Greenfield’s Bob Weiss said he got to know Vegas Golden Knights forward Alex Tuch while he and his son Doug were at the World Under-18’s in Sochi, Russia, five years ago.
“Nice kid,” said Weiss. “He was one of the few who’d sit down and talk to you and ask where you live, where you work.”
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Tuch was born in Syracuse, played two years at Boston College and scored twice in four games against UMass. The Minnesota Wild chose him with the 18th overall pick in 2014 but left him unprotected in the expansion draft.
After scoring six goals and nine assists in the first three rounds, the Capitals held him to one assist in five games. He’ll be remembered for the point black shot stopped by Braden Holtby that preserved the Caps’ 3-2 win in Game 2 that was the turning point in the series.
Doing what he does best, NESN’s Jerry Remy explained how pitchers are holding Rafael Devers to a .228 average with a team-high 67 strikeouts. After Houston’s Gerrit Cole fanned him last week, Remy said, “We see that so often against Devers. When they get two strikes there’s two ways they generally go — a breaking ball in the dirt, or a high fastball. This time it was the high fastball.”
Could the Red Sox and Yankees be fighting for their playoff lives the last weekend in September? They play a three-game series at Fenway Park, and the baseball gods want either team to be within three games of the other for first place in the AL East. At this writing Seattle, Houston, Boston and New York were all playing over .600 ball and the Angels were coming on fast.
After his Red Sox Hall of Fame induction ceremony a few weeks ago, former Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell said it was Gordon Edes who gave him the call.
Edes grew up east of Greenfield in Lunenburg off the Mohawk Trail, and covered the Red Sox for the Boston Globe. He was working at ESPN Boston when the Red Sox made him a job offer he couldn’t refuse. He was named Red Sox historian and archivist in 2015, replacing the late Dick Bresciano.
Bresciano broke in at UMass in the days when Julius Erving played for coach Jack Leaman. His first job with the Red Sox was as a PR assistant for Bill Crowley and the indomitable Mary Jane Ryan. Those were the days when Helen Robinson casually answered “Red Sox” and patched callers to whomever they sought, and Tom Yawkey was upstairs guiding the ships into Boston Harbor.
Ever wonder how Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne got into heavy metal? Marc Myers interviewed him for the Wall Street Journal and the English rocker told him: “My first “musical” job was testing car horns. I’d be there in a soundproof booth listening to different types of horns. It drove me nuts.”
Had to love the little kid in the Toronto bleachers on Wednesday who stood holding a homemade “ALL RISE” sign every time Aaron Judge batted. The all-or-nothing slugger was hitless in five plate appearances until the 13th inning when he hit a hanging curveball out of the park and the little kid went nuts.
Now that’s baseball, as Ernie Harwell would say.
Three cheers to the Florida State Seminoles for winning their first NCAA softball title by sweeping Washington in two straight games at Oklahoma City.
You’ll be reading more about third baseman Jessie Warren, whose last at-bat was a home run into the last row of the center field bleachers. It was her 83rd career round-tripper, tying her for eighth on the all-time list.
The New England Collegiate Baseball League season began play last week. The league uses wood bats and has teams in Keene, Holyoke and North Adams. Tickets and burgers are cheap and the kids are enthralled by between-inning promos like flinging tennis balls through car windows. Check it out on necbl.com.