Doc Rivers, the one coach in Boston’s four major sports who you thought would never do you wrong, who always drew up the right play with five seconds on the clock and could smile his way through a sound bite on anything, appears to be headed out — to Los Angeles, of all places. He wants to coach the Clippers, apparently, which is reason enough to suspect some sort of undiagnosed head injury. But the bigger point is, he doesn’t want to coach your Celtics anymore. And you say, good riddance.

When news of Rivers’ possible departure broke last week, Celtics fans invariably reacted with dismay. There was a legitimate case to be made that Rivers was the most popular coach of a pro team in Boston. Bill Belichick‘s stonewalling rubs a lot of fans the wrong way. Claude Julien still has his detractors, even as he has positioned the Bruins to contend for their second Stanley Cup in three years. John Farrell hasn’t been around long enough to have a fair referendum. Aside from Jerry York, it was tough to think of a bench boss more unconditionally beloved than ol’ Doc.

No more. The fan reaction has swiftly evolved to annoyance with the whole concept of Rivers working his way out of town and trying to negotiate the conditions of the deal to boot. By the time a deal is likely struck, many of you will say: “So long, and thanks for the championship, Doc. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

But that would be foolish, because there is still reason to hope Rivers does not leave. Hint: He wears No. 34.

Granted, any such hope at this point is probably in vain. Rivers seems ready to go, and bring Kevin Garnett along with him. Forgotten in the disgust over the Rivers saga, though, is that Boston cannot simply cut ties with Rivers and be done with him. If Rivers goes, Garnett goes, and if Garnett goes, Paul Pierce could go as well. Honestly, that would only be fair to Pierce. There is no use keeping a 35-year-old forward around on a team that clearly would not be capable of winning a championship in 2014. We already know Pierce and Garnett make their decisions more or less together. If you don’t want to see Pierce playing in a different uniform next season — and we suspect most of you don’t — you must be closing your eyes, crossing your fingers and praying this whole thing just goes away.

Despite conflicting rumors, we choose to believe the inimitable Steve Bulpett, who says Rivers and the Celtics could resolve their differences if a Clippers deal cannot be worked out. That seems like a long shot, but if you have any attachment to Garnett, Pierce or the era they represent, you must be doubling down on that long shot. This thing won’t end just because Rivers takes off for L.A. No, that would only be the beginning.

Listen, you’re not happy. We understand. Where you once praised Rivers, now you are more likely to spit at his mention. But do not expect to kick Rivers off Causeway Street, tug on your No. 5 Celtics jersey and go root for Vinny Del Negro or whoever it may be lead your beloved Celts to another deep playoff run next year. It won’t happen. Things will look mighty different beyond just a new face on the bench.

If that is what you desire, so be it. If not, beware of throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

The 59-year-old was hired as Manchester City’s manager Friday. His first official day on the job is June 24, but he’s already hard at work trying to fix what’s broken at City and ensure that his achievements surpass those of his predecessor, Roberto Mancini. Should he hit his targets and those of the club, the man known as the “engineer” will have built a legacy as one of the greatest soccer coaches of his era.

Pellegrini is almost universally admired by players he has coached over the last 25 years. His resume boasts numerous instances of success which he achieved both in South America and Spain. His sterling reputation in Europe was forged over the last nine years, as he took unfancied Villareal and, most recently, Malaga deep into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League. Neither club will ever be the same now that Pellegrini has passed through, and the feelings are mutual, according to the BBC.

“I’m not leaving because of financial ambition, but because of a project that will let me feel fulfilled,” Pellegrini said in May after announcing his Malaga departure. “On Sunday, I will take charge of my last match at the Rosaleda, Everyone has the right to follow their own path.

“My coaching staff and I have separated from Malaga but our union with this city will be eternal.”

Pellegrini’s fine work at Malaga (between November 2010 and last month) convinced the City hierarchy that he was the best man to take the club forward, but he only went there in the first place after a failed, one-year spell at Real Madrid. The Spanish giant hired him on June 2, 2009 — one day after Florentino Perez assumed the club’s presidency and embarked on a second “galacticos” period. Within three months, Pellegrini would fall out with Perez over transfers, but that didn’t stop him from guiding Real Madrid to a then club record 96 points in La Liga. The exceptional league campaign was muted by a runner-up finish to Barcelona, and a Round-of-16 Champions League exit sealed Pellegrini’s fate. Real Madrid fired him after the season, replacing him with Jose Mourinho.

Pellegrini comes to City with a reputation as a Champions League specialist. In 2006, he took one modest club (Villareal) to the semifinals of Europe’s elite club competition and came within two minutes of doing it again in 2012-13 (Malaga). His three-year contract with City gives him little time to stutter, but he should be successful if he applies the methods that saw Real Madrid rack up a record points tally. A league campaign in the mold of 2009-10, coupled with Champions League elimination in the Round of 16 would be more than enough to merit a second season, and Pellegrini’s teams are known to grow significantly in Year 2.

The factors Pellegrini needs to flourish at City are already in place. He seems to be marching lockstep with City CEO Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain. The three held a number of strategy meetings before Pellegrini’s hiring was announced. City also secured the signatures of two of the new manager’s transfer targets, Fernandinho and Jesus Navas, for a combined £46 million ($72.2 million). An additional £90 million ($141 million) worth of reinforcements could be on the way in the form of Isco, Pepe and Edinson Cavani.

If there is or will be early friction between Pellegrini and his bosses, there are no early signs. The incoming manager chose the City project after speaking to Chelsa, PSG and an unnamed Russian club. City has considered top managers from England, Europe and beyond in its search for Mancini’s successor. Yet, Pellegrini’s commitment to integrating the best players from the club’s youth academy into the first team might have given him the edge over other candidates and sealed the union with City.

“Manuel is a hugely experienced and successful manager with a proven track record,” chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said. “We have been greatly impressed throughout the selection process by his philosophy, his attitude and his commitment to the long-term development of Manchester City. I am delighted that he has joined us.”

Pellegrini’s managerial style should be a refreshing change for City’s players. Mancini’s prickly personality cost him the support of many City stars as well as the favor of his bosses. Their collective determination to take City forward in the early days of Pellegrini’s tenure will undoubtedly be higher than it was during the last days of Mancini’s reign, now that managerial uncertainty is no longer an issue.

On April 6, Pellegrini showed a herculean level of selflessness when he led Malaga in a league game against Real Sociedad. His father died earlier that day, but he did his job and only informed his players of his father’s passing after the postgame news conference. The gesture resonated in the Malaga dressing room, cementing the bond between Pellegrini and his players.

“He will be with us tomorrow and we will try everything to advance for him,” defender Martin Demichelis said of Malaga’s Champions League quarterfinal game against Borussia Dortmund, which followed the loss to Real Sociedad.

“We would like to win this one for him. First our coach did not tell us about his father passing away, that shows his greatness.”

