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Tag: Red Sox

  • Payton Tolle shines in debut, but Red Sox lose to Pirates 4-2

    From the moment he stepped out of the dugout until the moment he walked off the field, Payton Tolle looked like he was having the time of his life.

    Making his MLB debut less than five months after appearing in his first professional game at High-A in April, the 22-year-old left hander was as exuberant as he was dominant. Tolle overwhelmed the Pittsburgh Pirates with his devastating fastball, relished in the standout defensive plays made behind him and left the mound in the sixth inning with a 2-0 lead, having largely outdueled Pirates superstar Paul Skenes.

    Mac Cerullo

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  • 7 Legendary Phillies Games That Shaped Franchise History – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    7 Legendary Phillies Games That Shaped Franchise History – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    PHOTO: Steshka Willems/Pexels

    Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies have been around since 1883 and have provided some of the most dramatic, memorable moments in the sport.
    The Phillies have won a World Series, come back from a deficit, and given fans lots to cheer about.

    In this article, we take a look at 7 of the most legendary games that helped define the franchise’s storied history.

    Before that, though, let’s quickly review the origins and growth of American football.

    A Brief History of Football: Expanding the Reach

    Football’s American roots go back to the late 19th century when the NFL was formed in 1920. Founded in Philadelphia, the Eagles were founded in 1933, and over the years, they were an important part of the city’s sports identity, winning the Super Bowl in 2018.The United States was beginning to grow a love for football, and it was starting to catch on internationally. In Germany, Japan, and Mexico, fans of the sport developed fanbases that all created their own leagues. However, Dubai became an American football power in recent times through the Emirates American Football League (EAFL) with teams like Dubai Barracudas. It is also broadening its sports culture with big steps in soccer, such as hosting big tournaments and expanding its reach.Dubai is also looking into other methods of economic expansion, such allowing casinos to operate within the city. It could be a game changer for football betting in Dubai and for sporting development in Dubai as a whole.

    7 Legendary Phillies Games That Shaped Franchise History

    With the rich backdrop of football’s rise in Philadelphia and its global expansion, it’s time to shift the focus to one of the city’s most iconic teams: the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies have played some amazing games—come-from-behind wins, World Series victories—seven legendary games that have since left their indelible mark on the franchise.

    1) August 8, 1903: Tragedy at Baker Bowl

    In the worst of the worst in Phillies history, disaster befell a game against the Boston Braves at Baker Bowl. It collapsed a section of the stands, killing 12 fans and injuring hundreds more. The Phillies won, but the tragedy overshadowed the event and made stadium safety a big issue. This game reminds us how the sport and the venues have changed over the years.

    2) October 10, 1915: First World Series Win for the Phillies.

    In 1915, the Phillies made their first World Series appearance and faced the Boston Red Sox. Game 1 was historic, and while the team lost the series, it was a historic series. Phillies ace Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched a complete game, and the Phillies won 3-1.It was the first time the team had won a World Series game, and it would be the first of many wins.

    3) September 27, 1964: The Collapse

    PHOTO: Steshka Willems/Pexels

    For the Phillies, the 1964 season is one of the most painful in team history. The Phillies were 6 1/2 games ahead of the National League but went on a 10-game losing streak. The most devastating punch came on September 27, when the Milwaukee Braves beat the Phillies 14-8, ending their hopes for the pennant. This is still one of the most infamous collapses in MLB history.

    4) April 17, 1976: Mike Schmidt’s Four Homer Game

    Mike Schmidt had one of the greatest individual feats in baseball history in a regular season game against the Chicago Cubs. Schmidt then led a remarkable comeback as the Phillies trailed 13-2 before Schmidt hit four straight home runs.They went on to win 18-16 in extra innings. Schmidt’s performance cemented his reputation as one of the best power hitters in the game.

