Connelly Top Ten - English Toast

1. Red Sox - Yankees

* The two games took a total of 9:06 which is enough time to bus to Logan, go through security, get on a plane, fly to London, black cab to your hotel and go get a pint

* 30 pitchers in two games

* 816 pitches 

* Frank Rodriguez threw 115 pitches in 5.1 innings 

* Chavis had the most adventurous series in first baseman history

* 0 Stolen bases / 50 runs scored - not your father’s game

* Yankees were bullying the Red Sox

* Porcello looks like the most hittable former Cy Young winner in baseball history - no movement on his fast ball and a flat “hit me” slider

* The top of the 7th inning took 26 minutes on Sunday

2. Combined draft positions of QB and primary wide receiver in the Patriots last two Super Bowl championships

* Vs. Rams…….Brady and Edelman = 435 / Goff and Woods = 42

* Vs. Falcons - Brady and Edelman = 435 / Ryan and Julio Jones = 9

3. Jackie Bradley is an international star:

* In United States this year……….211 average

* Out of United States this year…444 average

4. Edelman documentary on Showtime

* A reminder for every coach with a stopwatch - can’t measure heart

* His father stole the show (great scene with father play piano)

* A justification for every parent that “guided” and made their child better (thanks Boots)

5. After Red Auerbach compromised on Larry Bird’s rookie contract - Bob Wolfe came back in and wanted to add a bonus for making the All Star team. Red flipped out and ripped up the contract and yelled “I’m going to pay him this much money - he better make the All Star team!” Bryce Harper and Manny Machado paid $650,000,000 and they didn’t make All Stars this year

6. Hats off to women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe - she wouldn’t play for my team - but she has come up big with ton’s of pressure on her - 5 goals 

7. Old School - From ESPN - Sunday was the first time the Red Sox hit three home runs in the first home runs since 1979 - Lynn, Yaz and Fisk

8. Amazing Stat - From MLB Network - In Juan Marichael’s first game as a rookie he retired the first 19 hitters he faced on his way to a one hit / 12 strikeout 2-0 shutout

9. Just a Little Bit Outside - That wasn’t baseball this weekend but a recreational event - in honor of the terrible baseball - Massachusetts amusement parks:

* Paragon Park - Hull……………………..1905-1984

* Riverside Park - Agawam……………..1870-1999

* Whalom Park - Lunenberg……………1893-2000

* Wonderland - Revere………………….1906-1911

* Lincoln Park - Dartmouth……………..1894-1987

* Pleasure Island - Wakefield………….1959-1969

* Norumbega Park - Newton…………..1897-9963

10. Randomocity

* Victor Hugo Gomez arrested as mastermind (that’s poetic license) of Ortiz shooting - what are Vegas odds - death comes before trial?

* Should the Red Sox let BioFreeze be a sponsor of the series - seeing their greatest hitter is frozen?

* Is it me on does Benintendi look indifferent?

* Colorado Rockie - Charlie Blackmon is hitting an insane .461 at home (59-128)

Connelly’s Top Ten - Red Sox Don’t Seem to Care

1. Red Sox

* Stroman yelling at the Red Sox dugout after just six innings of pitching and getting no response - reminded me of John Wensink embarrassing the North Stars bench

* Interesting to see Porcello stare down Nunez for his below average effort on a ground ball with bases loaded

* A line in the Boston Globe about Mookie Betts not running out ground balls - interesting - Yaz used to get booed for that

* 15 blown saves before the half way mark 

* The top of the sixth inning took 18 minutes for three outs of bad baseball (nappy time)

* 36,495 watch an an over three hour game - ticket, parking, ice cream, hot dog and drink and the team doesn’t care

* Red Sox are eight games out of first place and just got this thing in neutral - glad Varitek didn’t feel that way when A Rod was talking crap to Arroyo 

2. The annual list of median house prices from the towns in were the champions of the E Mass boys lacrosse:

* Winchester…$1.1mm

* Dover………..$1.2mm

* Lincoln………$1.2mm

3. Yastrzemski is the most distinct name in baseball history - its nostalgic to hear announcers say his grandson’s name with the Giants