Perhaps Demichelis delivered his assessment in such a matter-of-fact manner because his manager’s grace didn’t surprise him. After all, Pellegrini led Malaga to European qualification (for 2013-14) while a cloud of uncertainty lingered over the team. Malaga’s owners withdrew funding for the team and failed to pay players, coaches and other staff for large swaths of the campaign.

Should Pellegrini’s personality rub City’s players like it did Malaga’s, getting them to play how he wants them to should not be a problem. Pellegrini’s teams are usually well-organized, intelligent and play with purpose. They strike a delicate balance between attack and defense, which makes them hard to beat on an off day and frightening when everything clicks. Technical players like David Silva, Samir Nasri and Carlos Tevez tend to flourish in Pellegrini’s system, so the trio could enjoy resurgent campaigns next season. City’s squad is teeming with quality and more is on the way. With Manchester United and Chelsea in a period of upheaval and Arsenal trying to close the gap, City is perfectly poised to wrest domestic dominance away from United in 2013-14.

Mancini led City to FA Cup and Premier League glory in his three-and-a-half years in charge. Although he ended the club’s decades-long wait for a major trophy, there remains a sense that City underachieved with the Italian in charge. This feeling was merely crystallized by City’s repeated Champions League stumbles.

Pellegrini arrives at the Etihad Stadium on a mission to put City on sound footing in the Champions League. The key to success could lie in the one blemish on his resume. While many point to that season as a failure, Real Madrid’s league campaign — the work the team does on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis — suggests something far different.

Pellegrini wasn’t fired because he didn’t or couldn’t do the job of managing one of soccer’s elite clubs. He was fired for political reasons, as Perez was determined to hire a “galactico” manager to lead the players the club bought on his watch. Whatever went wrong between Pellegrini and Perez — the two reportedly stopped speaking in August 2009, nine months before Pellegrini was fired — shouldn’t rear its ugly head again at City. If that remains the case, Pellegrini will almost certainly win his first major trophy in Europe and find the “fulfillment” he seeks. The matter of hitting City’s target of five trophies in five years should be a mere formality.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Photo via Facebook/Manuel Pellegrini

David Ortiz

Ortiz, a five-time participant and winner of the 2010 Home Run Derby, told WEEI.com recently that he won’t partake in this year’s competition if he’s asked by American League captain Robinson Cano. While Ortiz continues to be one of baseball’s most prolific sluggers, everyone should be encouraged by his decision.

Ortiz’s reasoning for skipping out on this year’s long ball contest is simple and extremely reasonable. As the 37-year-old put it, “You have to be young with a lot of energy.” Ortiz, who leads the Red Sox with 14 dingers this season, appears to have plenty of energy while mashing balls all over the place, but a home run hitting contest is obviously a whole other beast. It does require a great deal of physical effort, particularly in the later rounds, so opting for additional rest isn’t just the logical move; it’s the right move.

It’s the right move for Ortiz. It’s the right move for the Red Sox. And it’s even the right move for Major League Baseball.

Ortiz has never been a victim of the “Home Run Derby curse” — or whatever you want to label it. The competition hasn’t hindered his second-half performance in the past, so a drop-off if he participated this time around would be the exception rather than the norm. That doesn’t mean it isn’t possible, though, especially since we’re talking about a guy who missed the tail end of last season and the beginning of this season with a leg injury and who has consistently stated this year that his swing still isn’t exactly where he wants it to be.

Ortiz is an extremely important component of the Red Sox’ offense, so while Boston fans may love watching Big Papi jack moon shot after moon shot on the national stage in the middle of the summer, they mustn’t lose sight of what’s really important — the Red Sox’ sustained success. Ortiz and Co. are more likely to achieve that success with a clean bill of health, and Ortiz participating in the Home Run Derby only adds risk for what essentially amounts to a meaningless, temporary high.

And besides, do baseball fans really want to see Ortiz participate in the Home Run Derby for a sixth time? Sure, he’s exciting to watch and can hit home runs with the best of them, but shouldn’t we desire something new, especially if he doesn’t have the energy that he used to? Ortiz would be nice, but younger AL players like Chris Davis, Yoenis Cespedes and Mark Trumbo (who competed last year) have tremendous power and could offer some freshness to the competition.

So, as Ortiz supposedly closes the book on his Home Run Derby career, we should all support the decision. His participation in the annual event was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.

Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle or send it here.

The B’s have also relied upon a group of top-tier players to maintain consistency and keep the Black and Gold motor running. Tyler Seguin hasn’t really fit into either crowd in the 2013 postseason, but he’s about to, if the Bruins want to win the Stanley Cup.

Seguin was relegated to the third line earlier this postseason, with many media members and sports talk radio callers calling for him to be buried even further — perhaps even scratched. The winger hasn’t done much to argue against these armchair ideas, as he’s registered one goal and four assists in 17 playoff games after getting 16 goals and 16 assists in 48 regular-season games. He’s one of just three Bruins regulars to be in the red when it comes to plus-minus, as his minus-2 only beats out Rich Peverley (minus-6) and Chris Kelly (minus-9).

Those aren’t the numbers of a former first-rounder making 5.7 million smackers. And while he’s already been working in a new role this postseason, he could be looking at yet another one come Saturday night.

After Nathan Horton left the first overtime with what appeared to be re-aggravation to an existing upper-body injury, Seguin was asked to jump into the league’s hottest line, joining the postseason’s best player in David Krejci and the NHL’s most feared player in Milan Lucic. Needless to say, it was quite the promotion — a promotion wasted if he continues to play sub-par puck.

As hot as Krejci is, Horton has been just as terrific. He trails Krejci, the NHL’s points leader, by five points with seven goals and 11 assists, but he leads the league with a plus-22 in this Cup run. Trying to replace Horty’s offense is one thing, but keeping up with the Krejci and Lucic to make the loss of Horton less dramatic is an even bigger thing — but that’s not to say it wouldn’t be a great thing for Seguin to break out and sprinkle some 19s on the scoresheet.

Seguin leads the team in shots this postseason with 62, so the chances have been there.

“He’s been skating well,” head coach Claude Julien said on Thursday. “To me right now, the only thing he needs to do is to be able to finish. If he can finish, it will certainly help his confidence, help our hockey club. But not criticizing his work ethic because he’s competing hard and he’s got some chances. Those things are certainly a positive thing. So there’s only one thing left to do, and you hope for his sake and our sake that it comes along.”

Even if Horton does return, he won’t be the same player he was. As if they didn’t know before, the Blackhawks now know where to target the top-line winger, making any remaining games he plays pure torture. If he stays in the lineup, it will water down that top line, meaning other lines — namely, Seguin’s — will have to step things up on offense.

“It’d be nice to get some goals,” Seguin told the media prior to Game 1, when he was still a third-line role player. ”When I work my hardest and have fun, that’s when I have my better games. I have to make sure to find the right level of being excited and also staying calm.”

It’s safe to say that level of excitement was enhanced as the thunderous anthem rocked the United Center prior to Game 1. It’s going to grow even more if Seguin takes over Horton’s spot for good from here on out. He even admitted that he needs to improve on two key things: “My battling [and] my competitive level.”