    5) October 12, 1980: Clinching the Pennant (NLCS Game 5)

    In the National League Championship Series in 1980, the Phillies started the first World Series title with an amazing victory over the Houston Astros in Game 5. The Phillies pulled off a thrilling comeback, with the Phillies winning 8-7 in extra innings and down 5-2 in the eighth. They went to their first World Series since 1950 and won their first title.

    6) October 21, 1980: First World Championship – World Series Game 6

    On October 21, 1980, the Phillies’ long wait for a World Series title ended. The Phillies took a 4-1 lead into the ninth inning in Game 6 against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals made a threat in the final frame, but Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson with the bases loaded to give the Royals the 4-1 victory.The Phillies’ win gave the city its first-ever World Series championship, a feeling that had been in the air for decades.

    7) October 11, 1993: Dykstra’s Heroics – NLCS Game 5

    The Phillies, in Game 5 of the 1993 NLCS, were facing the Atlanta Braves in a tense matchup. The Braves tied the game in the ninth inning, and Curt Schilling pitched brilliantly. The Phillies took advantage of a 4-3 win in the 10th as Lenny Dykstra stepped up and hit a solo home run. The Phillies went on to win the series, taking it 4–1 to reach the World Series.

    A Legacy of Unforgettable Moments

    The Philadelphia Phillies have provided some of the most thrilling and unforgettable moments in baseball history from the early 1900s to today.

    These are not just the culmination of the franchise but of the sport itself, the resilience, talent, and heart of one of the oldest teams in Major League Baseball.

    PHOTO: Steshka Willems/Pexels

    PHLSportsNation

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  • Report: Liam Hendriks signs with Red Sox, bringing White Sox tenure to an end after 3 seasons

    Report: Liam Hendriks signs with Red Sox, bringing White Sox tenure to an end after 3 seasons

    FORT MYERS, Fla. — Liam Hendriks is still with the Sox, but the color will be changing.

    Hendriks, a 13-year veteran reliever, is leaving the White Sox after three seasons to join the Boston Red Sox, according to a Boston Herald report. A Red Sox source confirmed to the Herald that Hendriks will join the team on a two-year, $10 million deal, pending a physical, with a mutual option for a third season.

    The Red Sox made the addition to their bullpen Monday morning before their first full-squad workout of spring training, the Herald reports.

    Hendriks, 35, has a 3.82 ERA and 116 saves, with a WHIP of 1.195 and 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings, spanning 13 seasons with five teams, all in the American League. He’s a three-time All-Star.

    Hendriks signed with the White Sox in free agency prior to the 2021 season and was named an All-Star with the club in both 2021 and 2022.

    In January 2023, Hendriks announced he had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He began treatment and made a remarkable comeback, returning to the mound cancer-free by late May. Hendriks was named the 2023 AL Comeback Player of the Year.

    However, the White Sox declined a team option Hendriks’ contract after the season, making him a free agent.

    Hendriks finished his White Sox tenure with a 14-7 record, 76 saves, a 0.875 WHIP and 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings. He made 132 appearances and worked 133.2 innings for the South Siders.

    Michael Johnson

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  • Michael King looks like a starter, will he be one in 2024

    Michael King looks like a starter, will he be one in 2024

    BOSTON — When the Yankees’ rotation suffered a few injuries back in spring training, Michael King pitched himself as a replacement to Aaron Boone.

    But with King so dominant in relief and fresh off a stress fracture in his throwing elbow, the suggestion was — excuse the pun — a non-starter.

    “He was coming off the repair of the elbow, so he was trying to get into the rhythm of his delivery and feel confident,” pitching coach Matt Blake told the Daily News. “We knew what we had in the bullpen and we had some general guidelines we wanted to kind of hold him to as far as multiple innings, multiple days off, three innings, three days off, that type of stuff. We didn’t necessarily want to put him into the rotation at that point just because we had bodies in the mix and we had names that we felt comfortable with. We didn’t want to necessarily move him away from what we knew he did really well.”

    But more injuries left the Yankees’ rotation short-handed again in August, so King — a starter in college and the minors — circled back. This time, with Boone short on options, King received a shot as an extended opener. That has blossomed into a traditional starter’s schedule as he continues to build up.

