Connelly’s Top Ten – Sale and Sox and Weather Stay Hot

1.Red Sox

* Red Sox have scored 39 runs in Sales last 5 games
* Nunez has hit into 13 double plays in 318 at bats - one every 24 at bats (Jim Rice in 1984 – 36 in 708 at bats one every 19.6 at bats)
* Sox have won more games on the road 36 than the Royals and Orioles have won at home combined 30

2. British Open

* Great to see Tiger’s red shirt on Sunday of a major
* Tiger’s red shirt is great for DVR – you can fast forward until you see the color
* I would have to say Tiger choked – as soon as he took the lead he stopped hitting fairways
* How many times did Jack Nicklaus lose a lead on the back nine of Sunday in a major?

3. Around Baseball

* Josh Hadar other than his tweets is unhittable - 50 innings this year for the Brewers - 93 K
* From reader Bill – the two leading active pitchers in wins are both 50 to 75 pounds overweight – Sabathia and Colon
* Royals and Orioles are a combined 65.5 games out of first

4. Patriots start this week – what to expect:

* People using up vacation time to sit and watch football drills
* Goofy singing of Happy Birthday to Tom Brady (he will be nine years from 50!)
* Bill swinging his whistle with the string
* Big chubby guys running around the outside of the field because they didn’t pass the fitness test
* Malcom Mitchell not practicing again
* Bob Kraft hair longer in the back

5. Position ranks – Best fictional Sports Character in movies:

* Roy Hobbs
* Jimmy Chitwood
* Paul Crewe – Longest Yard
* Rocky Balboa
* Rod Tidwell – Jerry McGuire
* Roy McAvoy – Tin Cup
* Trooper Thorn – Quiet Man
* Hansen Brothers
* Bruce Pearson – Bang the Drum Slowly
* Dave – Breaking Away
* Buttermaker – Bad News Bears

6. Tampa vs Boston since 2008

* Red Sox 939 wins / $1,668,000,000 salaries = $1,776,357 a win
* Tamps 904 wins / $681,000,000 salaries = $753,318 a win

7. Old School – April 28, 1946 – On the same day – Boston’s baseball teams went 4-0. Red Sox and Braves both swept doubleheaders:

* In the four games – the two teams only used four pitchers and only gave a total of 4 runs
* Game times were 1:46 / 1:48 / 2:05 / 2:26
* Braves played at Fenway Park – Tom Yawkey refused to accept the offered rent for the field (Braves responded by offering to let the Red Sox use their field with lights for a night game)
* In the Red Sox game in Washington – Williams was mobbed as he came off the field – fans ripped the buttons off his shirt – he threw his hat to a veteran he saw in the crowd

8. Amazing Stat – Best Month as a Red Sox pitcher:

Sale – July 2018……….3-0 / ERA 0.47 / 33 K to 2 BB
Pedro – July 2002……5-0 / ERA 0.64 / 59 K to 9 BB
Clemens – April 1991..4-0 / ERA 0.28 / 34 K to 5 BB

9. Just a Little Bit Outside – Sports Heroes

* Babe Ruth
* Ted Williams
* Joe Louis
* Ali
* Joe DiMaggio
* Mickey Mantle
* Bobby Orr
* Bobby Jones

10. Randomocity

* NFL coach Tony Sparano was released from the hospital and died of a heart attack two days later – someone has to be held accountable – right?
* Is it to cliché to order chicken parm at an Italian restaurant?
* Thursday, Friday and Saturday weather might have been an A+
* With all the millennials in South Boston it’s like a college campus on Broadway Street
* When its all said and done – will Amazon ruin the US economy?

PS - good call by reader Barry - I missed Ted Williams played in four decades 1939-1960 (special on him Monday night 9:00 on PBS)

Connelly’s Top Ten – All Star Break is here!

1.Red Sox

* Sox on pace for 112 wins
* All Star game the halfway point – I don’t think so - season is 61% over
* Red Sox are 12-2 in July
* 12 pitchers used Sunday
* Newly acquired Steve Pierce hit a home run in his first Fenway at bat – reminded me of Rob Deer who came over from Milwaukee and hit a HR in his first at bat and went 3 for 6 on August 22, 1993.
* The grand slam by Mookie Betts will be shown for the rest of his life – retirement, hall of fame, death….