Not that it will be Seguin’s series to lose if he fills in for Horton full-time along Lucic and Krejci, but it will be his butt on the line as he’s already dug himself a deep hole in the hearts and minds of B’s faithful. An offseason full of depressed fans with plenty of ammunition won’t make one of his most important developmental years any easier. Despite his rocky playoffs, an overtime point in Game 1 would gone a country mile for his playoff report card. Just imagine what can happen if Seguin catches fire and blends right into the force that is the Krejci-Lucic combo?

“I thought he was skating really well,” Patrice Bergeron said on Thursday. “Had some great looks, especially in overtime. He had some very good chances. When he’s on his game, when he uses his speed like he did last night, he’s really tough to defend.”

Seguin has been given plenty of opportunity to pick things up and dust off a rather lackluster performance through the Eastern Conference battles, but now that the team is struggling in depth and scoring on hockey’s biggest stage, his production is no longer an added bonus, it’s a necessity.

Related articles

• Tyler Seguin Still Looking to Break Through in Playoffs As Bruins Look for Goal-Scoring Spark to Return (Video) (nesn.com)
• Five Thoughts on Bruins’ Game 1 Loss to Chicago (insidehockey.com)
• Blackhawks win Game 1 in Triple Overtime (wgntv.com)

The mere idea of a hard baseball traveling 90-plus mph toward a human body should be enough to make you say, “You know what? There’s a strong chance this guy ends up feeling some physical pain.” But when a pitch is thrown near someone’s head, the accompanying danger is so great that it often creates a sinking feeling within onlookers. That’s why throwing at someone’s head is nothing to mess around with, and it’s exactly why Ian Kennedy deserves a big punishment following Tuesday’s brawl between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks.

Plunking batters intentionally will remain part of the game. And that’s fine. But Kennedy’s pitch to Zack Greinke in the seventh inning of Tuesday’s heated affair went beyond protecting a teammate or sending a message. It was a dangerous and reckless display of immaturity, and it’s one thing that baseball needs to clamp down on when it comes to in-game fisticuffs.

Tensions were running high at Dodger Stadium. Greinke plunked Cody Ross in the fifth inning, and Kennedy hit Yasiel Puig in the nose — yes, the nose — in the sixth inning. That particular beanball from Kennedy didn’t seem all that intentional, but it laid the groundwork for what was to come. Greinke drilled Miguel Montero in the top of the seventh inning — likely as retribution for the Puig beaning — and Kennedy responded by throwing a ball right at Greinke’s head when the pitcher came to bat in the bottom of the seventh.

Sometimes, you can debate whether a pitcher threw at a hitter on purpose, but there’s no debating Kennedy’s intentions. In fact, it’s pretty clear that Greinke drilled Montero on purpose, too. The difference is that Greinke protected his teammate by hitting Montero where the slugger was unlikely to get hurt. He didn’t go throwing up and in like a mad man — something Kennedy clearly has mastered the art of. Everything should have been over and done with once Montero was hit, the benches cleared for the first time and the fire was extinguished. Instead, Kennedy reignited the flame with his despicable antics, leading to an uglier scene than was necessary.

Kennedy appeared ready for the repercussions, as he sauntered off the mound immediately after tossing the dangerous pitch that struck Greinke high on the shoulder. Now, Major League Baseball should send a message that those repercussions are far greater than an ejection and the six-game suspension that’s typically handed down to pitchers following on-field brawls.

Drilling a batter is one thing. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. Kennedy chose the latter path, and it’s something that shouldn’t be tolerated.

Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle or send it here.

The Americans defeated Panama by a score of 2-0 in front of a raucous crowd in Seattle, Wash., thanks to goals from Jozy Altidore and Eddie Johnson. The resurgent forwards were among those players who came up big, as the U.S. delivered its most complete, effective and entertaining performance of the entire 2014 World Cup qualifying cycle.

The victory put the U.S. atop the CONCACAF hexagonal standings midway through the final round of World Cup qualifying. A few things of note stood out from Tuesday’s game:

Michael Bradley‘s drive and Geoff Cameron‘s athleticism redefined U.S. midfield play. The two center midfielders brought out the best in each other. Bradley, a ball-loving, tempo-dictating type of midfielder, was unleashed by Cameron’s presence. His driving run and pass to Fabian Johnson helped create Altidore’s goal in the first half. It was one of many instances when his influence was felt in the attacking third of the field.

Bradley has played deeper in the midfield — next to Jermaine Jones, who missed the Panama game with a concussion — for much of qualifying. Their classic interchange (Jones stay back when Bradley goes forward and vice-versa) too often fails to link the center midfielders, wingers and forwards together, leaving Altidore and Clint Dempsey wholly dependent on service from the wings.

With Cameron covering lots of ground and destroying Panama’s attacks behind him, “General Bradley” was able to use his quality on the ball and controlled aggression to make plays higher up the field. His passing was near-perfect, as usual, and he popped up in or around Panama’s box to take dangerous shots on a couple of occasions. He makes well-timed runs into the area and gets onto the end of plays better than any other American center midfielder in the modern era. U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann should make the most of this weapon as his team heads toward Brazil.

Cameron replaced Jones on Friday, and his versatility convinced Klinsmann to stick with him against Panama. While he’s a defender by trade, his performance Tuesday brought back memories of his Premier League debut. He played as a holding midfielder one day last August and stifled Arsenal’s attack for 90 minutes, earning “man of the match” honors. Klinsmann wanted the same from Cameron against Panama, according to U.S. Soccer.

“We asked him to win a lot of balls back, cover the two center-backs and have a strong, strong presence in there,” Klinsmann said. “I don’t know how many balls he recovered; he was constantly there. And then we asked him to play it simple, and he did that. We said once you get that ball, then just keep it simple, find Michael Bradley, find Clint [Dempsey], find the players around him and cover our two center-backs. It was a huge performance by Cameron for us.”

U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard praised Cameron’s focus and mobility.

“Awesome performance,” Howard said. “He was strong on the ball, he set up one of the goals, really, really, good. I thought he was dialed in there. It was great to see; he deserved it. He’s easy on the eye the way he moves. He has those long, loping strides and he’s very coordinated. He seems like he’s really calm in that position as well which is pretty awesome. His body language is very calm.”

The Cameron-Bradley axis brought a new dimension to the U.S. attack. By controlling the center of the field, they allowed wingers Fabian and Eddie Johnson to push forward, keeping Panama’s wide players busy with the defensive side of the game. It was no surprise when Johnson and Johnson created and scored goals.

The spotlight was shining on Eddie Johnson at CenturyLink Field, as he shone for his country in the stadium in which his club (Seattle Sounders) plays its home games. I watched him play as a right-sided midfielder-winger in Seattle and couldn’t help but feel a sense of ironic goodwill toward him.

