Never in the history of the Red Sox franchise have they won 26 times in 29 games. And this is the collection of hitters who have done it. Imagine thinking anyone can predict sports.

On Saturday, Landon Donovan noted Canada did what it was expected to do in the tournament and nothing more. They were seeded, so their group stage was easier, won a R32 they should have, then lost when a real opponent showed up. Fox didn't have him on to say the same thing about the US last night.

My longstanding stance of "even FIFA can't ruin the World Cup" is either being proven wrong by the Folarin Balogun stuff, or being proven the most stone-cold true thing ever said. And I genuinely don't know which at this point.

Giant swan says hello. @bostonlegacyfc.com

Only thing softer than the people who need to tell you how stupid soccer is, how it's boring and scoreless and needs all these America-centric changes, are the people who take the bait and argue it. They can not like it. Sport's just fine. So fine, even FIFA can't screw it up.

It took John Sterling's death to lead me to discover this rabbit hole, and that takes a little of the sting out of it. www.pinstripealley.com/2024/4/19/24...

God help me, I’ve ranked all 144 John Sterling home run calls

No one asked for this ultimate rundown of every known home run call from the now-retired Yankees announcer.

pinstripealley.com

On rare occasions, the universe feels like it's working as it should.

So happy for Esmir Bajraktarevic, a kid I watched play a handful of times in a largely empty NFL stadium. Sports, man.

Please warp me into the marketing meetings where Car Shield ended up paying all of Ice T, Ric Flair, Jeremy Roenick, Marcelo Mayer, and Curt Schilling as endorsers, please.

There are too many balls on this field.

Imagine having built a Hall of Fame system where neither Robert Kraft nor Bill Belichick are immediately elected. If this was a thing you genuinely cared about doing well and you came up with a system that did this? I don't know. Maybe time to fold up shop and take up needlepoint or something.

"Couldn’t even go to Stop n’ Shop and get lunch meat." I enjoyed this story more than I thought I would, and the lunch meat absolutely helped.

Malcolm Butler revisits his iconic Super Bowl moments, including his life-changing interception and the infamous benching - The Boston Globe

Butler said he still doesn’t know why he was benched in Super Bowl LII, other than it was a decision by former coach Bill Belichick.

bostonglobe.com

Great day to have functioning eyes and a working brain

Had to make a call to the IRS I wasn't looking forward to. The matter was handled quickly, simply, and the person was pleasant. Dealing with the government can be a drag sometimes, but when one actually deals with it one usually sees how ridiculous cable news-style demonization of it is.

Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country's leader on TV without repurcussions.

No wonder they're leading the division.

The nature of the last seven seasons of Red Sox baseball makes it well nigh impossible to trust anything about this run they're on. Increasingly, though, I think it's important to try. Because something's happening, and that might be most (if not all) that matters. www.boston.com/sports/bosto...

The Red Sox are taking us on another ride. While we're on it, let's savor the view.

The team is winning, much of the future core is locked up, and, for now, all is well with the Boston Red Sox.

boston.com

Yeesh. That escalated quickly.

Tim Healey@timbhealey.bsky.social · last yr.

Hunter Dobbins tore his right ACL, the Red Sox announced. He is on the IL. Richard Fitts is called back up from Worcester.

Was missing where Steer's homer landed a "NESN Celebrates 1975" thing, or just general crapulence? (Also, shout out graphics people who, if they're anything like me, deeply enjoyed making a 70s style scorebug when scorebugs were two decades off in 1975. I see you better than I see the scorebug.)

It was a good run, Matt Turner.

Imagine how bad it would be if they left that cursed Ortiz jersey in the foundation.

Jay Jaffe@jayjaffe.bsky.social · last yr.

At the risk of sounding like An Old, my fucking word is Yankee Stadium just a nonstop barrage of canned noise. There’s a damn bumper between every pitch, this ballpark does not let the game breathe a goddamn bit. And of course the concessions are bottom tier. Do better.

In 2007, I got pulled with a few other reporters to do a segment about Daisuke Matsuzaka. It involved being asked some questions, holding up a little sign with a happy/sad type thing on it, then answering. Remember thinking, "Wow, this feels very goofy Japanese TV." NESN now does it every night.

Always the danger of hyperbolizing in the moment, but Sunday feels like an organizational failure to top them all. Blame? Everywhere. Fallout? The season that was supposed to be the end of the struggle had its legs taken out at a point that felt like the spark toward a fun summer. Gross.

Forget Mookie Betts. Rafael Devers is an organization failure to trump them all.

Losing Rafael Devers via trade, in this fashion, is an issue with fault up and down the Red Sox organization.

boston.com

Spare a thought for the people in the Red Sox ticket office this morning, who two weeks ago were already in the "two free hot dogs with every ticket purchase" portion of their Rolodex.

Today's newsletter is one of the few places where you'll read about Clayton Kershaw defacing his Pride Day cap with a bible verse widely used by homophobes to discredit the LGBTQ+ community. Imagine if it was someone doing that to an American flag cap logo. www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...

Good morning. Today is the day a Yalie and Sam Kennedy will explain the Rafael Devers trade. There are Mondays, and then there are Mondays.

Five out of six against the Yankees. By the Red Sox team that, last time I wrote, I compared to a colonoscopy. Baseball seasons are long, stupid things.

Carlos Narváez is this generation's Sandy León. #RedSox

The "11" on Devers' Fenway Greens uniform is absolutely squashed together and looks terrible. Front and back. I don't want the kerning people fired, but I want them reprimanded.

Trevor Story's home run would have only cleared two MLB fences: Yankee Stadium and Steinbrenner Field. I feel like we need a specific term for this type of home run. Pinstripe Poke is terrible, but it can get us started.