    “He’s obviously run with it,” Blake said Thursday before King totaled 4.2 innings, six hits, one earned run, one walk, eight strikeouts and a season-high 87 pitches in his latest start.

    The Yankees lost the game, the first of a doubleheader against the Red Sox, 5-0, but King looked sharp despite some inefficiency. He even pushed to stay in longer when Boone went to pull him from the game. Much like the spring, the skipper didn’t bite.

    “I told Boonie regardless if I give up 15 or I’m scoreless, I’m not gonna go down without a fight,” King, sounding like a true starter, said afterward. “He wouldn’t let me. I tried my best. I think I might have had a little hesitation, but didn’t fully get there.”

    King has now logged at least four frames in his last four starts, totaling 18.2 innings and three earned runs over that stretch. He has also tallied 26 strikeouts and just two walks over that span.

    Most importantly, his body and arm are handling the new role well.

    “I’m feeling great,” King said. “It’s nice to be on that routine. That’s the main part of my body recovery that I feel like I missed out of the bullpen. Gotta be up every day, you know? So in the rotation, you can have those days to recover, get a full bullpen in between starts and go out there.”

    King added that mixing his pitches has allowed him to have success, but he mentioned that he’s been leaning on his fastball more as a starter.

    Blake has been impressed with King’s ability to limit hard contact, control counts and induce whiffs as a starter. Boone, meanwhile, said that King has done a nice job of maintaining his stuff as he goes, and that it’s looked similar to how it did when the right-hander was coming out of the bullpen.

    “He’s taken to it well so far,” Blake said. “As he’s built his pitch count, you can see him getting in the flow of the game pretty well. And I think he’s using his whole arsenal well — [to] both righties and lefties — and attacking the zone.

    “He’s kind of found a nice rhythm there.”

    What initially started as an experiment born out of desperation has now given the Yankees something to seriously consider this offseason and next spring: should King be a full-time starter?

    That is the pitcher’s goal, and the Yankees have some uncertainty in their rotation that works in King’s favor as he prepares for a few more starts this season.

    In an ideal world, the club will start the 2024 campaign with Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes in the rotation. But injuries hampered Rodón this season, and Cortes has yet to begin a throwing program after reaggravating a rotator cuff strain.

    Boone said that Cortes is close to starting his program, while Blake added that, as of now, the southpaw is not expecting surgery.

    Even if the aforementioned names are all healthy at the start of next season, the Yankees will still need a fifth starter, as well as depth, with Luis Severino unlikely to return in free agency. Randy Vásquez and Jhony Brito are also internal candidates after arriving in the majors ahead of schedule this year, but King appears to be the preferred choice.

    He would also be a cost-effective one for the Yankees, as King is making $1.3 million this season. He is due for a raise in arbitration, but that bump would be nothing compared to the price of high-end external options like Blake Snell, Aaron Nola and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

    Boone said that King’s 2024 role is “probably technically to be determined, but we all believe he can be a starter.”

    “He’s probably, in a lot of ways, confirming that in what we’re seeing as he’s continued to build up here these last few weeks,” the manager continued. “Michael’s in a really good spot in that he’s proven himself at this level, obviously, out of the bullpen. But I think he’s also showing us now that — I definitely believe he could be a successful starter. So we’ll see. We’ll see where the next few weeks take us. We’ll see where the winter takes us and how we look going into next season, but right now, he’s putting himself in that starter mix.”

    Blake endorsed that sentiment as well, but he also noted that King’s versatility could be “huge” for the Yankees next year.

    Even if King were to begin the season in the bullpen, the team now knows that he can handle a starter’s workload in an effective manner at the major league level. If injuries hurt the Yankees again in 2024, King’s experience in the rotation will come in handy.

    With that said, he expects to fight for a rotation job next spring.

    “I’m more just taking it day-by-day now,” King said, “but in this offseason, I think I’ll definitely build up and be ready to come in to compete for a starting role.”