For the first six years of his career, he played as a striker for club and country. In 2008, Fulham paid a reported $6 million to bring him from MLS to Premier League, but he failed to establish himself in England’s top flight — partly because he was often used as a … wait for it … right-sided midfielder-winger. Johnson didn’t adapt well to a new country, position or style of play, and his club and national-team career sputtered for three years.

He returned to MLS in 2012, led Seattle in goals and earned MLS “Comeback Player of the Year” honors. Johnson’s resurgence caught Klinsmann’s eye, and he announced his return to the national team in October by scoring both goals in a 2-1 road win over Antigua and Barbuda. His well-taken goal against Panama merely showed that the rebirth of his career is complete.

Johnson relished playing for his country in front of fans who embraced him as one of their own last year. Seattle fans gave him a huge ovation as he left the field.

“It’s a dream come true,” he said about playing in Seattle. “To play in the U.S. jersey, first of all, is an honor, but to play in front of my fans that I play in front of week in and week out — I couldn’t have asked for a better feeling after the goal tonight.

Johnson wouldn’t have started had Graham Zusi not been suspended (yellow card accumulation). Klinsmann is happy to have the versatile Johnson at his disposal, and he shows it by trusting him at during big games.

“That’s very simple,” Klinsmann said. “Since we try to double our positions and we try to always have somebody behind that is almost as good as the starter. Eddie’s role was if something happens to Graham Zusi or even on the left wing, we can throw him in there even if something up top happens. He has done tremendously and he deserves a huge compliment. Talking about Brad [Evans] before and Eddie, I’m constantly talking to [Soundsers head coach] Sigi [Schmid] here about how they are doing and we kind of have a feeling that we can follow him and help him therefore we were very pleased to have him in such strong shape now.”

Finally, what more can we say about soccer crowds in Seattle? The fact that 53,679 watched the Sounders play the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, but only 35,000 or so tickets to USA-Panama were sold ahead of the game made some question how much of an appetite fans in the Pacific Northwest had for the U.S. Men’s National Team.

Well, 40,847 packed a reduced-capacity CenturyLink Field on Tuesday. They recreated the atmosphere that we’ve come to expect from fans in Seattle. They set the tone with a stunning pregame tifo display which paid homage to U.S. Soccer history. They were engaged in the game from opening whistle and willed the U.S. to victory with a wall of sound. There was an iconic moment in U.S. soccer atmospheres when chants of “We’re going to Brazil” rang out after Johnson’s goal.

This is nothing new for Brad Evans. He sees and hears it all the time when playing for the Sounders.

“It was insane,” he said. “From warm-ups to thanking the fans after the game it was absolutely nuts, but to be expected. It’s nothing new, so not surprising at all.”

Bradley plays his club soccer at the famed Stadio Olimpico in Rome. He was taken aback by the crowd and the atmosphere it created.

“Obviously for me you can’t talk about the game without talking about the crowd — unbelievable,” he said. “The best crowd I’ve played in front of in the United States without a doubt. From all the players, a big thank you to everyone who was here in the city who makes this a special night for us. People should know the difference it makes when you play in an atmosphere like this.”

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team remains a work in progress, but the victory over Panama showed fans what a Klinsmann-led national team looks like when everything clicks. Panama is no pushover, and the Americans will face tougher opponents on the way to and at Brazil. But if they can reproduce that form on a consistent basis, there’s no reason the U.S. can’t make a mark in Brazil … as it did in 1950.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Think about it. Tebow coming to New England is being pitched as the best thing that could happen to him — and it is, if it works out.

Tebow would remain in the position of his choice and learn the art of quarterbacking — from mechanics to the mental game — from one of the best passers and one of the best coaches in the game. He would avoid the over-the-top attention and scrutiny that have not helped him, and he would reboot his career with the only NFL club where it could be imagined his unique game could find a home.

But there’s a flip side to this, and it’s the “if” — if it doesn’t work.

People are pointing to Belichick’s ability to make use of pieces that few others would have touched, from Corey Dillon to Randy Moss. But seeing the situation that way means there’s also judgment when Belichick can’t make use of a player. From Chad Johnson to Albert Haynesworth — and Moss, to an extent, after he was let go — there’s a certain scarlet letter that adorns the players who couldn’t capitalize in a system that is supposed to capitalize on any player’s skill set.

Tebow shouldn’t have been written off after he failed to catch on with the Jets, considering head coach Rex Ryan, owner Woody Johnson and everyone else involved in that situation did precisely what was needed to sabotage Tebow’s potential. Tebow got too much of a knock leaving New York, where he never really could have succeeded. The problem with the Jets was that not only did they misuse Tebow, but they also did it with such bombast that no other team wanted to touch him.

That’s why Tebow’s time with the Patriots is now do or die. When other teams look at scooping up Tebow in the future, it won’t be based on how he develops in Foxboro (unless he turns into a great player overnight with inherent value in that regard). They’ll look back to the Jets tenure and wonder whether they can put up with that. Tebow has signed with the Patriots for two years, but there’s a good chance he won’t make it out of camp. Any questions of whether his career can continue have to consider how teams would feel about him if he were cut at that stage — not just how they’ll feel about him a couple of years down the road.

By saying the Patriots are the one team that can make use of Tebow, everyone is intrinsically saying that if he doesn’t work out here, he won’t work out anywhere. That may not necessarily be true, but it’s far more damning than what people purported after Tebow’s time with the Jets ended, when no one was sure what Tebow could or could not do because New York mangled it all so badly.

“If Belichick couldn’t make use of him, then who can?” will be the reasoning, no matter how true it is, or how unfair it is to Tebow.

Something interesting to note, however, is that the Patriots are approaching Tebow much like Josh McDaniels approached him when he drafted him out of Florida. The Patriots are treating Tebow as a quarterback. They are really treating him like a quarterback, according to reports — no meeting with the running backs or tight ends, no practicing with the return team.

Tebow gets his do-or-die chance at quarterback, the one position where there is plenty of evidence that he will struggle and possibly fail. Whereas Belichick may have been able to save his career at another position — a position other teams likely would have tried — instead, Tebow is set up for the least possible amount of success, and other teams will probably never try him at those other positions now.

The people who say Belichick did this because he always does the opposite of what people think, or that he wants to do the opposite of what people predict, are missing the point. For every time Belichick goes against the grain, or makes a Pro Bowler out of a Mike Vrabel, he puts together good, old-fashioned football. He is a good coach because he does a mix of both. His teams win on fundamentals, and players are required to perform.

Tebow will be asked to do what every other Belichick player ever has: what’s best for the New England Patriots.

By bringing Tebow in under the expectation that Belichick is his last hope, and that he may be able to do something at quarterback, there’s a chance that Tebow can fulfill that goal and help the Patriots.

But there’s also a good chance that, in doing that, Tebow could be playing into the hands of everyone who wants a final, definitive word from the football genius himself that Tebow’s career is over.

Mourinho’s Chelsea return mixes two classic stories. There’s a hint of the parable of the prodigal son (or prodigal “daddy” as far as Michael Essien is concerned) and a heavy dose of rekindled love — the one where two old flames reunite and try to make the second time around better than the first.

