Brewers 8, Red Sox 6

 

The worst team in the majors lost the opening game of their second home series, falling to 1-4 in Fenway so far this season. Third consecutive loss, eighth loss in their last ten games. This time, they blew a 3-0 lead.

Last night, starting pitcher Brayan Bello lasted only 3⅓ innings, pulled in the top of the fourth after loading the bases up on a single and two walks. After Milwaukee then scored their first run of the game on a fielding error, that was enough for Cora to pull his starter. All three runners on base eventually scored, so Bello was charged with four runs, his ERA ballooning to 9.00. 

The bullpen gave up another four runs. This team sucks.

The Red Sox (2-8) are 5½ games out of first place in the AL East and 1½ back from the second-worst team in the league (Oakland). For what it's worth, if they were in the National League, they'd be a half game behind last-place San Francisco.

But it's Crochet Day! Hope springs eternal! IF there were to be a turnaround this season, and granted that's a big "if," it would start with Garrett Crochet (1-1, 3.27). The lefty's started twice against the Brewers for a total of 12⅔ innings, He's 0-1 in those two starts but his ERA was 2.13 so he's due for a win.  He'll be up against the Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski (1-0, 2.45), a second-year right-handed pitcher who has never pitched in Fenway before or faced the Sox.

Celtics 115, Raptors 101

 

On an Easter Sunday when both the Bruins and the Red Sox suffered losses, it was up to the Celtics to be the Christ to the two beggars on the cross and take the win, beating Toronto, 115-101. We even had an Easter resurrection with Nikola Vučević returning to the lineup for 13:00 minutes off the bench, four points, four rebounds, and an assist.

The ever-reliable Jaylen Brown led all teams with 26 points, while Jayson Tatum had his usual twin double with 23 points and 13 rebounds, all defensive. Overall, the Celtics outrebounded the Raptors, 44-31. 

With four games left to the season, the Celtics (53-25) trail Detroit by four in the East. On Tuesday, our old friends Grant Williams (2019-2023) and Xavier Tillman (2023-2026) return to the TD Garden with the Charlotte Hornets (43-36) for an 8:00 pm game on NBC.       

Padres 8, Red Sox 6

 

At 2-7, the Boston Red Sox are now officially the worst team in Major League Baseball. An embarrassment to Fenway Park, the proud Red Sox tradition, and the people of New England. It's only the first week of April, but already they're five games back in the standings.

The Sox had a 4-0 lead after three innings . . . 

And now we face a three-game home series against the Milwaukee Bucks (7-2). Brayan Bello (0-1, 9.64) starts tonight against the Bucks' Brandon Woodruff (1-0, 3.60).  

Let's win a few games, okay, boys?

Flyers 2, Bruins 1 (OT)

 

Pavel Zacha tied the game up on a power play in the third period, with an assist by Mittelstadt and Pastrnak, but the Bruins lost in the OT for their third consecutive loss and meanwhile can anyone even remember the last time Morgan Geekie scored a goal? 

The Bruins (43-26-9) still pick up one point in the standings with the OT loss, and still lead the Wild Card  race, five points ahead of Ottawa and six on the Islanders. 

The Bruins travel down to Carolina on Tuesday for a game against the Hurricanes (49-22-6), who are sitting pretty on top on the East. Perhaps the Bruins could catch them off guard and, I don't know, maybe win a game? Just winging ideas out here. Spit-balling.  

Padres 3, Red Sox 2

 

The Red Sox join the A's and the Rockies as the worst team in Major League Baseball.

Yesterday afternoon, Marcelo Mayer scored an RBI on a sacrifice fly and somebody named Andruw Monasterio, pinch-hitting for Jarren Duran, scored a run by hitting into a fielder's choice, but starting pitcher Connelly Early only lasted four innings and the normally reliable  Aroldis Chapman uncharacteristically gave up the winning run on an RBI single in the ninth. 

This afternoon, left-handed pitcher Ranger Suarez (0-1, 8.31) goes up against our old friend Walker Buehler (0-1, 6.75), a righty who went 7-7 for the Sox last season.    

