Cora Fired

Today, the Boston Red Sox (10-17) fired manager Alex Cora. The team also parted ways with hitting coach Peter Fatse, bench coach Rámon Vazquez, third-base coach Kyle Hudson, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson, and major league hitting strategy coach Joe Cronin. 

Game-planning coach Jason Varitek has been reassigned to a "new role" within the organization.

Red Sox 17, Orioles 1

 

WT the literal F? The lowly Boston Red Sox scored 17 runs, 10 in the ninth inning alone when they were already leading 7-1, and nine of those 10 ninth-inning runs were on homers, including an Andruw Monasterio grand slam?  I said "more home runs," but I didn't mean all in one inning when you've already pretty much clinched the win.

The scoring started in the second inning, when Caleb Durbin hit a double to deep right center, scoring Monasterio. Isiah Kiner-Falefa then singled to left, scoring Durbin, and then Ceddanne Rafaela hit another single into left field, scoring Connor Wong.

Kiner-Falefa scored again in the fourth, when Willson Contreras brought him home on a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0, Boston.

Wong hit a three-run RBI double in the fifth that was very nearly a grand slam, but still scored Durbin, Monasterio, and Trevor Story.

And then, finally, let's talk about that ninth inning, arguably the best inning of Red Sox baseball so far this season. The inning opened with a Rafaela triple to deep right, and then Contreras brought him home with a single. Contreras advanced to second on a Wilyer Abreu single, and then Story advanced Contreras and Abreu on another single. With the bases thus loaded, Manasterio then hit his grand slam 412 feet into deep left center. 12-1, Boston. No outs.

After Jarren Duran followed Monasterio's grand slam with a single, the Orioles finally replaced their battered reliever with a new pitcher, who promptly gave up a home run to Durbin, a two-run blast that also brought Duran home. 14-1, Boston. No outs. 

Wong flied out for the first out of the inning, but Kiner-Faleda and Rafaela, in his second plate appearance of the inning, hit two consecutive singles, and then Contreras brought them both home with a three-run homer, 17-1, Boston. One out. 

The Orioles finally ended the inning with two fly balls, but not before a throwing error put Story back on the bases. Ten runs on ten hits, fourteen batters.       

   

Meanwhile, Garrett Crochet (it was Crochet Day, remember?) picked up his third win of the season, going six shutout innings, striking out seven, and giving up only three hits.  

Of course, all this doesn't mean shit. Boston is still in dead last place and 15 of the Red Sox' 17 runs were unnecessary for the win. But goddamn, were they ever fun to watch on this sorry-ass season and at least we no longer have the fewest homers in MLB (thank you, San Francisco!). Boston's now only one homer back from the Marlins, the Brewers, and the Mets, so maybe our next goal for this season should be to be the team with only the fifth fewest home runs in the majors.

Celtics 108, Sixers 100

 

With the Bruins obviously going nowhere in the playoff and the Red Sox off to a historically horrific start, a weary Beantown turns it's eyes to the legendary Celtics and all those championship banners hanging in the TD Garden. And the Celtics deliver, giving the fans a hard-fought but decisive 108-100 victory in Philadelphia.

The Sixers, for their part, never gave up in the game and kept coming back at the Celtics again and again. However, the Celtics never gave up either, and successfully fought back each successive Philly assault. When the smoke finally cleared, both J's, Brown and Tatum, had 25 points. Pritchard, as per his style, scored all 15 of his points on threes. Vučević came alive with 15 points, same as White, along with six rebounds and three blocked shots. 

Meanwhile, Tatum's 25-point playoff performance tied Nikola Jokic in number of 25-point playoff games.  He joined John Havlicek, Kevin McHale, and Larry Bird with 3,000+ Celtic playoff points. He also joined Bird and LeBron as the only three players in NBA history to have 3,000+ points, 1,000+ rebounds, and 500+ assists in the post-season. From here on in, every game he plays and every point he scores puts him in ever more rarified air.  

The Celtics take a 2-1 lead in the series. Game 4 is in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Boston in five.

