SZ670

BY JIM DAWSON

OCTOBER 2, 2017

IT’S IN THE NUMBERS

The Red Sox wound up with a 93-69 record which matched last year’s and produced the same result – the AL East championship. For manager John Farrell, it was a record since he led the team to consecutive titles, and was also his 3^rd overall AL East championship, another record. You have to give him credit, whatever you think of his managerial skills.

Here are some other numbers – 42, 20, 33 and 33. Those are the number of points that the Patriots ‘Defense’ has given up in its first 4 games. And those 33 by Houston were with 22 year old rookie QB Deshaun Watson playing only his second full game. And those 33 by Carolina were with QB Cam Newton being eased back after off season surgery on his right (passing) shoulder. Both Houston and Carolina had had trouble scoring points until they met up with the porous Patriots D.

Other numbers: the Red Sox are 45-36 on the road as they head to Houston for that best of 5. Per the Globe’s Nick Cafardo (10/1), the Astros aren’t good at throwing out base runners (6^th worst in MLB). Cafardo also notes that Houston is 21-23 against left handed starters. Oh and don’t forget that incredible stat that the BoSox have gone 15-3 in extra inning games. Go Red Sox!
Finally there are these numbers to consider: 27, 36, 36 and 30. Those are the points that the Patriots offense has scored in its first four games with Tom Brady at the helm. That should have been good enough to be at least 3-1. NE is 2-2 (see above ‘D’ numbers).

The Patriots have now lost 2 home games, a rarity, with 5 left at Gillette. They have to play Atlanta and the suddenly improved Buffalo Bills (defensively). The Jets and Miami always get up sky high for games against NE. Right now the Pats look like a wounded animal. They have a short week before meeting the improving Buccaneers in Tampa. The Buccaneers are 2-1 (9-7 last year) and feature a QB, Jameis Winston, who’ll run (4 carries for 12 yards vs the Giants). Watson and Newton hurt NE with their running.

This is the worst NE defense, especially against the pass, that I’ve seen in a long time. Fozzy Whittaker takes a 28-yard screen pass to the House with nary a Pat in sight. Kelvin Benjamin gets loose for 43 yards - wide open. Devin Funchess (7 catches for 70 yards and 2 TDs) has a field day.

The Patriots had another unusual stat – they had 7 penalties (for 55 yards) to 1 for Carolina. Six of those penalties were in the 2^nd half, all on the defense. The two on CB Stephon Gilmore were killers. The first one wiped out a 3^rd and 8 stop and led to Funchess’ 16-yard TD. The second nullified a 3^rd down 11-yard sack by Dietrich Wise, Jr. The Panthers were able to move down the field and kick the winning FG. On at least one of those ‘illegal use of the hands’ calls, I saw nothing.

Two other penalties hurt as Jonathan Jones was called for ‘interfering with opportunity to catch’ on a punt (15 yards) and Trey Flowers’ defensive offside. The drive led to Cam Newton’s 7-yard stroll into the end zone. Don’t know who the ‘spy’ was that needed to keep Cam in check (8 carries, 44 yards), but he was invisible.

Gilmore was actually pulled for Eric Rowe, but he injured himself and Gilmore had to come back in. Defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer and safeties coach Steve Belichick are all on the hot seat. This team won’t win the AFC East unless that secondary plays much, much, better.

BULLETS • Dr. Ann McKee of BU has done a study of athletes with CTE and non-athletes with Alzheimer’s. She found that those with CTE had an elevated protein called CCL 11. It may mean that living athletes could be tested for CTE, the NFL’s worst nightmare.
E-MAIL That's pretty easy. Jimmy Page, who formed Led Zeppelin (who were originally known as the New Yardbirds). As you know, the Yardbirds also once had Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck in their lineups. I actually play "For Your Love", supposedly the song that drove Clapton from the band. Glenn Dewell Glenn, yes you are right - it's Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin. And you knew that they were called the New Yardbirds early on. - Z

Jimmy Page - in a recent interview Dave Davies said Page did not play on "You Really Got Me"- that he (Davies) provided guitar work. Ken Forestal

THE HOT CLUB

Dr. John offered up this quote: “Life is what happens while you’re planning something else.” John said the speaker was John Lennon.

Britt was wearing a Benny’s T shirt on Friday. Charlie Clancy applauded her and I did as well.

Katie suggested that I catch The Sinner which is on the USA network. I mentioned Room 104 which is on HBO.

Rare Earth was talking about the Jackson’s Victory Tour. So I mentioned that Chuck Sullivan, Billy’s son, bankrolled that tour and lost so much money (he guaranteed $) that the Patriots had to be sold. Then I noted that St. Ray’s classmate Frank J. Russo was supposed to do the tour and had an agreement but the Jacksons backed out. Don’t know if Frank J made any money suing them. Recently Frank J was in town for the Slater Park Memorial to the 21 Pawtucket veterans who died in Vietnam. I asked him if he still had any music clients – just one - Andrea Bocelli.

LAST ISSUE’S QUIZ ANSWER

Last time I asked, “This guitarist was a much sought after session man. He played on hits by the Kinks (You Really Got Me), the Who (I Can’t Explain), and Tom Jones (It’s Not Unusual). He then formed a hard rock super group of the ’70’s. Who is the guitarist and what band was it?” The answer as Glenn Dewell and Ken Forestal knew – Jimmy Page who formed Led Zeppelin. According to Wikipedia, the New Yardbirds were formed after the original band folded but still had tour dates. After the tour, Page wanted to form a supergroup with Jeff Beck, Keith Moon and John Entwistle. Supposedly Moon and Entwistle said a band with Beck and Page would go down like a lead balloon. The band manager Peter Grant changed balloon to zeppelin and ‘lead’ became led.

THIS ISSUE’S QUIZ

This week’s question is a mix of music and sports. This Boston Red Sox fixture for many years was not a player or front office man but excelled at his job as he was with the team for 26 years. He also received a co-writing credit on a song that was a big enough hit that it was released a second time. In fact, he got half the royalties for the song and all the publishing rights. Who was this man, what job did he have and what song was involved?