail to alleviate the volumes that we anticipate Nashua is going to have, just to give them even more flexibility. … We’re ready for a successful holiday season.

What other improvements has USPS been working on?

We’ve converted some of our non-career [employees] to career [status] to stabilize the workforce. We’ve rearranged the working floor to make it more efficient, so that the mail can travel through our buildings into our trips so that they go on time. … Nashua has gotten other types of equipment to help them this holiday season and moving forward. … [Nationally,] we’ve improved our performance. We’ve decreased our projected losses. It was forecasted that we were going to have a $116 billion loss over the next 10 years, but with all these improvements and investments, stabilizing the workforce and stabilizing our service, we’ve been able to reduce it to, I think, about $70 billion now. That’s a big accomplishment for the organization. … Another thing is, during Covid, the Postal Service packaged and delivered about 60-plus million Covid test kits for America. … The government came to us and asked if we could do that, and we said, ‘Absolutely.’ That was pretty amazing for us to be able to help the American public in that way.

Featured photo: Janie Beltran. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 22/10/13

Fire prevention

The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office, with the National Fire Protection Association, celebrates the 100th anniversary of Fire Prevention Week, which is nationally observed Oct. 9 through Oct. 15. According to a press release, more than 20 events have been planned throughout the state to educate the public on this year’s Fire Prevention Week campaign, “Fire won’t wait. Plan your escape.” “It’s important for everyone to plan and practice a home fire escape,” Sean Toomey, New Hampshire State Fire Marshal, said in the release. “Everyone needs to be prepared in advance, so that they know what to do when the smoke alarm sounds. Given that every home is different, every home fire escape plan will also be different. Have a plan for everyone in the home.” Check with your town or city fire department to see how they’re participating, and visit the Fire Prevention Week website, nfpa.org/fpw, for tools to help you create your household’s fire escape plan.

Community health grants

The Department of Health and Human Services will award more than $2.2 million in federal grants to improve access to community health and support services in New Hampshire, including a $1 million grant awarded directly to One Sky Community Services, a statewide network that supports individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities or acquired brain disorders. According to a press release, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured the funding through a congressionally directed spending request through the fiscal year 2022 omnibus package passed earlier this year. Sen. Shaheen also requested and received approval for more than $5 million in federal funding to assist New Hampshire law enforcement. Those funds, which are allocated through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing’s Technology and Equipment Program, will support the New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of State Police for Statewide Digital Law Enforcement Equipment and Technology Training and radio and communications infrastructure upgrades for the Merrimack Police Department, the Durham Department of Public Safety, the Cheshire County Sheriff’s Office and Strafford County, according to another release.

Help for kids

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ Division for Children, Youth and Families announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau’s Administration for Children and Families has approved its Family First Title IV-E Prevention Plan. The five-year plan focuses on family strengthening and providing services to families whose children may be at risk of entering foster care, according to a press release, and allows DCYF to secure federal reimbursement for the funding of those services. “Through Family First, we have an incredible opportunity to get services to vulnerable families in their own homes and communities, making them more resilient and reducing the risk of abuse, neglect and separation of children from their families,” DCYF Director Joseph E. Ribsam said in the release. “We are well on our way to implementing many of the new services designed to keep kids safe and keep families strong and together.”

Vax vans

Mobile vaccination clinics and the Homebased Vaccination Program have resumed in New Hampshire as part of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ initiative to make Covid vaccines, including the updated booster doses, more accessible to all residents. “As we move into the fall and winter, we want to make sure everyone has access to the updated Covid-19 booster doses that better protect against the most recently circulating Covid-19 variants,” Patricia Tilley, director of Public Health Services, said in a press release. “We know there are barriers to vaccine access, and the homebased and mobile vaccination clinics, once again, will help to close that gap.” Three mobile vaccination vans providing free Covid vaccines — both the primary series and the updated booster dose — are available upon request to groups, organizations, workplaces and community events throughout the state. Visit on-sitemedservices.com/van. Additionally, the Homebased Vaccination Program will visit and provide free Covid vaccines and booster doses to residents throughout the state who have challenges leaving their home or have been advised by a medical provider to remain in their home. Visit on-sitemedservices.com/vaccine. Both programs are federally funded through the American Rescue Plan and will run through March 2023, according to the release.

NH National Guard

Two New Hampshire Army National Guard units have been deployed to the southern border for one year, according to a press release from the governor’s office. One unit of approximately 44 soldiers will provide command and control over four subordinate units — approximately 500 soldiers total — across around 250 miles of border extending to the Gulf of Mexico. The other unit of approximately 120 soldiers will serve at surveillance sites along the border, according to the release.