    Gary Phillips

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  • 10 People Convicted In Attempted Killing Of Former MLB Slugger David Ortiz

    10 People Convicted In Attempted Killing Of Former MLB Slugger David Ortiz

    A Dominican court convicted 10 people involved in the 2019 attempted killing of baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz, authorities confirmed on Tuesday.

    Ortiz, a Dominican native, was ambushed by a man who got off a motorcycle and shot him in the back at close range while the former Red Sox slugger was at a bar with friends in a well-off neighborhood of Santo Domingo

    Two men, including the alleged shooter Rolfi Ferreyra Cruz, were each sentenced to 30 years in prison by Santo Domingo’s First Collegiate Court.

    Eight others received prison sentences of between 5 and 20 years. Three other defendants were acquitted due to insufficient evidence, including Víctor Hugo Gómez Vásquez, who was accused of planning the attack.

    American private investigators hired by Ortiz said that the slugger affectionately known as Big Papi was targeted by a Dominican drug trafficker who was jealous of him.

    The findings by former Boston police commissioner Edward Davis contradicted a previous theory by law enforcement in the Dominican Republic that the hitman was actually hired to shoot Ortiz’s cousin Sixto David Fernandez, who was sitting at the same table.

    Dominican authorities said the hitmen confused Fernandez with Ortiz, one of the country’s most beloved ballplayers.

    A fearsome power hitter with a ready smile, Ortiz led the Red Sox to three World Series championships, was a 10-time All-Star and hit 541 home runs before retiring in 2016. When he was shot, he was living part of the year in the Dominican Republic.

    Ortiz was seriously wounded in the June 2019 shooting. Doctors in the Dominican Republic removed Ortiz’s gallbladder and part of his intestine after the shooting and he underwent further surgery in the U.S.

    Among the crimes for which the 10 men were sentenced were criminal organization, use of illegal firearms, attempted murder, and complicity, the court wrote in a statement.

    Authorities noted that more details of the sentencing will be released on Feb. 8, 2023.

    Janetsky reported from Havana. Associated Press writer Martín José Adames Alcántara contributed to this report from Santo Domingo.

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  • The Yankees Need A Red Sox In 2004 ALCS Comeback … But They Look Nothing Like The Red Sox Of 2004

    The Yankees Need A Red Sox In 2004 ALCS Comeback … But They Look Nothing Like The Red Sox Of 2004

    A child born during the 2004 ALCS in which the Red Sox became the first baseball team to overcome a three games to none deficit to win a best-of-seven series can cast his or her first votes in an election next month.

    So that’s the good news for the Yankees — they don’t have to look far, either on the calendar or within their franchise’s own history, for tangential evidence it is possible to mount a miracle comeback.

    The bad news is nothing else about these Yankees indicates they can provide some fraternal redemption for those Yankees by giving them some room in the history books with a stunning comeback against the Astros over the next 96 hours.

    The Yankees fell into a three games to none hole in the ALCS Saturday night, when they again failed to solve Cristian Javier and a cadre of relievers in a 5-0 loss.

    “Obviously this isn’t ideal,” Anthony Rizzo said. “But we’ve just got to win tomorrow. It sucks tonight. It’s gonna suck and it’s gonna sting. Tomorrow when we wake up, we’ve just got to figure out a way to win.”

    Similar words, perhaps minus the sucks, were probably uttered by players on the 39 previous teams to trail three games to none in a best-of-seven series. But there’s nothing apparent in their makeup or recent performance to indicate the Yankees can begin to make the Astros sweat by extending the series to Monday, never mind by actually winning the next four games against a team that hasn’t lost four straight since April.

    Only four teams have fallen behind three games to none and extended the series to at least six games. The 1998 Braves, who fell to the Padres in the six games in the NLCS, and 2020 Astros, who lost to the Rays in seven games in the ALCS, were each three years removed from winning the World Series and still possessed the championship pedigree from those runs. The 1999 Mets, who lost to the Braves in six games in the NLCS, displayed a penchant for the dramatic comeback by overcoming a two-game deficit over the final three games of the regular season before winning a one-game playoff to earn the wild card berth.

