Ex-PawSox in playoff spotlight
A little of this, a little of that …
• The quest for October baseball glory begins Tuesday night when the big-budget New York Yankees host the “nobody expected us to be here” Minnesota Twins in the American League Wild-Card game. The contest will serve as the official kickoff to a postseason tournament that includes 10 teams hailing from east to west and everywhere in-between.
In an effort to look at the Major League Baseball playoffs from another angle besides the fact that the Boston Red Sox are in the field for the second straight year, we thought it would be cool to peruse the rosters of the participating entries and see if there are any players with ties to the Pawtucket Red Sox. Since the Red Sox are chock full of PawSox alums, we’ll turn our attention to everyone else.
This information is currently based on players listed on each team’s active roster as of Monday. The years the player spent with the PawSox are in parentheses.
Jacoby Ellsbury (2007, 2010, 2012) is now in his fourth season with the Yankees and is a career .299 hitter in 134 postseason at-bats. The outfielder has two World Series rings from his time with the Red Sox.
In Minnesota’s dugout, you have 44-year-old pitcher Bartolo Colon (2008). The former Cy Young winner was 35 when he posted a 2.27 ERA in nine starts for Pawtucket.
Outfielder Josh Reddick (2009, 2010, 2011) enjoyed a productive first season with the Houston Astros, the team the Red Sox drew in the Division Series. Traded by Boston after the 2011 season for oft-injured reliever Andrew Bailey, Reddick batted a career-high .314 this season with 13 home runs and 82 RBI.
The Cleveland Indians hope that reliever Andrew Miller (2011, 2012) can repeat his postseason success from a year ago. In his October career, the 32-year-old lefty has a 0.98 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 27.2 innings. The Indians also feature another lefty reliever in Craig Breslow (2006, 2007, 2013, 2014).
Shifting gears to the National League, the Washington Nationals feature reliever Matt Albers (2011) and infielder Stephen Drew (2014), who was activated from the disabled list this past weekend and could be an option depending on how far the East Division champs advance.
If the Chicago Cubs are going to repeat as World Series champs, strong outings on the mound from Jon Lester (2006, 2007) and John Lackey (2011) are imperative.
The World Series perceived favorite, the Los Angeles Dodgers, feature pitchers Josh Fields (2012) and Rich Hill (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015).
• Locally, the Arizona Diamondbacks have enough ties to make them a sentimental favorite – after the Red Sox, of course. Arizona hosts Colorado in Wednesday’s N.L. wild-card game.
The D-backs are managed by former PawSox skipper Torey Lovullo and feature St. Raphael alum Chris Iannetta. Playing out of a two-catcher platoon system seemed to agree with the 34-year-old Iannetta, who batted .254 in 89 games with 17 homers and posted the second highest OPS in his 12-year career (.865).
In the Arizona front office, you have Central Falls native Roland Hemond, who holds the title of Special Assistant to the President & CEO.
• Cumberland native Julia Dempsey did not garner her third straight Northeast-10 Women’s Cross Country Rookie of the Week honor. That’s because the Merrimack College team was idle.
In the two weeks leading up to the break from competition, Dempsey put her best foot forward en route to distinguishing herself as a freshman for the Warriors.
On Sept. 23, she led her team individually for the third week in a row to help Merrimack finish third at the Codfish Bowl at Franklin Park. Dempsey was the fourth-fastest colle- gian in that race and the fastest NE10 freshman runner on the course. The rookie finished sixth with a time of 19:50.
Dempsey’s first weekly conference honor came after she propelled Merrimack to a second-place finish at the Bowdoin Invitational on Sept 16. She trimmed over 30 seconds off her time from the first race of the season, as she once again led the Warriors with a third-place finish. The former Clipper posted a time of 19:18.6 seconds, averaging just over a six-minute mile.
“I am so delighted for Julia and her transition into collegiate running,” said Cumberland coach Nessa Molloy. “As always, she’s determined to be the best runner she can be for herself and the team. I’m excited to follow her over the next four years.”
• Former Friar basketball standout and current radio analyst Joe Hassett recalled former PC teammate Bill Eason with great fondness. Eason, who scored 1,159 points in his four seasons with the Friars (1975-78), passed away last week.
“Billy always seemed to have his biggest moments against the better teams. The teams that were okay, you wouldn’t notice him out there. But in the big games, he had a knack for getting a big rebound or making a big shot,” Hassett said. “He was a unique player in that he was 6-5 but he played like he was 6-9. He was blessed with long arms and great leaping ability.
“He was a highly-recruited guy and it came down to two schools, PC and North Carolina. When Dean Smith wants you, you usually go there. That’s how big PC was back then as far as a destination for players,” Hassett added. “How ironic is that he hits the gamewinning shot against North Carolina in the Blizzard of ’78 game?
“He was a fun guy to be around, especially when were at alumni events. It’s really sad.”
• Something appeared up when the PC basketball Twitter feed (@PCFriarsmbb) posted pictures of the team-building exercises that were done recently with The Program LLC and there was no sight of senior forward Emmitt Holt. On Monday, head coach Ed Cooley announced that Holt has been dealing with abdominal issues. It has not been determined how long Holt will be out of the lineup.
“We are monitoring Emmitt’s progress and we expect him to make a full recovery,” Cooley said. “Emmitt is one of our team’s most consistent and experienced players, but more importantly, he is an outstanding person. We look forward to his return.”
Last season, Holt was second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (5.4).
• Lincoln’s Allie Fish is enjoying a productive sophomore season as a defensive specialist for the Framingham State women’s volleyball team. She currently ranks third on the team in aces (18), fourth in aces per set (.34), and fourth in digs (86).
• Former St. Raphael basketball standout Antone Gray was inducted into the Rhode Island College Athletic Hall of Fame this past weekend. The guard was a three-time all-conference selection before graduating from RIC in 2014. Gray is entering his third season as an assistant basketball coach at the University of Maine.
• Rick Pitino lost sight of the details, pure and simple. Had his moral compass not gone awry, he would still be coaching the Louisville men’s basketball team. In Pitino’s case, his proclaimed lack of knowing what was going on in his program led to a train wreck that presumably ended his coaching career and tainted his reputation.