4. None of the highest paid players from their sport led their team to a championship

* Mike Trout……$36mm

* John Tavares..$16mm

* Steph Curry….$36mm

* Aaron Rogers..$35mm

5. Why kids don’t want to watch baseball - the average game times of University of Michigan in the College World Series - 3:26

6. Officials in the Dominican have determined that Kevin McHale was not trying to clothesline Kurt Rambis

7. Amazing Stat - Ups and Downs of Celtics draft / player acquisition:

* Tremont Waters……5’11”

* Taco Fall……………..7’6”

8. Old School - Officials think fans come to see them - When Ted Williams went 4-5 in the first game of a double header on his way to hitting .406 - the official score keeper stole a hit from him (reminds me of Bird’s 60 point game when ref waved on a Bird three pointer in front of Hawks bench)

9. Just a Little Bit Outside - Gambling and Casino

* Shocked the state didn’t demand that the casino pay for a monorail over the water to Assembly Square train station and parking

* 50,000 people on RT 99 is the most insane thing the state has done - that almost double Fenway and they have the Green Line and multiple sources of egress

* interesting that Theo Epstein has applied for sports gambling at Wrigley Field - bold

10. Randomocity

* Ray Bourque had an estate sale this weekend that included selling used shoes - is he ok?

* You see Louisville pitcher Luke Smith pitch the game of his life against Vanderbilt only to walk off the mound in the 8th f-bombing the other team - then Vanderbilt came out in the 9th and beat him

* Summer is here!

Connelly’s Top Ten - Boston Sports Trending Down

1. Red Sox by month

April…..13-17

May……16-10

June…..12-8

2. NBA Draft - Celtics More Wing Man than any team in NBA history

3. Who’s reputation has fallen faster - Pedroia’s or Brad Stevens?

4. GM Runs:

* Don Sweeny - 4 years……….one conference championship

* Danny Ainge - 16 years……..two conference championships / one championship

* Dave Dombrowski 3 years….one conference championship / one championship

* Bill (19 years)………………..nine conference championships / six championships

5. Talk about getting a pass by a fanbase:

* Celtics championships since 1986 (33 years) - ONE 

* Bruins championships since 1972 (47 years) - ONE (that’s almost half a century)

6. Boston since the Super Bowl

* First line of Bruins decides to not show up for Game 7

* Gronk retires (I will say he comes back)

* Bob Kraft stars in a movie

* Celtics embarrassed by Bucks

* Celtics blow up - Irving and Horford don’t want to be here 

* Ortiz gets shot - which is uglier than a gun shot

* Red Sox left their game in Los Angeles last October

* Sign an oft injured Evoldi after abusing him October

* Celtics lose all three coin tosses in draft

* Danny Ainge has a heart attack

* Boston College Women’s Lacrosse loses again in finals

7. Hit over 100 home runs for three teams

A Rod……………..Seattle 189 / Texas 156 / Yankees 351

Reggie Jackson…Oak 264 / NY 144  / Angels 123

Jim Thome……….Cleveland 337 / Phillies 101 / White Sox 134

Adrian Beltre…….Texas 199 / LA 147 / Seattle / 103

Darrell Evans…….Atlanta 131 / Giants 142 / Detroit 141

8. Old School - Bobby Orr in 74 playoff games:

* 92 points - 1.24 a game

* Points in 55 of them

* Was a PLUS five in a game against Blackhawks

* Had at least three points in 10 games

* Multi-points 26 games

* Had 12 shots in a game against Toronto

* Ten minutes or more of penalty minutes in a game three times

9. Just a Little Bit Outside - Top Comedies of Century

1. Wedding Crashers

2. Hangover

3. Sideways

4. Old School

5. Meet the Parents

6. Superbad

7. Elf

8. Super TrooperS

10. Randomocity

* Don Sweeney Executive of the Year (does that irritate Cam?)

* Could Josh Gordon - at his size - run Gronk’s routes

* Scherzer pitches with a broken nose / Price misses starts because too much video games

* Ortiz not the target - hah - and they missed Clint Hill and hit JFK by mistake

* Great move by Norwood High sports hiring Kristin McDonnell from Braintree to coach boys team