The Red Sox lost to the Athletics 4-2 Wednesday night at Fenway Park. It was their second straight loss, as Oakland took two of the three games in the midweek series. It was a big news afternoon for the team, as a few moves/decisions were made. Kevin Youkilis was put on the 15-day disabled list, and Will Middlebrooks was called up to replace him. Middlebrooks started his first major league game, and collected his first two hits. It was also announced that Aaron Cook was called up from Pawtucket and will pitch Saturday since Josh Beckett is battling tightness in his right lat. Beckett will only miss the one start.
His prospects are good– Nick Cafardo says that this is a prime opportunity for Middlebrooks to showcase his talent.
Will Middlebrooks delivers two hits in debut– John Tomase looks at Middlebrooks’ big league debut.
Middlebrooks arrives in Boston ahead of schedule– Tim Britton says Youkilis’ injury has given Middlebrooks his chance sooner than most people thought.
Sox’ luck going, Gonzo– Scott Lauber has Adrian Gonzalez taking the blame for the loss.
For Adrian Gonzalez, a boiling point, and perhaps some promise– Mike Petraglia has Gonzalez being frustrated after going hitless in his last 17 at bats, but notes Gonzalez has shown he can get out of slumps quickly and make them a thing of the past.
In other news, the Celtics and Hawks are off again today as Game 3 is not until Friday night, and former NFL star linebacker Junior Seau died Wednesday afternoon from a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Bass needs to return to double-digit scoring form– A. Sherrod Blakely says Brandon Bass needs to step up his game to help the Celtics get by the Hawks.
Celtics in great shape … if they focus– Steve Bulpett says the Celtics should win this series as long as they don’t lose their focus.
Celtics bench difference in Game 2– Mark Murphy has the Celtics bench stepping up in Game 2 in the absence of the suspended Rajon Rondo.
Pierce may be one of the highest five– Dan Shaughnessy says Paul Pierce deserves serious consideration for being one of the top-five Celtics players of all-time.
In praise of Tommy Heinsohn– Kirk Minihane looks at the legendary Celtics color commentator for the first two games of the Celtics-Hawks series.
Remembering Junior Seau, Patriot– Chad Finn remembers Junior Seau, who died Wednesday afternoon.
Seau was a transcendent Patriot– Tom E. Curran takes a look at what Seau meant to the Patriots during his time with the team.
In New England Junior Seau was one of a kind, both on and off the field– Christopher Price shares the memories he has from covering Seau.
Another life cut short by an unforgiving game– Ron Borges has how Seau is not the first former NFL player to die at a young age.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
Ron Borges has a lot of balls to write that column considering he has been advocating against the rules changes for 3 years now.
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I don’t envy sports media people today who are trying to find a way to cover the Jr. Seau story. It has to be difficult and uncomfortable from a lot of angles. By all accounts publicly Seau seemed to be a man who loved life, his profession and now retirement as a surfer. Privately there was the car crash call for help, the broken marriage and clearly demons no one publicly knew he was battling. With all of that I thought Dennis and Callahan did an excellent job this morning discussing this topic. They have been on the CTE story for several years now, giving Chris Nurwitzsky and Ted Johnson a large and loud forum as often as they could. Having Dorsey Levins on today to discuss his documentary on CTE, bell ringing and concussions was timely and fascinating. I think it is conversations like the one D&C had today which highlight why sports radio can be a great forum for sports fans. Tomorrow they can go back to discussing whether Rondo is a punk or not, or if Becket is a tough guy or a fraud…but for today the conversation at least on D&C had my daughters asking good questions and interested in something they knew nothing about.
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The only problem I have with the Seau talk this morning is the obvious leap to the conclusion that this all happened because he played football and got hit hard. The truth is we don’t know that — at least not yet. The guy had domestic issues, and perhaps always had them — who’s to know or say? Was it physically related to concussions? Depression from being away from the game? Fallout from taking roids and anything else they feed these players? Could it be that Seau battled depression throughout his life? None of us have those answers right now.
The easy and obvious thing is to turn the whole discussion on a referendum on the NFL and brain injuries. There ought to be at least SOME talk that we don’t have all the facts and perhaps not jumping to the obvious (as inevitable as it might be given the track record) might be prudent…but that’s not how talk radio functions. There has to be an instant judgement, now, and that’s it.
That said, I give Kirk Minihane credit for saying that when “Mutt” dug right into the obvious line that’s going to dominate the discussion on this topic for some time to come.
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What is the minihane reference?
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Minihane was saying on WEEI this morning basically what I posted — that we don’t know for sure the exact details of what happened and it’s easy to jump to conclusions. Mutantsky on the other hand was hellbent on just going off on the brain injuries and other issues of ex players. Granted it’s a discussion worth having, I just think every angle needs to be explored, not just the easiest conclusion to draw.
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