So in summary, the Red Sox, a team with the least number of wins in the majors, is facing their former starter on a team with the second least wins, and regardless of the final score today, will still lose the series.

I'm already so over this season. 2026 can go fuck itself.  

 

 

Lightning 3, Bruins 1

 

Tampa is the new Florida. At least as far as kryptonite teams for the Boston Bruins goes, it's now the Tampa Bay Lightning that the Bruins can't beat. Although they still can't beat their old kryptonite, the Florida Panthers. If you're from Florida, a state where ice doesn't even exist except with a Zamboni or in Home Depot parking lots, the Bruins can't beat you. Boston is 0-2-1 against both Tampa Bay and Florida this season, and guess what? As the standings are right now, the Bruins would face the Lightning in the first round of the playoffs 

But first, they have to make the playoffs. They currently have a six-point margin in the Wild Card race with five games left, including one more against Tampa Bay, but if either Ottawa, Detroit, Philly, or Columbus manages to win three more games down that stretch than Boston, it's curtains. And two more of the last five games are against Philly and Columbus. 

Casey Mittelstadt scored Boston's only goal last night. Swayman made 20 saves, going .909. The Bruins play the Flyers down in Philly this afternoon (3:30), who are fighting for their lives for the last Wild Card spot.  Boston is 1-0-2 this season against Philly -  at least they haven't lost to them yet this year. 

Two consecutive losses. I guess what I'm trying to say is it looks like this will be another season where the Bruins get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.   

Celtics 133, Bucks 101

 

Giannis Antetokounmpo. A calf injury forced him to miss 15 consecutive games earlier this season, and then a left-knee hyperextension and bone bruise has kept him on the bench since mid-March. Although he reportedly claims he's good to go now, the Bucks are insistent on keeping him on the bench. Last night, the Bucks gave 5:15 minutes of playing time to Thanasis Antetokounmpo and 4:27 to Alex Antetokounmpo but for naught - between the two of them, they only scored one point as the Bucks lost to the Boston Celtics, 133-101. Apparently, a Thannis and an Alex do not a Giannis make. 

Meanwhile, on our side of the court, MVP candidate Jaylen Brown sank 26 points. Jayson Tatum scored 23 and snagged 11 rebounds, and was one assist away from a second consecutive triple double. Neemias Queta got a double double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Overall, the Celtics outrebounded the Bucks 48-30. The team's three-point shooting is heating up as well - Hauser went 3-4, Tatum, 4-8, and White, 5-9. Mazzulla has this team reaching its peak right in time for its playoff run. 

The probable playoff picture remains the same with the two-seed Celtics (52-25) most likely facing the winner of the Hornets-Raptors play-in round, followed by the winner of the Knicks-Sixers series in the second round. 

But first, there's Brandon Ingram and the Raptors (43-34) in the Garden on Sunday afternoon (3:30), a possible first-round playoff preview.

Red Sox 5, Padres 2

 

The Red Sox win a game! First win since opening day!

Ceddanne Rafaela and new guy Caleb Durbin hit RBI singles in the third and fourth, but the Sox really came alive in the sixth, with home rums by Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer.  Sonny Gray went six innings, giving up two runs on four hits. The relief of Weissert, Slaten, and Chapman was near perfect, with no runs, no hits, and only one walk over three innings. 

The Red Sox are still in dead last place, but hey, they're only a half game back from Tampa Bay. One team at a time.

Connelly Early (0-0, 1.69) starts tomorrow afternoon (4:10) against the Padres' Randy Vásquez (1-0, 0.00). Vásquez has only faced the Sox for a total of seven innings over two games, but gave up eight hits and one home run in those seven innings. This will be Early's first time facing the Padres. Called up to the Majors late last season, Early is eager to prove that he belongs on this team long-term, although he hasn't even reached the 50-day mark yet.

Panthers 2, Bruins 1

 

Kryptonite is still kryptonite, and even though the Bruins have a far better record (43-25-8) than the Florida Panthers (37-35-3), the Panthers still won, 2-1. I guess the Red Sox were off yesterday, and someone had to take a loss for Boston. 

