Our loyal 300s fans know that Red and I have not been shy about our love for Celtics rookie Robert Williams (or “Bob”), as we’ve been in his corner since Day 1.
No need to rehash past transgressions; he’s seemed to have his head on straight for the past few months. And, most importantly, the big fella made his NBA debut last night in the Celtics’ 93-90 loss to the Orlando Magic.
Bob played about four minutes and did not record one meaningful statistic, BUT that does not mean he was unnoticeable. The 21-year-old wasn’t shy about getting involved on the defensive end, showing off his toughness and pure athleticism with a few contested shot attempts.
In fact, Al Horford made sure the people knew about Bob’s under-the-radar performance after the game (h/t MassLive):
“It was good. He impacted [Nikola] Vucevic in the post there, he tried to make a move and he felt the length. I was happy to see Rob. He looked fearless out there. Now, obviously that Baynes is out, I’m sure he’ll continue to get an opportunity.”
FEARLESS. (Also, “Rob??!!” Come on, Al. It’s Bob. Stop with that.)
At the very least, it was a small taste of what the kid can bring to the table for a team that, until recently, was pretty lackluster and unintimidating in the post for quite some time. Hopefully it’s a sign of better things to come in short order – especially if Aron Baynes’s hamstring injury lingers longer than expected.
WEEI – Eleven years after leaving town, Gagne finally got his save for the Sox. It was locked up while sitting in the living room of his Arizona home, but it was a save nonetheless. A big one. The story started just about 18 years ago when the kid from Montreal befriended an infielder who came from Puerto Rico. Gagne was a relief pitcher. Alex Cora was a utility player. Both had plenty of time on their hands while living life as Dodgers. They started a hobby: Identifying pitchers who were tipping their pitches…
The pitcher he witnessed Tuesday night, Craig Kimbrel, wasn’t one of the more difficult ones. For Gagne, it was pretty clear what was going on. As far as the former pitcher was concerned, the Red Sox closer’s high-wire act against the Astros in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series was no accident.
It was enough evidence that Gagne felt obligated to reach out to his old friend, and the new manager of the Red Sox…“Nowadays you don’t even need to talk to people, it’s perfect,” he said. “I just sent him a message saying, ‘Hey Craig, I’m not sure if you care about these things but I’m friends with Alex and I’ve been seeing this or that. I think you should sit down to look at it. It’s an easy fix. It’s not that difficult. You might change your set-up, but that’s not that big of a deal.’ It was a pretty easy fix once he knew what he was doing.”
What a wild story from an unlikely source. Remember our old friend Eric Gagne? The guy who at one point in time was the most dominant closer in all of baseball. The guy who once converted 84 save opportunities straight. The guy who Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox traded for as a “luxury, not a necessity” on a stacked 2007 team. As we all know, Gagne was absolutely abysmal for the Sox, finishing with a 6.75 ERA in 20 games. He fell so far that the Sox big trade deadline acquisition only pitched 4.1 innings in the 07 playoffs. Well, THAT guy might have just saved the 2018 Red Sox season.
Gagne spoke with Rob Bradford and told him how, from his couch, he was able to pick up that Craig Kimbrel was apparently tipping his pitches. Does that explain Kimbrel’s complete inability to find the plate in the playoffs thus far? No, but it does explain how basically everyone he’s faced has had more plate discipline than a monk and was pretty much ready for whatever he did get over the plate.
This is why you never burn any bridges. Gagne and Cora were two guys that came up together in the Dodgers minor league system and bonded over watching film and figuring out who was tipping pitches. Pretty obscure hobby for a super utility player and a 30th Round Draft pick turned stud closer. Moral of the story, ya just never know who’s going to come out of left field and throw you a bone. If Gagne doesn’t reach out to his old friend with some advice on why his all-star closer is suddenly a disaster on the mound, then maybe they don’t fix anything and we’re looking at another disappointing Red Sox postseason performance.
Kudos to Cora for accepting and welcoming the constructive criticism from an old teammate. How many managers would have just scoffed at a player that is “out of baseball” offering up criticism of his All-Star closer while watching at home on TV?
Was Gagne a bum for the Sox? Absolutely. But any time a guy with 187 career saves wants to throw out some advice for a struggling Boston bullpen then I am all ears. If Kimbrel is back to his 1-2-3 ways in the 9th inning then I think we all owe Gagne a beer, preferably one brewed by his 2007 Red Sox teammate Kevin Youkilis.