    And the 2004 Red Sox were, of course, a rambunctious bunch that welcomed the historical weight they bore in pursuit of the Yankees. These Yankees, somehow growing more corporate by the year, don’t have a Kevin Millar walking around speaking for his numerous kindred souls by declaring “don’t let us win tonight” before Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. The closest player the Yankees have to a Millar is their newest member, Harrison Bader, who spoke while wearing a garish rainbow-colored fur coat Saturday night and will probably have that free spirit wrung out of him soon enough.

    The Red Sox of 18 years ago, even after a 19-8 loss to the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS, could take solace in going 23-25 while being outscored by a single run — 261-260 — in 48 games against the Yankees dating back to the start of the 2003 season.

    The Yankees? They’re two big comebacks in June away from being 0-fer the season against the Astros, who have outscored them 39-26 in 10 games. Ten of those runs were scored in the Yankees’ final at-bats during the games of June 23, June 26 and the second game of a doubleheader July 21.

    The Yankees scored four ninth-inning runs to earn a 7-6 win on June 23, walked off with a 6-3, 10-inning victory via Aaron Judge’s three-run homer three days later and scored three times in the ninth on July 21 — again via a Judge three-run homer — in a 7-5 loss. In between the walk-off wins, the Yankees went 15 innings without a hit and were no-hit June 25 by Javier and two relievers.

    “I just feel like it’s going to be a tight ballgame against the Astros no matter what,” said Gerrit Cole, who took the loss Saturday after allowing all five runs (three earned) over five-plus innings. “Certainly had my fair share of tight ballgames against them this year. I pitched against them twice. We got no-hit once and shutout the next time.”

    In search of a spark, whomever makes out the Yankees lineup is shuffling the deck like it’s late March in Tampa instead of the ALCS in late October. The only player to hit in the same spot in each of the first three games is surefire AL MVP Judge, who has batted second. Three different players have batted in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth spots.

    None of it has worked. The Yankees’ mixing and matching has yielded a .128 average (12-for-94) with nine walks and 41 strikeouts. On Saturday, Javier and five relievers came within one out of a combined one-hitter before harmless back-to-back singles by Matt Carpenter and Bader.

    Contrast that to 18 years ago, when Red Sox manager Terry Francona barely tinkered with the lineup over the first four games of the ALCS, a span in which he started the same nine players and made just three switches. Seventh-place hitter Jason Varitek and ninth-place hitter Bill Mueller traded spots with fifth-place hitter Millar and eighth-place hitter Orlando Cabrera for Game 3 before Francona swapped second-place hitter Mark Bellhorn and ninth-place hitter Cabrera for Game 4.

    The Red Sox rewarded Francona’s patience by scoring 25 runs over the final four games of the ALCS before scoring 24 more runs and never trailing the Cardinals in a four-game sweep of the World Series.

    Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the Yankees have no choice but to believe they can author a similar turnaround.

    “Listen, at times, things might feel like a mountain,” Bader said. “But classically speaking — giving a cliche, if you will — you know you can’t get to the top without starting at the bottom.”

    On Saturday night, it sure looked like they were going to stay there.

    Jerry Beach, Contributor

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  • With Closer Emmanuel Clase In The Playoffs, Terry Francona Manages By The Book Of Jonathan Papelbon

    With Closer Emmanuel Clase In The Playoffs, Terry Francona Manages By The Book Of Jonathan Papelbon

    Sometimes, a manager or a player drops a little nugget in a postseason press conference that is much more telling than it initially sounds.

    “We don’t script it out — it’s kind of a popular saying,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said late Friday afternoon, when Cleveland rode an unprecedented usage of closer Emmanuel Clase in completing a 4-2, 10-inning win over the Yankees that evened their AL Division Series at one game apiece.