The tale of the prodigal son ends with a celebration. Like the father after the return of his long-lost son, Chelsea fans are overjoyed at Mourhino’s second coming. After all, he made Chelsea into a trophy-winning club, and it’s only natural for fans to base their wildest dreams of the Mourinho-led future on past glories. While the tale of the prodigal son ends in celebration, Mourinho’s second stint at Chelsea begins with the welcome-home party.

The larger part of Mourinho’s Chelsea story is more complicated. How often does a rekindled love affair (“the backslide” in layman’s terms) work out in the end? We don’t have the statistics on hand, but the fact that it’s always a big deal when second-time loves actually do work out should serve as the spit in the proverbial punch bowl.

In his first news conference as second-time Chelsea manager, Mourinho was adamant that he wasn’t dumped the first time around. He said he and and owner Roman Abramovich decided to part ways — by mutual consent — back then. Each thought he would be better off without the other. Almost six years have passed, and they now want and need the same thing.

“So it was a difficult decision at that time for both of us, but a decision made by mutual agreement,” Mourinho said. “Only because there was never a break of a relation, it’s possible I’m here today. It wouldn’t be possible being here if we’d had real problems, no relations. I’m back because we feel we are in a moment of my professional life — and in the case of the owner also a moment of his career as an owner — where we are probably in the best moment of our careers, and ready to work together again and with much better conditions this time to succeed and have what this club wants: which is stability.”

Having the same wants and needs is a good starting point in any relationship (new or restored), and it also helps when the timing is right. Mourinho wandered and won from 2008-13. Chelsea rode a carousel of managers as it packed the trophy case during the same period. The self-proclaimed “Happy One” says stops in Italy (Inter Milan) and Spain (Real Madrid) improved him as a manager, but he longed for something more permanent. Chelsea’s tumultuous period also taught Abramovich a valuable lesson. While his club may be able to cycle through managers and keep winning, it will never have an identity — one that fans around the world love, respect and fear — as long as the carousel spins out of control.

Mourinho is back at Chelsea to give it an identity, instilling what he calls “game principles” into the fabric of the club. It is among the loftiest goals a soccer manager can have. Europe’s leading clubs often have distinct styles of play, and the top clubs dress their perennial success in their unique styles. Mourinho’s teams, from Chelsea to Real Madrid, have his imprint: power and aggression, mixed with skill and focus. It won’t be long before Chelsea is playing what I like to call “JoseBall” again.

“It’s the job of the manager not just to focus on what you do when you’re here, but on the legacy and contribution you leave for the future,” Mourinho said. “In this moment, it’s a moment for a different approach. Not losing my nature, which is the nature of the club too — trying to win is not just my nature, but that of the club too — and Mr Abramovich too. I think we are all prepared for a different era with a different profile of team. My fingerprint has to be… a football team without the fingerprint of its manager is never a football team, even if it looks like it is. We want an identity even more present.”

Mourinho’s Chelsea contract runs until 2017, and he spoke of wanting to continue beyond then. If he achieves what he sets out to do, it would be no surprise to see him extend his stay through the end of the decade. That would see his influence at Chelsea effectively stretch from 2004 to 2019 (or beyond) — a reign which would put him in the same company as Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. Their presences defined eras in the history of their respective clubs.

But Mourinho will only join such exalted names if he continues to evolve and improve as a manager. Adventures at Europe’s top clubs helped him do that during his “formative” years. How he develops now that he is back home will determine the course of his second relationship with Abramovich and Chelsea. Mourinho set the standard in his first Chelsea reign. The success he and Chelsea enjoyed during their time apart only raised the expectations of Abramovich, Chelsea fans and Mourinho himself.

Winning the Premier League title is the first step. Mourinho says that could take two seasons. Challenging the likes of Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and FC Barcelona for European supremacy will take longer. Real Madrid couldn’t win that coveted 10th European Cup playing “JoseBall.” Was it bad luck or did Europe’s best figure out how to beat Mourinho? Mourinho also says he must improve Chelsea’s current players, rather than sign new and expensive ones. Working without a blank check and total control (Abramovich advisor Michael Emenalo will keep his job as technical director) of transfers isn’t optimal for Mourinho, but it’s a fact of his new reality.

Mourinho inherits a talented but flawed Chelsea squad. Building it into a title contender will take something more than time. Mourinho must rely on a different set of skills than he did at Chelsea (the first time), Inter and Real Madrid. At those stops, he inherited great squads, signed star players and gave them the last push they needed to get over the finish line and become champions. While his reputation and Abramovich’s money will attract young stars in the future, he won’t have the top players of the present at his disposal when he gets to work.

Mourinho faces different circumstances and new challenges after returning to Chelsea. His and Abramovich’s wants and needs have changed over the years, but they are, in essence, the same people who split back in 2007. That combustible combination caused their relationship to crack as early as a year into Mourinho’s first Chelsea stint. Time will tell how they react when their relationship gets rocky again … and again … and again.

The 50-year-old Mourinho is happy to be home, and he intends to stay for a long time. In order to do so, he must draw strength and energy from the challenge of restoring Chelsea to glory and use it as he walks that long road toward building a legacy. That will only come through continued self improvement. How he will do it in a place where he is comfortable and surrounded by people who love him will be central to his and Chelsea’s future.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

However, though Iglesias has done everything within his power to prove that he deserves the chance to start every day for Boston, the unfortunate truth is the options the team has — Stephen Drew at shortstop and Will Middlebrooks at third base — are better alternatives to help the team win right now.

Before going any further, it needs to be unequivocally stated that Iglesias has done his part, showing significant improvement with the bat to the point that he’s earned regular plate appearances. While his glove is as golden as ever, Iglesias has addressed the one question mark in his game with aplomb, showing that he could not only be a viable bat in the order, but also a plus bat at shortstop – which is something most analysts never would have dreamed possible two years ago.

But that being said, Iglesias has hit so well, it’s almost as if he’s hit too well to believe he’s for real. Indeed, the metrics show that Iglesias is playing way over not only his head, but far above and beyond what any good hitter would be expected to maintain over the long haul. This is not a knock on Iglesias and his improvement at the plate, but, in making the best decisions for the Red Sox going forward, the 23-year-old needs to be judged on what is realistic to expect of him — even by now-higher standards — rather than the outlying performance of a tiny sample size.

In a lot of ways Iglesias’ case is similar to that of Pedro Ciriaco — the man just sent down to the minors Monday so that Iglesias could stay in Boston — a year ago. When Ciriaco first came on the scene, he hit .348 and .322, respectively, his first two months with Boston. However, when looking at the metrics, it was clear that Ciriaco’s performance wasn’t sustainable, and sure enough he regressed to .233 in September and October.