CBS – Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert is becoming a consensus top-overall pick candidate in the 2019 draft, but multiple league sources indicated it is far more likely that the junior actually remains in school for another year.
Teams have begun falling in love with the strapping prospect – a 6-foot-6, athletic, former multi-sport star who is evolving into a pure passer – and his prospects continue to rise by the game, but numerous sources said that there is a very strong sentiment from the Oregon program that Herbert will remain in school for 2019. Several scouts from NFL teams who have held informal discussions with friends and contacts on the Oregon staff said they would be very surprised if the quarterback opted to turn pro this spring.
Furthermore, there are strong signals throughout the agent community that Herbert is going to stay in school. Several of the top agencies generally in line to represent such talents are becoming pessimistic about him entering the draft.
I love this if for no other reason than it will punish the New York Giants for being morons and taking a RB at No. 2 overall this year when they desperately needed a QB. Well it looked like they were going to fall ass backwards into another stud QB prospect with the No. 1 overall pick this year, thus causing them to learn nothing. Now, according to reports Justin Herbert is likely to stay for his senior season and the Giants are back to being hosed under center.
Now if Herbert does stay at Oregon, it’s for a number of reasons. I won’t bore you with all the details so here are reasons No. 1 and No. 2.
Herbert is a native of Eugene, Oregon, who absolutely loves the school, badly wants to win there and is very eager to play with his younger brother. Patrick Herbert is a four-star tight end prospect who is committed to going to Oregon in 2019.
Herbert is legitimately born and raised in Eugene, Oregon. How a kid from Eugene turns into one of the best quarterbacks in the entire country and winds up playing at Oregon is incredible. Usually those guys go to Florida and Georgia and Oklahoma. The last great QB the Ducks had was a guy named Marcus Mariota and they had to pluck him from the ends of the Earth aka Hawaii.
Reason No. 2 – apparently his brother is a stud Tight End prospect who has committed to play at Oregon next season. Imagine going out on top leading the school you bled for since you were a kid to its first ever national championship while throwing to your kid brother? Yea this guy ain’t going anywhere.
Maybe the Giants can take another RB this year and build the greatest 4-12 team this league has ever seen.
I don’t know if I’ve blogged about how a guy from Boston became an Oregon Ducks fan, but allow me to elaborate. Aside from 2007 when Matt Ryan was tearing up the NCAA or in the 80s when Doug Flutie was at Chestnut Hill, Boston College has never been a legitimate college football team. And they never will be. The best seasons they’ve had were when they dipped into the post-grad pool to pluck former SEC guys like Tyler Murphy. Wouldn’t you know having actual talent at positions other than OL and MLB lead to an upset win over a national powerhouse like USC in 2014?
So I came to grips with despite the fact that I live a mile from the BC football stadium, they ain’t ever gonna compete for anything bigger than a Meineke Car Care Bowl trophy. Enter Chip Kelly in 2009 who was running his team like I ran my Madden franchise in college. 90+ plays a game, HB screens all day, 5 wide receiver bubble screens, mobile QB, speed, speed, speed. And. The. Jerseys.
For a free agent college football fan I was sold, which explains the bright yellow Mariota jersey hanging in my closet.
When the Red Sox last made the World Series in 2013, Papa Giorgio and I were liquored up every night and hungover every morning. Our third roommate, god bless his heart, was a bartender right outside of Fenway so we would show up, throw down a $20 and just drink until the cows came home.
Now? I’m on the doorstep of 30 and guzzling coffees at night just to stay awake for the game. And I’m pretty jazzed to head up north for a little wine tasting at a vineyard tomorrow afternoon I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but I have become Will Ferrell in Old School.
New York Times – In arguably the best game of his life, Price led the Red Sox to a 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the A.L.C.S., to clinch the series, four games to one, and capture the team’s 14th American League pennant.
As a renowned #baseball fan (I usually start watching in August), I can tell you this is one of the most exciting postseasons in recent memory. We played the Yankees, who still suck I should add, for the 1st time in over a decade and sent 30,000 guidos home crying while Ol’ Blue Eyes sang to us while we celebrated. Next, we went up against the vaunted and absolutely CRUISING Houston Astros. Two fantastic staffs of pitchers and two line ups filled with dangerous bats and what did we do? Put them away in a gentlemanly five games. JBJ got hot, the whole outfield was flying around the field like ferrari, and when it mattered most and we had to put them away J.D Martinez got on base three times as part of an excellent offensive effort that also included the kid Raffy Devers going yard on Justin Verlander.
