Good morning!
Not all Red Sox fans wanted to risk getting pneumonia in this extended winter. A check of the box scores shows that 23,350 fewer Fenway Park tickets were sold through the first nine games this season than last.
That’s not counting the people at Fenway and across the northern tier who had tickets and didn’t show up. Money rules and rain checks have become collectors’ items. Season-ticket holders were torn between cutting their losses or bundling up and watching players roam the field looking like bank robbers.
“Boy you gotta give this crowd a lot of credit,” Mets broadcaster Josh Lewin said Tuesday at Citi Field. “It is freezing out there.”
At Yankee Stadium, John Sterling chimed in on Thursday: “Another raw cold night. The wind is whipping the flags to a froth.”
Cubs manager Joe Maddon ripped the front office for not calling last Saturday’s game at frosty Wrigley. “That’s not baseball weather. I don’t know what the intent is. The elements were horrific (and) the game should not have been played.”
The Cubs’ next two games were postponed, and cold drenching rains in Detroit and heavy snow in Minnesota forced six other postponements. “Let’s play none!” proclaimed the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
There might be an element of future shock to this. In 1974, Red Sox right-hander Rick Wise came up lame after pitching just 49 innings. He attributed it to an April start in 44-degree weather.
After a month when Mother Nature has batted last and batted 1.000, fans can’t wait for baseball to become the summer game.
It seems that UMass AD Ryan Bamford is letting football coach Mark Whipple twist in the wind. A Twitter follower this week asked Bamford, “How is Whip’s contract extension coming along?”
Bamford’s curt response was, “Swimmingly, thanks for asking.”
Bamford wasn’t happy with Whipple’s rant after offensive lineman Jack Driscoll wasn’t accepted into the UMass school of business. “This IS NOT a grad school issue,” Bamford tweeted. “There is more to this matter than grad school admissions.”
Driscoll is transferring to whatever school will let him play out his final two years of eligibility.
Reports have surfaced that the Patriots might take Josh Rosen in Thursday’s NFL draft. Analyst Ross Tucker, however, thinks the UCLA quarterback is a paper Trojan. “I see guys come in on blitzes and he doesn’t react to it,” Tucker said on his SXM morning show. “He strikes me as a guy who blows people away in the workouts— big, fast, rocket arm— but that would be a lot more realistic if there was a dude about to hit him right in the face. That’s the part that doesn’t show up on the white board.”
Maybe they counted the no-shows like the big guys do, but the box scores showed the Hartford Yard Goats averaging 4,000 a game to for their three-game series against the Richmond Flying Squirrels at Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
The Double AA Yard Goats were 29th of 160 teams in attendance last season (5,812), according to ballparkdigest.com. The Portland Sea Dogs, operated by Amherst native Charlie Eshbach, were 30th (5,653).
A belated congrats to the NMH boys’ basketball team and coach John Carroll for a 31-4 season and a trip to the prep championship in New London, Conn., where the Hoggers lost in overtime to Putnam (Conn.) Science Academy.
One interesting footnote: NMH didn’t play Deerfield Academy this season. In 2016-17, they did a Geno Auriemma on the Big Green, mauling them 112-40. “It’s an alumni thing,” explained an NMH player, referencing a blowout by DA that was long ago but not forgotten.
South Deerfield’s George Mount notched his third lifetime hole-in-one on April 11 at the Northfield Golf Club. The ace was witnessed by Dan Carmody, who reported that Mount lofted a 5 iron over the gully, onto the green and into the cup at the 165-yard Par 3. “It’s signature hole,” Carmody added with journalistic flair.
THREE ON THE RISE: Kudos to Greg Cannella’s men’s lacrosse team for its seven straight wins after a 1-4 start. The Gorillas are undefeated (3-0) in the CAA with a game today at Fairfield (4-9, 1-2) and next week at home against Hofstra (5-6, 1-2). … Coach Kristi Stefanoni’s softball team’s 10-game win streak was derailed at Boston College on Tuesday, 3-0. The Minutewomen are 23-12 thanks in part to infielder Jen Cozza’s .521 batting average that’s tops in the nation.