The New Hampshire Insurance Department will host its annual hearing on health insurance premium rates and cost driving factors on Friday, Oct. 20, at UNH Law School in Concord. An opening reception will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by the program starting at 9 a.m. and concluding at 12:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and can also be watched online. To register to attend, in person or online, email [email protected].

The Bow Business Expo is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Baker Free Library (509 South St., Bow). According to a press release, attendees will have an opportunity to connect with Bow small businesses and entrepreneurs in a casual setting and enjoy free samples and demonstrations. It’s free and open to the public. Visit bowbakerfreelibrary.org.

Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig joined city Director of Parks & Recreation Mark Gomez, representatives from the Board of Aldermen and members of the Shaw family at Brown & Mitchell Park (229 W. Mitchell St., Manchester) on Oct. 5 to rededicate the park in honor of Representative and Alderman Barbara Shaw. According to a press release, Shaw, who died in December 2021, was a teacher and education administrator who served on the Manchester Board of Mayor and Alderman for 11 years, from 2010 to 2021, and served in the House of Representatives for 11 terms.

This Week 22/10/06

Big Events October 6, 2022 and beyond

Thursday, Oct. 6

The 20th annual New Hampshire Film Festival kicks off today and runs through Sunday, Oct. 9, at several locations around Portsmouth including the Music Hall, the Lounge, the Press Room, St. John’s Church and 3S Artspace. Today’s events include a screening of God’s Country, which stars Thandiwe Newton, at 7:15 p.m. at the Music Hall, as well as several NH Shorts blocks. Festival day passes are available ($30 for Thursday and $50 for each day afterward) or you can buy a pass to the entire four-day event, which in addition to the screenings of features and shorts features panels and other happenings. See the full schedule and buy tickets at nhfilmfestival.com.

Friday, Oct. 7

The Milford Rotary and Lions Clubs are once again working on presenting a lineup of vendors for two nights of beer, wine and spirits tastings during the annual Milford Pumpkin Festival, on Friday, Oct. 7, and Saturday, Oct. 8, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on the Community House Lawn (Union Street, Milford). More than a dozen local and regional brewers, distillers and other beverage purveyors will be pouring samples of their offerings throughout each evening. Returning vendors will include Steadfast Spirits Distilling Co. of Concord and Averill House Vineyard of Brookline, and there are also a few newcomers to the festival, like Long Blue Cat Brewing Co. of Londonderry, Liquid Therapy of Nashua, Canteen Spirits and Buena Gave Canned Cocktails. The cost is $20 per person for 10 tasting tickets, and each ticket holder also receives a commemorative glass — tickets are redeemable for a three-ounce beer sample, a one-ounce wine sample or a ¼-ounce spirit sample. Visit milfordpumpkinfestival.org/bws-tent.

Saturday, Oct. 8

The Nashua Historical Society will hold an exhibit of 150 years of Nashua bridal fashion today and tomorrow (Sunday, Oct. 9) from 1 to 4 p.m. at Abbot-Spalding House (5 Abbott St. in Nashua). Admission costs up to $12 per person.

Saturday, Oct. 8

The Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) hosts “An evening with Paula Cole” tonight at 8 p.m., doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $55 plus fees. Known for hits “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” and “I Don’t Want to Wait,” Cole released the album American Quilt in 2021 and in September 2022 a two-song collection with Jason Isobell and John Paul White called For the Birds.

Wednesday, Oct. 12

Chunky’s Cinema Pubs (707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com ) will hold a 21+ screening of Clue (1985) at 7:30 p.m. tonight. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and attendees are encouraged to bring board games to play in the hour before the movie starts. Tickets cost $5.99 (you know, one plus two plus one plus one … plus .99).

Save the date! Saturdays, Oct. 15, and Oct. 22
The Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road in Canterbury; shakers.org) will host 5K cross-country races that are part of the Delta Dental XC Series on the Shaker Village grounds, according to a press release. Registration costs $25.

Featured photo. Milford Pumpkin Festival. Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 22/10/06

Making real estate fun

Local real estate agent Tommy Bolduc and his clients looking to sell their home on Guys Lane in Weare decided to have some fun with the home listing pictures. WMUR reported that the pictures feature a man dressed as Michael Myers, the iconic masked villain from the Halloween movie franchise, in various poses — some sinister, some silly — within the rooms and in the yard.

QOL Score: +1

Comment: Bolduc told WMUR that he and the sellers are big horror fans and thought the pictures would be festive and fun with Halloween around the corner, adding that homebuyers have nothing to fear — the house is not haunted.

Everybody wins!