It was David Price’s night, however. According to a Friend of the Blog, the legendary and prolific Patty B, this was David Price’s first post season victory. That doesn’t sound quiiiiite right (Editor’s note: It was his first postseason win as a starter.) but he certainly cannot be described as “clutch”. I can’t lie, I hated signing Price from day one. He never seemed to be as good as billed and I never like to join forces with the enemy, as he was to us while in Tampa, I want to beat them. He has pitched well this year however, and yesterday he went deep into the game, pitching six scoreless and striking out NINE, leaving Houston’s offense absolutely befuddled.
I know our bullpen is a cause for concern; just saying that is a bit of a paradox as currently our bullpen rotation is mostly made up of our starters that didn’t start on a given day (sup Frederick Porcello?). You know what though? They’ve been good enough. They’ve gotten us this far into the post-season. Kimbrel, and Barnes, and Kelly, and the guy whose name whose name Red’s phone auto-corrected to “Brazzers” in a group chat have been nothing short of effective so far and have been a huge part in earning us a chance to win another championship. So hat fucking tip to those guys.
Seriously though, this has been some truly exciting and memorable #baseball. It reminds me of the absolute dogfights the Garnett/Pierce/Allen Celtics got in for what seemed like 10 years. So let’s buckle up and get ready for what should be a gem of a World Series.
-Joey B
P.S – I hate to rag on the guy because I am nothing if not a champion of the working man, but how excruciating was the camera man last night? There were two or three times the Astros got a solid piece and sent one to the warning track but the cameraman panned from the outfield to the upper deck, giving me and the aforementioned Mr. Blackouts a fucking heart attack. Like hey man, can we not overreact this badly. Geesh.
Win or lose tonight, we are unveiling the brand new YUCK stickers! They will either be another sobering reminder of playoff failures or become an ironic rallying cry. Grab one of these today and slap it on your laptop, your cooler or your bumper! Stickers will ship next week so buy one now at The 300s Store!
Everything has gone the Red Sox way this postseason. Everything. From Nathan Eovaldi looking like Curt Schilling, to Brock Holt hitting for the cycle, to hitting the instant replay jackpot last night and Andrew Benintendi making that catch, I mean everything. Alex Cora has been good, but he has to have a horseshoe in his back pocket. It’s better to be lucky than good, the old expression goes, but so far this month Alex Cora has been both.
The Red Sox now have a commanding 3-1 lead over the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. In baseball history, teams with a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven series have won the series 71 out of 84 times (84.5%). Here’s a quick look at what’s on tap for Game 5:
Justin Verlander and the Astros have their backs against the wall, but are big favorites in Game 5. It’s not hard to see why, as the Astros ace pitched very well in Houston’s only win so far in this series. In two starts this postseason Verlander is 2-0, allowing four runs on just four hits in 11.1 innings of work. The Red Sox will counter with David Price.
There are two ways to look at this if you are a Red Sox fan. On the one hand, Price’s playoff struggles are well documented and he’ll be going on short rest against one of the best pitchers of this era. On the other hand, the Red Sox are up 3-1 in the series and even if they get dusted in Game 5 they’ll still have two more chances to close out the Astros at home this weekend. Could that allow Price to pitch without the weight of the world on his left shoulder?
Your guess is as good as mine. But if Price does get shelled and the the Red Sox are down five or six runs early, he might just have to wear it. There’s no sense in emptying out the bullpen if the game’s not even close. That’s why last night’s win was so huge. It allows the Red Sox to punt on Game 5 if it goes sideways and focus on getting their house in order for Game 6.
The Astros would appear to be the easy bet tonight but at +170 the Red Sox may offer some good value, especially when you consider that everything has gone their way this postseason. So who knows. Maybe just bet the over and crack a Lone Star Beer? If these games are going too late for you, at least the over should hit before you call it a night.
This is why it’s impossible to beat the drama of playoff baseball. No other sport’s intensity kicks up as much as MLB in the postseason. I mean aside from the 9 pm start time and the 1:30 am finish, that game was incredible. Unforgettable. Classic. It wasn’t without it’s controversy though.
So with the 8:39 pm start time I already knew I was in trouble because I am old and #washed. I started fading in the 7th inning. Luckily I have a Cosmo Kramer-like internal alarm clock that woke me up in time for the 9th inning.
Boy am I glad I saw that shit show. I almost threw up in my bed watching Craig Kimbrel nearly give the game away. Seriously this guy has been the only member of the Boston bullpen fans have felt somewhat confident in all year. Ever since the playoffs hit he’s been a wild, erratic, mess of a closer. Kimbrel threw 35 pitches over 2 IP last night, with only 19 for strikes.