They stake their 11-0 record in the A-10 on the line today at St. Bonaventure. … And props to Angela McMahon’s women’s lax team that’s 11-3 overall, 6-0 in the A-10 and 5-0 in Amherst. The Minutewomen are 122-17 in seven seasons under McMahon, whose husband Justin Serpone is the Amherst College men’s soccer coach.
Correction: The title of Zach Schonbrun’s book is The Performance Cortex— not the “Cerebral Cortex” which I wrote during a decidedly non-cerebral moment last week.
A MetroWest reporter got Cubs fan Bill Murray on record saying that success has changed Boston fans. “I think (they’ve) become almost like Yankees fans with the arrogance, they’re just unbearable,” Murray said during an interview at the Orpheum Theatre.
Jonny Gomes worked the Angels-Red Sox series for NESN. That’s right, he’s baaack. “We are talking a lot about pawse-itive history with this ballclub,” said Gomes, a self-proclaimed student of the game. Gomes could go eyeball to eyeball with terrorists and get them ratting out before the second inning.
The Red Sox are playing like the 1984 Tigers that started 19-2, but the games have been boring, a conundrom that Bosox chairman Tom Werner addressed in 2010. “We need to start winning in more exciting fashion,” he was quoted saying in Dan Shaughnessy’s book “Francona: The Red Sox Years.”
SQUIBBERS: Red Sox fans got their usual eight hours sleep this week when Shohei Ohtani and the Angels coughed it up early, outscored 27-3 in the three game sweep. … Ali yelled, “Get me a contender!” but the Red Sox will keep playing the George Chuvalos of baseball until May 31 at Houston. The Indians aren’t scheduled until August 20. … YES analyst John Flaherty said he warmed up Jose Contreras before Aaron Boone’s blast beat Boston in the seventh game of the 2003 ALCS. “Contreras had nothing,” Flaherty told Michael Kay. “He was shot. He knew it, I knew it, everybody knew it. As I’m warming him up our catching coach Mike Borzello says, ‘Oh great, Aaron Boone’s at bat.” … Queens native Mike Repole has two horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby — Noble Indy and Vino Rosso. A lifelong Mets fans, Repole’s stable colors are orange-and-blue. … Last week’s football clinic prior to the UMass spring game was the sort of outreach that inspires parents to bring their kids to games. My grandson Chase had his Minutemen football poster signed by No. 56, defensive lineman Zach Loane, his new favorite player. … Headline writers in Chicago are waiting for White Sox reliever Aaron Bummer’s first blown save. … “And there is your truculence!” hollered B’s announcer Jack Edwards during a scrum in front of the Toronto net on Monday. Typical Edwards, Boston’s Mr. Bluster. … Deposed Yankees skipper Joe Girardi was all smiles this week on the MLB Network, happy someone else was taking heat for the team’s cold start. … The UMass basketball team started the season rated 155th by USA Today and finished 188th at 13-20. The A-10 is their daddy; teams are 39-15 against UMass the last three years. … The Kentucky Derby post position draw has been moved up a day to May 1 and will be aired at 11 a.m. on Facebook and Twitter. … Look for My Boy Jack on the May 5 Churchill Downs undercard. The 3-year-old colt races for the Don’t Tell My Wife Stable. … The Florida Panthers missed the playoffs for the ninth straight year, but it’s not easy focussing on hockey in South Florida. … Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher didn’t get the record crowd he promised for the spring game, but 48,129 was a good enough welcome for the new sheriff in town. … Incoming Kentucky freshmen Immanuel Quickley of Greater Baltimore was true to his name on Easter Sunday when he tweeted: “If you don’t dunk your money in the church offering you not a real hooper.” … Proplayersinsiders.com ranks linebacker Da’Sean Downey and tight Adam Breneman at 226th and 230th, respectively, in the upcoming draft. Breneman, who has decided to retire, is a blocker, and Downey’s a hitter — on and off the field. … Only Bill Belichick could get choked up remembering the hours he spent watching game film at Giants Stadium. … Jon Lester racked up his second win on Thursday, beating the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. The former Red Sox left-hander is 45-25 for the Cubs. …. Cap Anson is a Hall of Famer who played 22 seasons with the Cubs. The Ken Burns documentary noted that on his gravestone he requested his headstone be inscribed: “Here lies a man who batted .300.”
Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for four decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached by email at sports@recorder.com.