2. World Cup

* Croatia dominates game and loses 4-2: attempts 15 to 8 / Corners 6 to 2 / Passing attempted 548 to 269 / 61% possession
* Not good for the sport of soccer when the first goal (that changes the complexion of the game) is a free kick because a player dived (use replay in all sports as much as possible but make it fast)
* France gets $38mm / Croatia $28mm / Belgium $24mm / England $22mm
* Got to hand it to Russia a problem free World Cup (granted anyone who misbehaved is now laying train tracks in Siberia)
* 4-2 score if you have had the over – you win

3. Around Baseball

* Pablo Sandoval has hit 8 home runs in San Fran on the Red Sox dime ($18mm for Red Sox $500,000 for Giants) – he hit 14 in three seasons with Sox. By the way you have to pay him $18mm next year as well.
* Madison Bumgarner was the best starter in baseball going 51-28 with an ERA under 2.90 from 2014 to 2016 – after suffering a dirt bike accident he has gone 7-12 with a 3.20 ERA
* Houston Astro Alex Bregman has hit 20 home runs before the All Star game – he hit 21 in his entire college career at LSU – things that make me go hmmm.

4. Dodger second baseman Chase Utley announced retirement at the end of the year – people are asking if he’s a hall of famer –how does he compare to Dustin Pedroia:

Utley – 1,882 hits / .276 average / 259 HR / 6 All Stars
Pedroia-1,803 hits / .300 average / 140 HR / 4 All Stars / 4 Gold Gloves / MVP and Rookie of the Year

5. Position ranks – Who would you like as your color analyst (at their best)

* Dennis Eckersley
* Derek Sanderson
* Gino
* Bob Cousy
* Ken Harrelson
* Jerry Remy when with Sean McDonough
* John Pierson
* Johnny Pesky

6. With what Javier Baez is doing in Chicago – I put him up there with one of the most electric infielders ever - What other infielders would have magical videos:

* Ozzie Smith
* Gary Templeton
* Omar Vizquel
* Brooks Robinson
* Roberto Alomar
* Alex Gonzalez

7. Old School – In a 1946 baseball game between Brookline High School and Arlington High School.

* Brookline pitcher Hal Moffie – first game he ever pitched
* Moffie faced 50 batters
* Walked 20 / Struck out 10
* Arlington won 9-8
* Baseball coach was Brookline hall of famer – Tom Fitzgerald
* If you assume that each walk is 5.5 pitches and each strike out is 4.5 pitches and every other at bat is 3 pitches – then Moffie threw 215 pitches

8. Amazing Stat – Red Sox best two pitchers over the last 30 years Pedro and Sale. Below career win and losses (%) by month – Pedro first column Chris Sale second

Month…Pedro………..Sale
April….35-8 (.813)……19-7 (.730)
May…..43-12 (.781)…22-4 (.846)
June…..35-20 (.636)…19-12 (.612)
July…..36-12 (.750)….16-10 (.615)
Aug…..39-20 (.661)….14-13 (.518)
Sept…..31-28 (.525)….11-16 (.407)

9. Just a Little Bit Outside – Most visited national parks (National Geographic)

1. Great Smokey Mountains…..11,000,000
2. Grand Canyon………………7,200,000
3. Zion………………………..4,500,000
4. Rocky Mountains………….4,200,000
5. Yosemite…………………..4,000,000

10. Randomocity

* Isaiah Thomas goes from potentially making $30,000,000 to $2,000,000
* American John Isner has played in two of the three longest matches in Wimbledon history – a combined 17 hours and 41 minutes
* Remember when people were saying that Pedroia signed a bad contract – Sox owe him $40mm in the three years after this year
* With the crowd standing for Mookie during his great at bat last week – it reminded me of 1977 and the crowd chanting Boomer and George Scott hitting a home run into the center field bleachers

Connelly’s Top Ten – Back up the Armor Truck for Mookie