Orioles 10, Red Sox 3

 

When I talked about the Red Sox' lack of home runs yesterday and suggested they needed more, I meant offensive home runs. Homers hit by Red Sox players. The team must have misunderstood my request, because in Baltimore yesterday, they gave up seven home runs to the Orioles, three to the first five batters in the first inning. Cora didn't even pull starting pitcher Brayan Bello until the fourth but after he gave up two more homers and the score was 8-1, Baltimore.

Boston remains dead last in the AL East, and last in MLB in slugging percentage and home runs (offensive), I'm stating to think this Red Sox team isn't championship caliber. They're 9-17 on the season and have caught up with Kansas City to tie for the worst record in the American League. The only reason they're not the worst in MLB is because the Phillies are 0-10 in their last ten, while the Sox have gone a mere 3-7.

Today is Crochet Day. Remember when that used to be something to look forward to, something to be excited about? This season, Garrett has fallen to a 2-3 start and a 7.88 ERA, but even if the Sox don't turn their season around, you gotta believe Crochet will turn his. He has a career 1.64 ERA against the Orioles, and is 1-1 in three career starts. He's only given up two home runs and made 28 strikeouts against the Birds in 22 innings. He'll be facing lefty Trevor Rogers, who's off to a 2-2 start and 4.08 ERA. Rogers has a 1-2 record versus the Sox and a career 2.13 ERA. 

But pitching almost doesn't matter. The Red Sox batters need to wake up and start scoring some runs. Bello's performance yesterday aside, it doesn't matter how good your starting pitching is if you don't give them any runs with which to work.

Yankees 4, Red Sox 2

 

Well, at least it's over. The New York Yankees are moving on, taking their pinstriped asses out of Fenway so at least we won't have to look at Aaron Judge's big buck-toothed face any longer or wonder exactly which Reich Shit Hitler is supposed to represent.

The Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Red Sox in Fenway, 4-0, 4-1, and 4-2. Yesterday, Carlos Narváez hit a solo homer for the Sox and Marcelo Mayer hit an RBI double, but that was about it.

Predictably, the press coverage was all about Schittler's so-called dominating performance over the Red Sox. Aaron Boone kept Schittler in the game for eight innings, because of course he did, but he gave up both of Boston's two runs and only got the Sox to strike out five times. Meanwhile, Payton Tolle, in his first MLB start of the season, got 11 K's and allowed only one run, but Alex Cora pulled him after six, because of course he did, and relief pitcher Danny Coulombe promptly gave up three earned runs before Weissert had to be called in to end the inning. 

But the press covered the game as "Schittler Outdueled Tolle" even though, statistically, Tolle had the better game (game ERA of 1.50 versus Schittler's 1.77). The real story, as I see it, is Alex Cora, possibly the worst coach in MLB so far this season, pulled his pitcher early and cost his team the game.

The Yankees fucking suck, man. I mean, they really fucking suck.

Meanwhile, the last-place Red Sox are 9-16 and seven games back, and the only reason they aren't winning the race to the bottom of the American League is because Kansas City has gone 1-9 over the last ten. Hard to compete against a performance like that.     

Okay, time to move on. The Red Sox leave Fenway after a 2-5 home stand and head off down the road to third-place Baltimore (12-13). Tonight, Brayan Bello (1-2, 6.75) starts against the Orioles' Brandon Young.  Young has pitched only five innings so far this season, but gave up no runs and earned the win, so his record is 1-0 and his ERA, 0.00. Last year, he was 1-7 with an ERA of 6.24.

Bello is 4-2 against Baltimore in eight career starts, and he has 45 strikeouts against Orioles batters, the third highest of any team he's faced (his highest number of career strikeouts is against the Yankees, but his start was pushed back from yesterday against New York to today against Baltimore, because Cora).

The Red Sox current OPS (on-base plus slugging) is .636, their lowest since 1917. They have the lowest slugging percentage (.331) in MLB and third lowest batting average (.223), tied with New York (Yankees suck).  They're tied with San Francisco for the least number of home runs (14) this season, and the only reason they aren't all alone in that category is because of last night's Narváez blast.

