It was a rough night for the locals, as both the Red Sox and Celtics fell to their New York counterparts, despite both having chances to win. The Red Sox fell 6-4to the Yankees at Fenway Park, while the Celtics lost to the Knicks, 104-101 at Madison Square Garden.

Two games in, and the panic-mongers are already out in full force, both in the newspapers, (see Shaughnessy, Dan. Or on second thought, don’t.) and on sports radio.

If you want all the coverage, head to RedSoxLinks.com and CelticsLinks.com. Otherwise, here are the highlights from today:

Five Things We Learned: Aggravating start for Ortiz – Alex Speier has lessons from the Sox’ first loss of 2010.

Big letdown by Red Sox’ arms, gloves – Scott Lauber has the Red Sox strengths letting them down.

Lester hoping to avoid spring blues – Jeff Goldberg has a quick look at traditional early-season struggles, and five things to take away from last night.

Embree begins road back to Boston in Pawtucket – Peter Gobis checks in with the former and future Red Sox lefty reliever, who is working on his consistency with the Paw Sox.

Just a reminder: The Red Sox should keep Victor – Kirk Minihane looks at why the Red Sox should be making a big push to keep Victor Martinez.

Stage set for John Lackey – John Tomase has the new Red Sox righty out to settle a score with the Yankees.

First test for Lackey today – Rich Garven’s Red Sox notebook wraps up a number of other items from last night.

Celtics continue up and down play with loss to Knicks – A. Sherrod Blakely looks at why last night’s loss should be of great concern to the Celtics.

Lack of focus dooms C’s – Jessica Camerato has the Celtics once again beating themselves.

Davis knows his role – Chris Forsberg has Glen Davis looking to provide energy off the bench for the Celtics.

Missing piece to plan – Julian Benbow’s notebook looks at the Celtics being unable to execute their last shot of the game.

Why do C’s ignore Ray Allen? – Blakely’s notebook observes that the Celtics are much better when they get Allen involved.

Alualu’s mettle is proven – Mike Reiss looks at why Cal defensive lineman Tyson Alualu has attracted the Patriots with his toughness, passion and character.

Next injury to face: Chara’s nose is broken – Brendan Hall’s notebook has the Bruins captain set to play through the injury. Dennis Seidenberg, though is out for the season, as is Andrew Ference.

BC Eagles excited about Steve Donahue – Dan Duggan talks to a couple of Boston College players about their new coach.

A couple other items:

Check out Chris Warner’s Q&A With James Madison OLB Arthur Moats, where the prospect notes how his Patriots workout was different from those of others teams.

Who’s on first?! – Boston Radio Watch looks at the new season of baseball coverage on the radio, including the new show “The Baseball Reporters” hosted by Tony Massarotti on 98.5 FM, each weekday from 6-7PM.

There’s also Red Sox Reloaded – Game 2 (NYY 6, @Sox 4) – by Jon Couture.

On the downside today, as previously mentioned, you’ve got columnists like Shaughnessy are already demanding that David Ortiz be taken out of the lineup, even as they emphasize that it is only two games into the season. After a snide paragraph about the “Run Prevention Sox” (yes, title case), Shaughnessy says that “The David Ortiz Dilemma is real.” and that “Ortiz is going to be a thorn in the side of Terry Francona” and “it looks very much like it’s over.” Then he states “It’s not fair to give up on Ortiz based on a couple of games” -which is is? He later refers to “Boston’s immature owners” and whines that “Tom Werner went on NESN’s pregame show last night and twice spanked “journalists’’ who raised questions about the club’s operation.”

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

16 thoughts on “Boston Falls To New York – Twice”

  1. I love the constant shots from the dinosaurs around here (Shaughnessy, Massarotti) at the run prevention model of the Red Sox. I don’t understand something so I choose to make fun of it.

    I am just about completely done with the media around here. I don’t listen to WEEI anymore and there are tons of writers I don’t even read any more. I am going to stick with the national writers who actually have a clue.

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      1. You are right about that Jason, but there are several
        national baseball writers who I like – guys who at least have an open mind when it comes to statistics. Mariotti is not one of them.

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  2. To be far fairer to Shaughnessy than he deserves, it’s not like he represents a marginal viewpoint. Reading through a lot of columns, listening to radio callers, and reading through some messageboards including this one, there are a LOT of folks who, given the choice between the team doing well and the team losing and getting the chance to say “see, I told you so” would probably choose the latter.

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    1. Just remember Seth, radio callers/message board posters/journalists only represent about 1-2% of the general Red Sox fan base. Can’t imagine there are that many folks who are just waiting for this team to falter offensively so they can gloat about it.

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      1. oh, I don’t know if I buy that low a figure Jason. Even using this board as a barometer, judging by the rush to coin derisive nicknames for players just signed, I’d say 10-20% is more like it.

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  3. Oh boy…Tom Werner has REALLY done it now. He dared to challenge the all mighty media about some of their astute observations. Doesn’t he realize that questioning the media and getting on their bad side is the single biggest sin anyone can commit in modern day America?

    Watch your back, Tom.

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  4. Just to bring it back to the Gresh/Zolak experiment, I don’t know if they did themselves any favors by opening yesterday with an hour on BC’s basketball hire.

    Although, let’s be fair – the inability of Boston fans to even tolerate the mention of college sports (BC athletics, the Beanpot, any thing involving a national story) has gotten incredibly old especially with the offenseless Sox and Bruins, the rebuilding Patriots and the enigmatically incompetent Celtics in front of us.

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    1. College = minor leagues. Who really cares about the Paw Sox or the Brockton Rox? Or Northeastern or BU? Sure, it’s fun to go to a game, but it’s not something people would buy a newspaper for, call a radio station about, or watch on TV.

      Besides, even if we all collectively decided to follow college sports like they do elsewhere, which of the 51 colleges in the Boston area do we follow? Harvard, UMASS, BC, BU, Northeastern, MIT, etc. You can’t throw a baseball in Boston without it bouncing off three colleges.

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  5. Yeah run prevention’s looked great so far, gibing up 6.5 per. Good thing the UZR is so high though.

    Ortiz IS done. It’s obvious. It was a bonehead move for Francona to stick with him against a lefty he can’t hit when you’ve got Lowell, who they failed to trade, sitting there with twidling his thumbs. Same as when he refused to pinch hit for Tek the last two years. It deserves to be questioned.

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    1. Yeah run prevention’s looked great so far, gibing up 6.5 per. Good thing the UZR is so high though.

      They’re also facing the best lineup in baseball.

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        1. exactly….is there anything more FOOLISH and MORONIC than making judgements after 2 games of a FREEKING 162 GAME SCHEDULE??……..I also love how Mike Lowell has somehow morphed into Albert Pujols to some people…..it’s the old, “backup quarterback syndrome” where the guy sitting on the bench just has to be SO MUCH BETTER……please

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      1. I don’t read Simmons that much anymore because his act has gotten old for me. However, whenver he pens something Celtics related, I pay attention.

        That was a devastating piece, and probably spot-on.

        I think Ainge allowed the desires of his veteran players–who openly lobbied for Wallace to be signed–get in the way of his better judgment last summer.

        Who knows, maybe he will “turn it on” when the playoffs start, but the likelihood of that happening grows lesser by the day I think.

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