In case you missed this tightrope walk, let me give you a quick summary of how the bottom of the 9th went with the Sox up 2 and their $13 Million closer on the mound.
Yuli Gurriel pops out. 1 out.
5 pitch walk to Josh Reddick.
5 pitch walk to Carlos Correa. Winning run is now at the plate.
Brian McCann flies out. 2 outs.
Alex Cora mound visit. I legit thought he was going to bring David Price into the game here.
6 pitch walk to Tony Kemp, the NUMBER NINE HITTER. Bases loaded.
Alex Bregman (.286/31 HR/103 RBI/51 Doubles) steps to the plate with the bases chucked. He’s also hitting .350 in the postseason this year.
Bregman hits a sinking liner to LF that had me standing up in my bed. Andrew Benintendi is sprinting in with the game on the line and LAYS OUT TO MAKE THE DIVING CATCH.
But Kimbrel, what the hell man? Now I gotta worry about you imploding at every opportunity? You shall henceforth be referred to as Byung-hyun Kim-brel
Now lets get to the catch everyone is talking about. Mookie Betts made an all-time classic play that will be played at his Hall of Fame induction and Astros fans will be analyzing that play for years to come like it’s the Zapruder film.
Mookie Betts was about to rob José Altuve of a home run … until a fan’s hand got in the way.
Hey, Adult Jeffrey Maier, keep your hands to yourself. Mookie makes that catch 100 times out of 100 if unimpeded. Cowboy Joe West got it right.
Mookie’s absolute hose of a throw in the bottom of the 8th will be forgotten because of how much went on last night but that was another series altering play for Betts in a week full of them.
It also makes me laugh hysterically that this is the hill Evan Drellich will die on. He must have tweeted no less than a dozen times about the play and how awful of a call it was. Just a quick reminder that Drellich was the Astros beat writer for nearly three years.
I don’t quite know how to explain to you all how horrendous that call was. I don’t care who wins. Maybe I’ll get a book deal if the Red Sox win a World Series. Go Red Sox! But I can’t fathom that. It’s too big a stage.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the disaster that nearly was. After YEARS of fans ripping David Price for his lack of big game performances, Cora had him ready to go with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th. You think Price actually wanted the ball there?
Game 5 is tonight and David Price gets the ball with a chance to get his first postseason win ever…oh and with a chance to send the Red Sox to the World Series! First pitch is at 8:09 pm so don’t sleep now!
Just wanna point out that it’s 10:11 pm and we’re *just* starting the 4th inning. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to start a game at 8:39 pm?#RedSox#Astros#ALCSpic.twitter.com/US7veJVZOk
Three-straight wins have fans throughout Pats Nation flying high right now. Especially after beating the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night, many might believe that this week’s opponent, the Chicago Bears, should be an absolute cake walk.
However, hubris can often taint reality, and the 3-2 Monsters of the Midway certainly ain’t no slouches. (And truthfully, they should be 4-1 after blowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead on Sunday, ultimately losing in overtime to BROCK FREAKIN’ OSWEILER and the Miami Dolphins.)
As always, here’s a quick look at where, when, and how to watch the game along with the latest lines:
As I said, the Bears are no longer a pushover after four-straight years which saw them win no more than six games in a season – including a really rough 3-13 performance in 2016. In fact, many people, including myself, had them as one of the top sleeper teams for 2018.
Even before acquiring super human/mutant freak talent Khalil Mack from the Oakland Raiders just days before the season began, the Bears were already pretty solid on the defensive side of the ball. Though they finished with a 5-11 record last year, Chicago still had the league’s 10th-ranked defense and posted 42 sacks, which tied for seventh in the league. Adding Mack to the unit has vaulted them up to third in the league through five games in 2018 (they had a bye in Week 5), and their 18 sacks are good for fifth in the league. They’re also tied for second in the league in interceptions. So let’s just say Brady and the boys may not have as easy of a time moving the ball in the Windy City this weekend as they have the past couple of weeks.
Mack is one of those guy’s truly deserving of being called a “generational” talent. The man is an absolute freak of nature.
(Side note: Mack injured his ankle early on in Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins. He finished the contest but wasn’t quite as effective as the game wore on. Per the team’s website, he’s considered day-to-day and is expected to play, but perhaps he won’t be as much of a force as he typically is.)