Perhaps Baltimore, home to crabcakes and Edgar Allen Poe, is where the season will turn around for the Red Sox.

Sabres 3, Bruins 1

 

Don't get your hopes up. This Bruins team isn't going anywhere this year. Even if they pull out of this tailspin and manage to win the series against Buffalo (they're down 2-1), they're not going to win the next round against the winner of Montreal-Tampa Bay.

These are serious times and there are serious matters we need to consider. These Bruins are not a serious team. Your concerns are best directed elsewhere.  

 

Yankees 4, Red Sox 1

 

The Boston Red Sox (9-15) have gotten so bad that getting a single run in the bottom of the ninth off an RBI single seems like some kind of improvement. "Hey, at least we didn't lose by 4-0 again."

The Sox fall to 0-2 in their home series against New York (15-9), and few don't expect them to get swept. They are in last place in the AL East, six back from the Yankees, and it's only a historically awful start to the season by the Kansas City Royals that keeps them from being the worse in the league. 

I'd go over the highlights of the game, but there weren't any.  

It's so bad that the Red Sox have called Payton Tolle up from the minors to pitch today against Adolph Schittler. Tolle pitched in eight games last season, including a one-out relief appearance in the top of the ninth in a playoff game against the Yankees (he got a ground out off Trent Grisham). 

Meanwhile, Schittler famously went eight innings against the Sox in the 2025 playoffs, getting Boston to strike out a dozen times while giving up five hits. In their excitement, ESPN's announcers practically wet themselves praising Schittler during the game. Between Schittler and Judge, the announcer's hard-ons last over a week. Schittler's 2-1 so far this season with an ERA of 1.95, and has struck out opposing batters 36 times in five starts.

Manage your expectations - the Sox will lose but at least this game won't be on fucking ESPN.

Yankees 4, Red Sox 0

 

This is the stuff of legends. Not the good stuff, to be sure, but the part of the legend where the hero is beaten down and seemingly defeated, cast to the dogs and abandoned. This is the suffering that all Red Sox fans have endured that makes the eventual victories so satisfying and meaningful.

The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry may or may not be the greatest in all of sports, but it's one that I've been caught up in for literally 50 years now. After the Bucky Fucking Dent incident in 1978, I got this close to actual fisticuffs with my own father, an ardent Yankees fan.   

Young Connelly Early is now 0-2 against the Yankees. He lost a playoff game last year, also by a score of 0-4, and again this year he pitched well despite his loss but got no support from the batters. For 5⅓ innings last night, he struck out four. He gave up one unfortunate homer to the first batter in the second inning after going 3-up-and-3-down in the first,  and then gave up only one hit, a single, in the next three innings. It wasn't until the sixth inning that he got himself into trouble, opening with a pair of walks and then giving up a two-run double. He was pulled after walking the next batter and finished with 92 pitches and 23 batters faced. Unfortunately for Early, the Red Sox bats gave him nothing, just like in his playoff appearance last year. Hard to win when your offense goes scoreless.  

Toronto won last night, so the Red Sox are now all alone in last place in the AL East, five back from New York.  

Ranger Suarez (1-1, 3.22) starts tonight against Max Fried (2-1, 2.97). In four career games, Suarez has yet to give up a run to the Yankees, while the Sox are 1-3 against Fried, with the one win coming in last year's playoff, when Yoshida hit a two-run double off him in the seventh. Let's make sure Yoshida starts today.  

Also, for those curious, the picture above is an AI version of the infamous time that Boston University students managed to hack into a Comm Ave. electronic warning sign. 

Bruins 4, Sabres 2

 

This is the kind of Bruins' game I like - entering the third period with a 3-0 lead, Viktor Arvidsson scored his second goal of the game in the first 16 seconds to break Buffalo's heart. Geekie and Zacha both scored in the second, and Pastrnak skated off the ice with two assists. Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves and held Buffalo scoreless for the first 53 minutes of the game.

