The Patriots finished up their preseason schedule with a 6-3 loss to the Giants Wednesday night. No Patriot starters on offense or defense played with the exception of Sebastian Vollmer who made his preseason debut and only played 2.5 series. There was very little offense as the two teams combined for 18 punts. Now all that is left to do is finalize the 53-man roster, which needs to be done by Friday, and then all attention turns toward the season opener Sept. 9 at Tennessee.

On Mallett, the jury is still out– Greg A. Bedard looks at the preseason and where things stand for Ryan Mallett.

Sebastian Vollmer boots O-Line– Jeff Howe looks at Vollmer’s return to game action and a few other key players who made impacts Wednesday night.

Could Koppen get axed in final cuts?– Mike Reiss looks at the center position competition and wonders whether longtime Patriot Dan Koppen could be cut.

What we learned Wednesday: Ready for the real thing– Christopher Price has ten things that were learned following the preseason finale.

Pats players prepare for news on future– Tom E. Curran looks at a few players who are on the bubble for the cuts to get down to the 53-man roster.

Wednesday night wasn’t the debut Zach Stewart was looking for with the Red Sox. The right-hander allowed nine runs on ten hits in just three inning of work in the Red Sox’ 10-3 loss to the Angels. Stewart was part of the trade that sent Kevin Youkilis to Chicago. The Red Sox are now seven games under .500 at 62-69.

Dustin Pedroia clears the air while declaring the best is yet to come– Rob Bradford sits down with Dustin Pedroia touching on a number of subjects including the meeting in New York, Johnny Peskey’s funeral, his comments about Valentine early in the year and the infamous picture message. Good for Pedroia to take some accountability unlike most of his teammates and Felger can finally shut up about no one asking Pedroia about the picture. I bet he never imagined Bradford would be the first one to ask about it.

Theo Epstein’s clean getaway irks Red Sox owners– Dan Shaughnessy says Theo Epstein deserves more of the blame for the mess the Red Sox had this season. He tried to get responses from ownership and got responses like, “I can’t believe you are asking that seriously, Dan. Anything we would comment to you would be distorted.’’ Do you think he is liked among Red Sox owners?

This Top 10 not worth any replays– John Tomase looks at the top 10 losses for the Red Sox this season.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

16 thoughts on “Patriots wrap up preseason, Red Sox stumble again”

  2. Peter Gammons is an embarrassment in his old age.
    Felger took him to the woodshed and exposed the hall of famer for the fraud that he is now.
    When all other media members in this town continue to ball wash Gammons leave it to Felger once again to be the lone voice who says the obvious.
    Gammons is a tool and a fraud who is owned by the Sox.

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    2. So past performance earns him a pass, and no criticism should be given? Bill Belichicks past is glorious yet you always remind us of how bad he has been (in your mind) at assessing talent.

      Double Standard?

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      1. As I asked yesterday, was Gammons ever thrown off the beat and his employer threatened with a lawsuit by the team he was covering?

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        1. I think Felger’s past is irrelevant to this conversation. I like Peter Gammons…always have. He was one of my first must reads (Bob Ryan was the other one… boy has the Globe fallen…another story for another day). However as I pointed out yesterday…it was not that he was being bullied by Felger…it was that he was incoherent. I think by the end of the interview Felger understood it and his demeanor changed. I think Felger and Mazz have great respect for Gammons. I think Felger had no problem going after the Hall of Fame writer that was Peter Gammons, expecting a fight and getting one. However the interview yesterday was not a fight…it was a man rambling incoherently, unable to focus on the questions asked or stay on topic. Toward the end Gammons tried to answer one of Felgers questions and just did not have the faculties to do so. It was a “senior moment” unfolding on live radio. It ended with Gammons saying…Mike I would like to get together with you and take you to dinner where we can argue more. Felger uncomfortably said…probably better to do that in a bar. I think at that moment Felger knew that the guy he was arguing with was not the old HOF baseball writer that everyone respected..rather it was a man suffering from diminished capacity and getting by on reputation. It was incredibly painful to listen to and I hope 98.5 pulls the plug on any more Gammon’s appearances.

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          2. All joking aside Whitey…I am not sure. I wonder if there is a contract. If not I wonder if having the ESPN veteran affiliated with the station and its Baseball analysis gives them a perceived credibility that the decision to have him on was and is made above Felger’s head. Or maybe Peter has been fading some recently but this is the first time it has manifested itself so blatantly on the air. I don’t know the answer and all of the above is rabid speculation. I just know that I have great respect for Gammons and that interview was more painful than listening to Gino Capelletti calling the Pats games at the end of last year.

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          3. Whoa, there, LTD… I feel your ‘pain’ listening to Gammo, but you don’t throw a distinguished elder with a lifetime of stories and game analysis under the bus, based on one or two blithering rambles. The sample is way to smal. Besides, I am fairly sure I was up to double figures in blithering rambles before I was out of my thirties (LOL).
            More to the point, it is just common for guys in his age group to have cognitive off days, or to look ‘as if’ they are in significant cognitive decline because they are tired or are running a quart low on coffee. Or just because they are having a slow processing day and are under bombardment by a Mighty Mouth — quite similar to the preference of some elders for back road travel over whizzing highways, even those who remain sharp as a tack generally. The off day effect is at least as likely to occur now and then in someone with his past history of a major brain bleed.
            These concerns are self clarifying, but I would hope Felger would dial back the volume for now, and the rest of us wait for a larger sample size on Gammo’s commentary skills.

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          5. Good line (LOL) — and a good insight for real, wb. That style of over the top, blame-happy rant hits a soft spoken talker as something jarring and foreign. For an older guy like Gammo especially, it requires a second or two delay for “decoding” before it is fully absorbed. So yeah, the douchiness literally makes it hard to keep up in real time. On top of that, It must be a little disorienting for to know you are on the air live with this shameless total tool. .

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          6. Most of these things are programming decisions done by a producer, not host. I don’t have an org/flow chart, usually a producer is the person booking these/maintaining them/allocating resources. The hosts, I would assume, have input and influence here.

            Between how bad his interviews are, and him not taking them seriously, and the phone quality, I don’t know why they don’t move on to a Ken Rosenthal or someone else.

            It’s so close to the end of the year, one would think they would just do the interviews until the end, along with one or two after the season, and then find someone else for next season.

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  3. If you listened to that interview yesterday and think Gammons came away looking good, you’re a buffoon. We get it, a lot of people dislike Felger. He yelled at Gammons because he comes on Felger and Mazz every Wednesday and says, “you’re not in the clubhouse so how would you know?” Felger called him out and he couldn’t even form a coherent response. It was hard to listen to.

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