Now, the difference between Iglesias and Ciriaco is approach at the plate — that is to say, Iglesias has a much better approach. While Ciriaco is a total free swinger who will always be exposed when given too much playing time (as evidenced by his grand total of eight walks in 272 plate appearances in 2012), Iglesias has dramatically improved in terms of plate discpline. In fact, if Iglesias had enough at-bats to qualify, his 3.98 pitches seen per plate appearance in 2013 would rank him ahead of plate-discipline notables Nick Swisher, Mike Trout and Lance Berkman.

However, in reconciling Iglesias’ numbers, there’s unfortunately that unsightly BABIP to wrangle with.

To give a short primer on some basic sabermetrics, a hitter’s batting average on balls in play (his batting average discounting all at-bats that ended in a strikeout or home run) will always trend back to .300, no matter who they are. With extremely rare exceptions, hitters with a BABIP over .300 are getting lucky, whereas a BABIP under .300 means some hits are being stolen away.

During the 20 games he played last July, Ciriaco’s BABIP was .414, a clear indication that his level of play at the plate just wasn’t sustainable for him. By contrast, Iglesias’ BABIP is even higher — through the roof, really — at .508 so far in 2013.

In short, not only will Iglesias undoubtedly fall back down to Earth, but he’s likely in for a stark slump in the near future. Of course, Iglesias’ success in the short term and general approach at the plate suggests he’ll be far better than the hitter who looked overmatched in each of his first two big league stints, but he’s also not going to maintain an OPS anywhere near 1.000 for the season.

Of course, decisions are never made in a vacuum, and Iglesias’ impending downturn isn’t really the reason he shouldn’t be starting. In fact, if not for the Monday return of Middlebrooks and presence of Drew, Iglesias would certainly get his shot. But, right now, Middlebrooks and Drew can do more to help the Red Sox win.

While Iglesias did an admirable job filling in for Middlebrooks at third base, and it’s a valid argument that the Middlebrooks wasn’t hitting even before his injury, the 24-year-old has been pretty unlucky, for his part. Middlebrooks owns a BABIP of .237, and while his lack of walks (just seven in 185 plate appearances) doesn’t necessarily bode well going foward, that BABIP suggests a return to form eventually. Moreover, Middlebrooks has power that Iglesias will just never be able to provide — a particularly important tool for a corner infielder.

Drew, meanwhile, has basically been exactly the player the Red Sox thought they were getting. He isn’t as flashy at shortstop as Iglesias, but the difference between their skill there, if any, really is negligible. What’s equally as important is Drew’s superior track record with the bat, and the fact that, after a .154 batting average in April, the 30-year-old has hit .244 and .345, respectively, in the months since, owning a 1.042 OPS in eight games in June. Moreover, Drew’s noted patience at the plate (25 walks in 197 plate appearances) fits right in with the Red Sox’ modus operandi for 2013.

So, the moral here is that baseball, as with life, is often completely unfair. Jose Iglesias has done everything that he can control to show that he deserves a chance to be an everyday shortstop in Major League Baseball, and probably that he can be a darn good one on both sides of the ball.

However, the more relevant question is whether or not Iglesias is the best option the Red Sox have in the here and now. To that query, the answer is still no. Iglesias’ time will undoubtedly come — probably when Drew’s contract expires after this season — but it has not arrived yet.

On Wednesday, Martinez left Wigan  to take the manager’s job at Everton. He told a news conference that it was a “natural transition” for him to move to a bigger club and shoot for bigger targets.

“It’s been a phenomenal time at Wigan, and I enjoyed every second of it, but after four years it was the right time,” Martinez said.

“After I met the chairman, I knew that Everton was the right football club so it has been a natural transition. It’s the right time now to be involved in such an exciting challenge.”

This is a defining moment in Martinez’s managerial career, as he comes to Everton with conflicting aspects to his reputation. He simultaneously guided Wigan to glory in last season’s FA Cup, but he also steered the Lactics into the abyss of relegation from the Premier League. Martinez must reconcile that contradiction and fill the giant void left by former manager (and noted miracle worker) David Moyes. It’s a tall task, but Martinez is adamant that he can step out of Moyes’ footprints and lead Everton to higher heights.

“I feel fortunate that I am able to carry on that work he’s done, Martinez added. “He [Moyes] has given Everton an identity and set incredible standards. I want to be humble enough and hard-working enough to take that magnificent job onto the next level.

“We can carry on looking to achieve more. Finishing in the top six was a magnificent achievement for Everton and we need to carry on building if we want to improve on that.”

Behind closed doors, Martinez told his new boss, chairman Bill Kenwright, what he can deliver.

“Almost Roberto’s first words to me were, ‘I’ll get you in the [UEFA] Champions League’,” Kenwright said. ”That is extraordinary for a man who doesn’t know much about the club from the inside but had obviously studied the club.”

At Wigan, the 39-year-old Martinez forged a reputation as a loyal, hard-working and fiscally prudent manager whose teams play entertaining and expansive soccer. He’s also fiercely driven and has a deep knowledge of the game, which makes this marriage with Everton seem like a perfect fit — at least on the surface. Martinez is young, capable and ambitious manager. In fact, Whelan thinks he’s already one of Europe’s best. Both he and Martinez see Everton as the perfect stepping stone to a job at a top club (either in England or on the continent).

But something seems amiss with Martinez’s move to Goodison Park. It’s hard to pinpoint what it is, but the words “natural transition” and “tailor-made” are at the heart of it.  Taken together, they represent the  contradictions and potential pitfalls in Martinez’s big step. After all, how can something be “natural” and “tailor-made” at the same time?

Moyes transformed the Toffees during his 11 years in charge, earning the everlasting admiration of Evertonians everywhere. He controlled every aspect of the club and worked tirelessly to improve it on a limited budget. Martinez did the same at Wigan, spreading his influence from the first-team’s dressing room down to the youth academy practice sessions. He too had little money at his disposal — less than he’ll receive at Everton. Conventional wisdom says he should transfer his Wigan methods to Everton, and it will all work out. That would be the easiest and worst thing Martinez could do.

Martinez was so powerful at Wigan because of his special relationship with Whelan. Their partnership dates back to 1995 when Whelan signed Martinez as a player, and the two cemented it between 2009-13. Martinez wouldn’t have made such an impact without the unyielding support of the chairman, especially during the annual relegation battles and other crises. Martinez must create a similar manager-chairman dynamic with Kenwright at Everton if he expects to amass and wield the same amount of power and influence.

Doing so won’t be easy, as no two relationships are exactly the same. Kenwright is the boss, but Everton is a bigger club and there are other influential parties at the club whose interests he must also serve. These include higher-caliber (compared to Wigan) players, many of whom represent their countries, and fans who have higher expectations than those at Wigan do. Martinez walks into a different political situation than the one he left, and any missteps in this regard can have lasting negative consequences. Should Martinez’s Everton struggle or lurch toward crisis, there’s no guarantee that Kenwright will back him like Whelan did.

Martinez signed a four-year contract with Everton, but there’s a chance the club could be sold before 2017. Kenwright has been searching for potential buyers or investors for years. Should one come in and complete a full takeover of Everton, Martinez’s perfect stepping stone will lose the solid ground on which it currently stands.