The Bruins tie up their quarterfinal series, 1-1, and return with confidence and momentum to Boston, where they'll play Game 3 on Thursday night.    

Sixers 111, Celtics 97

 

You didn't thing we were going 16-0 through the playoffs, did you?

I don't care what the pundits say - the Sixers didn't "rise" to any challenge last night, it was the Celtics failing to play at their own high level. 

The quarterfinal series is now tied at 1-1, and while it's unfortunate the Celtics ceded home-court advantage to Philadelphia, it's as good a time as any for the Celtics to pick up a loss -  early in the playoffs and early in the series as a lesson in what can happen if you're not 100% while on the court and playing at your best. Also, and I'm speaking to Mazzulla here, don't bench González. He's your lucky charm, your talisman. He may not score a lot of points, but he's like sand in the gears of the opposing team's offense. 

Game 3 is Friday night in Philly. Win it, Boston! 

      

Red Sox 8, Tigers 6

 

The Sox manage to eke out a split in their home series against Detroit but the game wasn't without drama. 

Leading 2-1 after 2⅔ innings, starting pitcher Sonny Gray (2-1, 4.30) left the game with a hamstring pull. It's not yet clear how long Gray will be out, but he's currently listed on the Injured List as "day to day." He joins starting pitchers Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval (15 days) and Tanner Houck (60 days) on the IL. 

Act 2 of the Patriot-Day drama came in the ninth. Leading 8-3, Boston reliever Ryan Watson gave up one  run and then bullpen ace Aroldis Chapman uncharacteristically gave up two more before getting the final out and earning the save. For a minute there, though, it looked as if the Sox were getting set to blow a five-run lead in the last inning.

But it was Patriots Day and the Red Sox won. They split the home series with the Tigers, 2-2, and improve to 9-13 overall. The Sox are still tied for last in the AL East with the Blue Jays and are four games back from the New York Yankees, who've regained first place.

To make things even more interesting, those first-place Yankees are bringing their pinstriped asses to Fenway for a three-game series starting tonight. Connelly Early (1-0, 2.28) will be taking the mound for Boston. The young lefty has made only 10 major-league appearances, four this season, but is emerging as Boston's new ace, what with Crochet off to a rough start. Early has pitched against the Yankees once before, in New York in a divisional playoff game.  He struck out six and gave up four runs on six hits in that game, but got no support from the Boston bats and lost the game, 0-4. Hard to win a game when you have no runs to back you up.

Early will be up against New York's Luis Gil, who's off to a rough start (0-1, 7.00). 

First pitch is scheduled for 6:45, but the game will still be competing with Game 2 of the Celtics-Sixers playoff series (7:00 pm) in the Garden and Game 2 of the Bruins at Buffalo (7:30 pm) in the Stanley Cup quarterfinals.    

                  

 

John Korir of Kenya won the Boston Marathon for the second straight time, finishing at 2:01:52 and setting a new course record. That's 26.2 consecutive 4-minute, 37-second miles (my personal best for just one single mile is a little over six minutes, and even that was back in 1988). Fellow Kenyan Sharon Lokedi, the defending women's winner, also repeated as champion with a time of 2:18:51.

Korir's brother, Wesley, won the race in 2012. Kenyan runners have won the men's division 26 times since 1988; West African runners have won in 34 of those 37 years (the race was cancelled in 2020 because of the covids). The last time the United States won the race was 2014 when Meb Keflezighi won, and he was an Ethiopian refugee.    

Kenyan and Ethiopian runners have won the women's division 26 times since 1997. The last U.S. woman to win was California's Desiree Linden in 2018.   

Marcel Hug of Switzerland, nicknamed "The Silver Bullet," won the men's wheelchair division for the fourth straight time and ninth time overall, with a time of 1:16:06, missing his own course record by 33 seconds. That's an average speed of 21 mph. He is now just one win short of Ernst Van Dyk's all-category record of 10. Eden Rainbow-Cooper of Britain won the women's wheelchair division, her second Boston win, in 1:30:51.