Firefighters and police officers from across the Granite State renewed their friendly rivalry for a good cause during the 11th annual Battle of the Badges Baseball Classic on Sept. 23 at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester. The game drew more than 1,000 spectators and 57 participants, including players and coaches, and raised $124,000 and counting, according to a press release, to support the programs at Dartmouth Health Children’s and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Team Police took home the trophy with an 8-7 win over Team Fire, and was the highest fundraising team with a total of $64,561 raised over Team Fire’s $46,854. Team Police has an 8-3 winning record over Team Fire in the history of the fundraising game and has raised more than $466,000 since 2011.

QOL Score: +1

Comment: Since its inception, the CHaD Battle of the Badges Baseball Classic has raised more than $965,000 for the cause.

Honored

Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig and Manchester School District Superintendent Dr. Jennifer Gillis honored 100-year-old Josephine Sad, a former student of Manchester’s Central High School, with an equivalent high school diploma on Sept. 27. According to a press release, the diploma was given as a gesture of gratitude to Sad for her service to our country; she left high school to care for her younger brother while their parents worked during the Great Depression, and she served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.

QOL Score: +1

Comment: Sad’s longtime close friend Terry Seavey shared Sad’s story with Mayor Craig and helped to arrange the surprise award ceremony, with Sad’s son, Alan Sad, also in attendance.

QOL score: 82

Net change: +3

QOL this week: 85

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].

2022 in the books

The dramatically disappointing 2022 local baseball season mercifully ended with John Henry’s team in last place for the fifth time in the last 10 seasons.

Let that seep in for a second. Yes, there were two World Series wins in that time and four overall since Henry and Tom Werner bought the team. Which, given the sense of futility since selling the Babe to the Yankees, is noteworthy.

But five last-place finishes in 10 years when they annually have a Top 5 is mind-boggling to me. Fittingly it ended in a series with the forever payroll-strapped Tampa Bay Rays, who for the fourth consecutive season finished ahead of Boston despite spending roughly $120 million less on payroll in 2022. The disparity has reached as high as $160 million while being skunked by TB as the Sox drew 7.1 million to Fenway to Tampa’s over 3.1 million.

For that giant attendance edge Sox ownership gave their fans a collective 275 wins and 267 losses while the Rays went 322-220 at the time this column was filed.

That is dramatic evidence that it’s not how much you spend, but how you spend it.

Which should put Chaim Bloom on notice he better do a much better job picking the groceries or it’ll be curtains for him in Boston next October — something that would happen this weekend if I owned the team, because Chaimball ain’t working for me.

Here are a few more thoughts on the season.

The MVP — Xander Bogaerts: I’m not a big fan of giving this award during this kind of season. But it’s likely his last here and I want to recognize his professionalism through this and every other season since he arrived.

Best Move — Michael Wacha: This one got a ho-hum reaction from me as it just didn’t seem that after drifting for several years he could re-capture the promise of his early career. But while not exactly the reincarnation of Iron Man McGinnity in pitching just 123 innings he did so by going 11-1 with a 3.06 ERA. Now the two questions are (1) can he do it again? and (2) can Chaim re-sign him after a solid make-good year?

Worst Deal — Many To Choose From: Jackie Bradley Jr. getting DFA’d in July after being traded for a guy who hit 28 homers is hard to look past. But for me it’s passing on Kyle Schwarber in free agency, which was made even more galling by the fact that the guy who was smart enough to sign him, Dave Dombrowski, was the guy Henry fired to bring Bloomball to Fenway.

Because after finishing second in MLB in homers with 44 (as I write this) they’d now have him for three more years at DH while J.D. is done in Boston after hitting just 13 this year.

Throw in the 28 Hunter Renfroe hit in Milwaukee after the Bradley deal and it’s a net loss of 59 (44+ 28 – 13) homers Chaim let walk out the door for basically nothing. And there’s also the 35 hit by Mookie Betts. Yikes!

Advice For 2023: This came from a reader two years ago, and I agree 100 percent. Given his durability and injury issues, the Sox should go to spring training with Chris Sale penciled in as the closer. With his never-ending injury/fatigue issues that annually surface after the All Star break, his arm would likely tolerate the 70 innings a closer throws rather than the 200 expected of a starter. Put him at the back end of the two-innings abilities of Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck and they can lock up the seventh, eighth and ninth innings regularly.

Advice For 2023 — The Sequel: Nate Eovaldi should get drinks for free in Boston for life for his tremendous extra-innings performance in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. But, while he pitches well when he does it, he’s only made 35 starts in four-plus years here. So given their need for durability in the pitching staff I let him walk unless he comes back for a lot less money as the fifth starter.

Coming Attraction —Free Agency 2022: If you think the natives are restless now, wait until after re-upping Aaron Judge the Yanks sign Bogaerts to be their shortstop. Seeing him in pinstripes will make Red Sox Nation absolutely irate and it should.

Get to work, Chaim. You’re now on the clock.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

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