    It’s also a way of saying that most teams do script it out these days — and that the Guardians are an anomaly in modern Major League Baseball, run by a front office that actually entrusts its manager to handle the task of managing the game for nine innings (and possibly beyond). That’s why Francona — his standing as a rock-solid future Hall of Famer secure — continues to manage despite his acknowledgments that the job has become more difficult for him following a series of health issues.

    But while the Guardians’ front office doesn’t script out the game for Francona, the skipper certainly has a dog-eared book on which he replies for a playoff game such as Friday’s — and almost as importantly, all those leading up to it.

    The usage of Clase Friday — when the closer threw the final 2 1/3 innings — was reminiscent of Francona’s deployment of Jonathan Papelbon in 2007, when Francona managed the Red Sox to their second championship in four years.

    “Oh boy I can barely remember last week,” the ever-deadpan Francona said upon being asked about the Papelbon comparisons.

    Clase and Papelbon are not the same — on Tuesday, Francona lauded Clase’s cool demeanor, which, uhh, is not something that’ll ever be said about Papelbon — and these Guardians, champions of the lone division to send just one team to the playoffs, don’t have the expectations of those Red Sox, who entered the 2007 playoffs with 96 wins, tied for the most in the majors.

    But any chance the Guardians have of mounting a deep playoff run involves relying heavily on Clase following a regular season in which Francona carefully managed his usage.

    Clase didn’t throw more than one inning in any of his 77 outings this season, when he led the majors with 42 saves, the fifth-highest single-season total in Cleveland history. The only other pitcher to record at least 10 saves while never recording more than three outs in any appearance was Josh Hader, who racked up 36 saves for the Brewers and Padres.

    Clase entered the playoffs having recorded four or more outs in an appearance just nine times in 169 regular season games — most recently when he recorded a four-out save against the Red Sox on Sept. 5, 2021. He threw as many as two innings just three times, most recently in a loss against the Astros on July 4, 2021.

    Fifteen years ago, when Papelbon had 37 saves — at the time the fifth-highest single-season total in Red Sox history — he was utilized for more than three outs just four times in 59 regular season games and recorded three saves of at least four outs, tied for 11th-most in the majors.

    But Papelbon threw more than an inning in all but one of his seven postseason appearances. He went 1-0 with four saves and didn’t allow a run in the playoffs while limiting opposing batters to a .135 average.

    History has begun to repeat itself for Clase, who earned a four-out save in the opener of the Guardians’ wild card series against the Rays on Oct. 7. On Friday, he entered in relief of James Karinchak with the bases loaded, two outs and the score tied in the eighth inning. Clase, throwing 100 mph cutters and 93 mph sliders, got Kyle Higashioka to line out to third before working around a two-out single by Anthony Rizzo in the ninth.

    Afterward, Francona said he would have gone to another pitcher if the game remained tied in the 10th. But the Guardians scored twice in the top half and Clase — throwing “merely” 98 mph cutters and 91 mph sliders — walked Josh Donaldson with one out before whiffing Oswaldo Cabrera and getting Isiah Kiner-Falafa to ground out.

    “Incredible — I’m assuming that’s the longest he’s gone,” Guardians starter Shane Bieber said. “A win and a save.”

    (Bieber again marveled at Clase earning a win and a save later in his postgame scrum, for the record, Clase was “only” credited with the win)

    “Maybe he was a little fatigued there in the 10th, but a fatigued Clase is still overpowering,” Bieber said. “Nobody else we want to close our games, that’s for sure.”

    And at this time of year, there’s no better book for Francona to go by than the one he relied upon a decade-and-a-half ago.

    “If he’s not in a dangerous area, if he still looks effective, we are able to send him back out,” Francona said of Clase, who ended up throwing 33 pitches — just four more than Karinchak threw in getting his two outs. “If we had not scored, we weren’t going to send him back. But when we scored, that’s why we sent him.

    “Try to make the best decisions you can.”

    Jerry Beach, Contributor

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