The Bears are very talented on offense as well, and the entire unit has been opened up this year with first-year head coach Matt Nagy, an offensive whiz who helped Andy Reid run the show in Kansas City for the past two seasons. Not only has he helped fuel quarterback Mitchell Trubisky’s development tremendously, but his scheme allows for multiple guys to be involved each week, so it’s not like Belichick can simply hone in on taking away the opponent’s top weapon like he usually does.
Allen Robinson – just three year’s removed from a 1,400-yard season in Jacksonville – leads the way for the receiving corps. Speedster Taylor Gabriel has really come on lately as well, posting two-straight 100-yard performances and proving that he’s not simply just the gadget, change-of-pace player he was before coming to Chicago this season. His 27 receptions in 2018 are just nine short of his career high, which is a mark he should easily surpass within the next couple of weeks, if not sooner.
Speed has hurt the Pats this year, and Gabriel has PLENTY of it.
Also, tight end Trey Burton is an athletic piece who came over from Philly this offseason. While his 15 catches at this point are perhaps a little less than some anticipated, he’s still averaging over 13 yards per grab and can hurt you if you’re not careful. Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen form a nice thunder-and-lighting combo out of the backfield as well, with the former being more of a grinder and Cohen being the electric, do-it-all wildcard who’s totaled 295 yards (!) of offense over the last two games.
(FIRE FLAMESALERT 🔥🔥🔥: Cohen is going to go bananas in this game. Again, not only has the guy compiled almost 300 yards of offense on just 32 touches the past two games – averaging out to 9.2 yards per touch – but only four teams have given up more receiving yards to opposing running backs this season than the Pats (349). Everyone thought Howard was going to be the No. 1 guy in the offense for the Bears this year – much to the chagrin of his fantasy owners, which includes yours truly – but Cohen is looking like he might take the job from him outright.)
He might be little (5’6″, 179 pounds), but don’t let his size fool you; the kid is a baller.
Back to Trubisky. After a pretty lackluster showing through 12 games as a rookie last year – a year in which he completed just 59 percent of his passes for 2,193 yards with seven scores and seven picks – he’s made quite the leap so far in 2018. Not only is he completing a very healthy 70 percent of his tosses, but his 11-to-4 TD-to-INT ratio is also pretty solid. He also threw SIX touchdowns in Week 4 against Tampa Bay. (To be fair, I think I could probably get at least one or two against the Bucs this season, as their defense is simply atrocious. But what Trubisky did is still impressive nonetheless.) And he’s averaged over 32 yards a game on the ground this season, with 100 rushing yards over the past two games alone, so he can get it done with his legs as well.
Mitchy’s looking like he might be worth that high draft price after all.
This team is extremely balanced, and they’ve got enough on both sides of the ball to keep up with the Pats in this one.
Storylines
(Continue to Keep Brady Clean): The Pats have done a very nice job of protecting Brady so far this year, surrendering just eight sacks in total so far. Considering they’ve faced the likes of Houston, Jacksonville, and Indianapolis – all teams with 15-plus sacks already – that is extremely impressive. Add in the fact that Tommy Boy is no spring chicken and may not be quite as nimble as he once was, and it’s definitely a stat the O-lineman can hang their hats on. As mentioned above, the Bears are tied for fifth in the league with 18 QB takedowns this year, and Mack is an absolute demon to be reckoned with (although his ankle could slow him down a bit this week). Trent Brown and the rest of the boys up front should have their hands full again in this one.
(Michel and White to Face First Real Test): The Bears are the first top-10 run defense that Pats rookie Sony Michel will face this year, as he didn’t play in the team’s season-opener against the Texans, and they’ll be just the second for James White. Michel’s tough running style should allow him to at least grind out the clock if the Pats have the lead and maybe get a goal line score, but don’t expect much from White on Sunday. Not only do I expect White’s ball-carrying opportunities to be scaled back this week, but the Bears also only allow 25.6 receiving yards out of the backfield per game. The Bears also haven’t allowed even one rushing touchdown so far this season. Brady’s going to need to get it done through the air this week.
Love ya, James, but I don’t think this is gonna be your week, bud.
Prediction
Both teams get off to a slow start, with each of them only scoring around 10 points by halftime. Due to the physical, old-school nature of the game, the defense wears down a bit on each side in the second half. This will allow for a couple nice drives from the Pats and one or two big plays from the Bears (see: Gabriel, Taylor and Cohen, Tarik) later in the game. In the end, this one will be close, with the Pats eeking out a 24-20 victory.
The 300s 