Kryptonite: The Bruins are 0-2-0 against the Panthers this season and are 3-4-3 record against Florida  over the last 10 games. Despite this, the Panthers are in last place in the Atlantic, 17 points back from the Bruins, and 11 points back from the last available Wild Card spot.   

Astros 6, Red Sox 4

 

Yeah, this season's going to suck balls, isn't it? The Red Sox got swept in Houston, losing last night, 6-4, and start the season in the hole with a 1-5 record. 

Garrett Crochet gave up five runs on six hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth. Crochet, Boston's great, shining hope, starts the season 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA. Veteran reliever Danny Coulombe, who the Sox acquired from Texas, gave up another HR in the seventh to our old friend, former Red Sox (2014-2022) catcher Christian Vázquez.  

On the bright side, Wilyer Abreu (.417) continued his hot start, hitting his third home run in six games. Roman Anthony (.227) homered too, his first of the season. The other runs came off a Willson Contreras single and an RBI Jarren Duran ground out.

More good news: we won't lose today! The Sox have a day off to return from the urban nightmare of Houston, Texas before starting a home stand against San Diego (2-4) and Milwaukee (5-1). Veteran pitcher Sonny Gray (0-0, 6.75) is listed as the probable starter on Friday against the Padres.  Over his long, 14-year career, Gray is 4-0 against the Padres.

Celtics 147, Heat 129

 

He came close on Monday night, but last night (Wednesday), Jayson Tatum got the triple double - 25 points, 18 rebounds, and 11 assists. Not at all bad for a dude recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon. Jaylen Brown scored 43 points last night and Neemias Queta got a double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

All of which is to say the Celtics demolished the Miami Heat last night, 147-129. They outrebounded the Heat, blocked more shots, and made more assists and fewer turnovers. They dropped 53 points on the Heat in the first quarter alone, outscoring Miami by 20 points. 

The Celtics will take the long flight from Miami to Minneapolis and play the Milwaukee Bucks (30-46) on Friday night.

Despite going 8-2 in their last 10 games, the NBA standings haven't changed much for the Celtics. Boston (51-25) still leads the Atlantic Division by 2½ games and trails Detroit by four in the Eastern Conference. With only six games left to the regular season, it doesn't look like anything will change there. As things stand now, the Celtics will be the No. 2 seed in the East and will play the winner of the Charlotte-Toronto play-in series in the first round of the playoffs. 

Astros 9, Red Sox 2

 

Umm, anyone else starting to get worried? 

It's bad enough that our offense has seemingly all but disappeared, but on top of that some feckless officiating is also screwing us over. Trailing 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth, two outs, starter Brayan Bello got three swinging strikes off Cam Smith, which should have ended the inning. But the ump apparently lost count of the balls and strikes and allowed the plate appearance to continue, which ended with a walk. Bello was pulled after the "walk" (to be fair, he had also given up five runs in the game), and rookie reliever Ryan Watson made the last out of the inning on a fielder's choice, but c'mon, lost count of the balls and strikes? Has counting to three gotten too ""mathy" for MLB officials?

We've got robo-umps now to help tell balls from strikes, but do we need then to help count to three now, too? 

But don't get distracted - despite the referee fubar, the Sox still sucked. Bello gave up six runs on eight hits, including one homer, in 4⅔ innings, Watson gave up two more runs on two hits, and Jovani Morán gave up another homer, this one to the lucky Cam Smith, who got a walk instead of a K in the ump's fifth-inning fuck up. Connor Wong doubled to right center in the fifth, scoring Marcelo Mayer, and Ceddanne Rafaela hit a solo homer to deep right in the eighth, but that was it offensively. 

The Red Sox are 1-4, dead last in the AL East, and are already three games back from the Yankees and Blue Jays. They have one game left in Houston on this woe-begotten, season-opening road trip, but the good news is it's Crochet Day, Boston's only pitcher so far with a win. Garrett's up against former Pirate Mike Burrows, who lost to the Angels, 6-2, in his first start of the year, so we've got a chance. 

Let's return to Fenway with a 2-4 record and ride the momentum of a Crochet win to get this season back on track. Not to look ahead, but our first series back home will be against the Padres, who, at 1-4, are off to the same dismal start as the Red Sox.