It’s more likely that on-field events will determine Martinez’s fate at Everton. This is where the contradiction between natural and tailor-made is evident once again. Moyes’ Everton teams attacked with style, but they were built on a foundation of defensive solidity. Martinez must choose how much defensive rigidity he is willing to sacrifice in exchange for greater fluidity in attack. The stakes are higher at Everton, as small details are often the difference between wins, losses and draws at higher levels.

Tradeoffs like those extend to the expectations Martinez set with Kenwright and  fans. If he consolidates the gains Everton made under Moyes, he will be a success, but some will see that as a failure. There’s no shame in Everton finishing in the top six, and most Evertonians would accept another two or three top-six finishes. But Martinez wants to take Everton to the next level, and the tangible markers forward progress are either trophies or Champions League qualification. Will he construct a squad good and deep enough to win Everton’s first trophy since 1995 and join Europe’s elite at the same time?

Martinez’s move to Everton is a two-sided gamble, and winning such a bet requires more than luck. He must work hard, show genuine managerial acumen and be politically savvy in order to sustain Everton’s current position. He’ll need all that and more to improve what Moyes built and join the Premier League elite. Martinez’s great task is to figure out exactly what that “more” is.

Copying the approach that got him to this point is a dangerous strategy. Martinez must adapt to a new reality, and he doesn’t have much time to do so. He has a one-year grace period on that four-year deal. If Everton isn’t showing signs of tangible forward progress by the halfway point of year two, don’t expect Martinez to spend all four years at Everton and take charge of one of the game’s super-clubs after that. Unlike suits, life and soccer don’t always move in straight lines.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Gregory Campbell

His teammates were grateful but nowhere near surprised Wednesday night that Soupy sacrificed his body on the ice for his team.

What should also be understood about this play is that Campbell blocked a shot during a tie game against the best team in the East during the second period of a conference finals matchup. That alone speaks volumes of the player. But the thing with Campbell is, whether it’s Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals or Game 3 of the regular season, he’s blocking that shot — or at least doing whatever he can to block that shot — every chance he gets.

“Obviously it was a pretty serious injury, so that’s just the kind of player he is, and it doesn’t surprise me, it doesn’t surprise his teammates, but certainly it shows the character of that player, and that’s why we appreciate having him on our team,” head coach Claude Julien said after the Bruins’ 2-1 double-overtime win.

Campbell is why Bostonians know that losing a fourth liner is just as devastating to a playoff team as losing a first liner. Campbell is also the type of player who can travel in a franchise time machine and fit in with any Bruins team from any era. He’s tough, he’s dependable and he doesn’t think twice when it comes to doing what he’s supposed to do — and that’s to do whatever it takes to put his team in position to succeed. He’s a Bruin — a big, bad Bruin, and players like him are why this franchise continues to succeed.

In 15 postseason games, Campbell has three goals and four helpers — not bad for a Merlot Liner. Two of those tallies were against the mighty Rangers in the Bruins’ decisive Game 5 win over their New York foes — not bad for anyone. But Campbell’s most important stat isn’t his own — it’s the team’s penalty killing percentage, specifically this series, where the B’s have kept the Pens scoreless in 12 power play attempts.

His work doesn’t go unnoticed — just ask arguably the team’s hottest players.

“He did a great job, and we really wanted to play for him,” Brad Marchand said. “He’s always battling. He’s always doing whatever he has to do, and he’s been huge for us this playoffs so far.”

“We’re talking about little things that go a long way,” Patrice Bergeron said. “That’s the way he is.  He sacrifices the body always for the team, for the better of the team. We tried to rally behind that and do it for him, because he’s a big part of our team on and off the ice.”

Campbell isn’t the team’s best player, but he isn’t the only guy on the squad who would shatter a leg to keep the opposition off the scoreboard. But he did, and he’d do it again and again. He would not only do it again — he would successfully and painfully hobble around while some of the game’s best players in the world desperately try to get pucks by and through him — and he’d succeed again.

Losing Campbell leaves a huge hole in the B’s PK unit, and it shakes up the Merlots. But what it also does is remind this locker room what it takes to win a Stanley Cup and what it takes to be a successful Big, Bad Bruins team of yore.

This city and its inhabitants have rallied around the “Boston Strong” battle cry for months now, and Campbell, of London, Ontario, is as Boston Strong as they come.

Click here to see Campbell sacrifice his body >>

Beckett, who is currently on the 15-day disabled list with a groin strain, is dealing with numbness in the fingertips of his right hand, and the situation is apparently serious enough that the 33-year-old has thought about the possibility of retirement. If Beckett walks away now, he’ll leave behind a very complicated legacy.

Six years ago, Beckett was considered an ace, a gamer, a winner, a postseason hero and, in the minds of many, a future Hall of Famer. Now, the words commonly associated with Beckett are less than flattering. Cooperstown is merely a potential vacation spot for the right-hander; it’s no longer his place of enshrinement.

Beckett, the second overall pick in 1999, made a real name for himself when he guided the Marlins to a World Series title in 2003. He was fantastic in that postseason, even tossing a complete-game shutout in the title-clinching Game 6 at Yankee Stadium. The sky was the limit for the 23-year-old, hard-throwing Texan.

But while Beckett effectively arrived with his ’03 heroics, it was four years later when he truly began to carve out a place in baseball history. After a lackluster first season with the Red Sox in 2006, Beckett rebounded to win 20 games in 2007, before then embarking on another epic postseason run. He went 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA in four postseason starts as the Sox won their second World Series title in four years.

After that masterful ’07 campaign, Beckett was a 27-year-old with two World Series rings, both of which he played a pivotal role in obtaining. The talk was about his mound presence, his intense demeanor and his propensity for delivering in the clutch. He was all that Boston loved in a player, and he was exactly the type of workhorse that every team coveted.

By October 2008, postseason greatness was the expectation. After all, this was Josh Freakin’ Beckett. However, Beckett failed to provide the same playoff moxie in ’08 that we were accustomed to seeing, and to the bewilderment of many, he actually looked human.

At that point, the aura that surrounded “Josh Beckett: Postseason Aficionado” began to fade, even though the ego didn’t. Beckett had off-and-on success with the Red Sox from 2009 until 2012, but throughout it all, the perception of the pitcher changed. The confidence that was once lauded seemingly morphed into cockiness and a sense of entitlement, and by the time the Red Sox shipped him to the Dodgers last August, 2007 seemed like a footnote rather than the climax of Beckett’s seven years in Boston.

To say Beckett doesn’t care about the game of baseball is unfair. The guy who tagged out Jorge Posada on a slow roller up the first-base line to win a ring in 2003 loved the game. And the guy who went into Cleveland in Game 5 of the 2007 ALCS and stymied the Indians to kick off a historic comeback certainly looked like he enjoyed it as well. But somewhere, something definitely changed.

Now, Beckett, who sits at 0-5 with a 5.19 ERA, is looking to bounce back, realizing that his career has suddenly become a race against time. He’ll have his share of supporters, but he’ll also have far more haters than anyone could have ever imagined.

Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle or send it here.

You’ll need your best Nancy Drew skills and reporter’s notebook to get anyone to admit those facts around the Fens these days, though. The Red Sox are playing with all the calm and consistency of a well-rested napper who has rolled out of bed, seen the sunshine and decided he never, ever needs to go back into that dark, disjointed land of bad dreams.

This year, the Red Sox have done everything necessary to scrub the dreck of 2012 off their uniforms, home turf and psyches. They are a new team, of both parts and posture, and they’ve done much less rebounding than completely restarting — to great results — this season.

If any one final piece of evidence was needed to prove last year was a mirage and that this is a Red Sox team of old (“old” being those glory years of 2004 to 2010, that is), it came Wednesday morning. Dustin Pedroia, who is playing his most MVP-like ball since he won the award in 2008, admitted that he has played this entire season with a torn ligament in his thumb.

It bears pausing and considering the information. Pedroia has had a ligament ripped in his left thumb — that’s the one that holds the glove — all season. He hurt it in the ninth inning of an 8-2 win over the Yankees on Opening Day, and it comes in addition to the hyperextension and other mistreatment his right thumb absorbed last season.

With his thumbs all but hanging off, Pedroia has put up what some are calling a Golden Glove season at second base. He’s also reinvented the Laser Show for those who may have seen only the partial version in recent years, batting .332 with a .422 on-base percentage and .444 slugging percentage. He has just three home runs and 28 RBIs so far, but his 68 hits project for his second-highest hit total ever (after 2008′s 213), as do his RBIs (after 2011′s 91).

Pedroia has played every single game, the only member of his team to do so, with his 53 games played the most of any Major League Baseball player. He has the ninth-highest batting average in the league, the fifth-highest on-base percentage and is eighth in runs scored.

That doesn’t even get into the other fun categories, such as wins above replacement. His 3.0 WAR puts him seventh among major leaguers, and third among position players. His defensive WAR is 10th-best among all comers.

So, Pedroia is playing some of his best baseball ever, and he’s done it for a third of a season while dealing with pain that would incapacitate many others.

Why is this surprising? This is Pedroia, right? The second baseman of lore, the dirt magnet who anchors magical Sox crews, the oft-named heart and soul of a team that soars on heart and soul — why is it surprising, and why does it matter that he’s been playing hurt as the team does well?

Fifty-three games in, the Red Sox look safe and sound. Even if they go on another slide or two, they are performing well enough and are talented enough throughout to prove that this is the team that others will have to face moving forward, not that rendition that showed up for games last year.

But this team didn’t magically come together. It was built, painstakingly, by general manager Ben Cherington starting last August, when he cut the cord on several faulty pieces. It was cleaned out, with great effort, over the offseason as new manager John Farrell arrived, and new players were brought in, one by one, who fit what the Red Sox want to be moving forward. It was primed for performance, a day at a time, in the spring as new players mixed with the old and discipline turned into success.

Pedroia was there at every step. He was teaching Jose Iglesias fine points of hitting in his down time, and he was at spring training right from the beginning, buying into the program. Most importantly, he was there not only for Opening Day but also for the 52 games afterward, thumb or not. He kept playing and kept leading — and, somehow, kept hitting and kept dominating — even when the times were tough.

This is who Pedroia has always posited himself to be, and who others had hoped him to be, no matter what other winds blew the Red Sox’ raggedy ranks last year. Even Pedroia was pulled into the fray several times last season, caught in the middle of the incriminating stories that incriminated everyone, when it looked like the corruption had taken down even the best of the bunch.

Pedroia insisted then that he wasn’t among the troublemakers and that he wasn’t tearing down the team. He said this team could return to what it was, and that he, too, would restore his reputation as being the team’s captain, talent, and heart and soul.

Now, 53 games since the season of accusations ended, it seems strange that Pedroia could have ever been looped into all that, or that all that could have happened at all.

Strained thumbs, dirty jerseys and a well-above-.300 average are all that remain.

And in that, Pedroia has once again shown why he’s incomparable when it comes to making the Red Sox exactly who they want to be.

Sergio Garcia

Forget Woods’ 14 career majors and 78 tour victories compared to Garcia’s zero and 24. When paired with Woods, Garcia can count just a handful of times he’s finished better than his foe, and he’s never beaten him outright (Devil Ball Golf gives the complete history of Woods’ dominance).

Garcia completed the narrative during his Sunday round against Woods, when he had the chance to close in for the kill after Woods faltered. Garcia instead plunked his ball (twice!) in the most humiliating way on the iconic 17th hole as Woods took the tournament.

Garcia, who had come into the final rounds of the tournament biting at Woods’ heels, was a whipped dog. But rather than taking his lumps like the inferior player — and career-long underachiever — that he is, he instead decided to keep barking.

Garcia can now say he’s joined rare company, but it’s not the rare company anyone should want to join — or can ever leave, for that matter (ask Fuzzy Zoeller, who is getting a lot of Internet attention suddenly). After snipping with Woods for days, first calling out Woods’ “niceness” factor, then accusing him of a lack of sportsmanship and then continuing to emphasize how little he liked the man at all, Garcia made the misstep that turns this from a spat into the stupidest of choices. Garcia has, of course, played the race card.

“We will have him round every night,” Garcia said of Woods, talking about the upcoming U.S. Open. “We will serve fried chicken.”

Garcia apologized soon after, realizing the blunder, but the move was a formality, like signing a scorecard or fixing a divot. It was something he knew he had to do.

But it can’t be denied that Garcia knew exactly what he was doing when he whipped out the most obvious, debasing insult he could find to elevate a war of words he was having trouble winning. Left with few credible talking points and fewer possible punches, Garcia went for the only blow he had left against a player who has had his number — and the stage from which he could be as nice or not nice as he wanted — all along.

What’s ironic about Garcia taking on Woods is that this is a battle that Garcia could never win. No, Tiger Woods is not nice. But neither is Garcia. What was he hoping to do by ripping on the fact that Woods doesn’t sit around and give high-fives in the clubhouse — make people like himself more? And what was he hoping to do by insulting Woods and drawing attention to their pairing on a day when he himself was primed to choke again? Did he think he could make Woods wilt under pressure?

When Woods dominated golf in the years before his knee injury and the whole fire hydrant thing, much of his game was his ability. But a big portion was the mental edge he held over competitors on the course — his personal confidence and also the doubt he put in his peers. That doubt has been hard to remember, with most golfers now approaching Woods as just another player, and all of the embarrassing stories about his on- and off-course behavior diminishing his formerly ironclad shell.

But a few golfers still appear to be rattled by Woods, whether he’s the infallible Woods he once was or the resurgent Woods he now appears to be. For this crowd, Garcia is the poster boy — constantly tormented by Woods’ talent, and constantly unable to do anything but hurl insults from miles away, when his game can’t even take a bite from the world’s best.

Woods has had his struggles in recent years, but what he hasn’t had trouble doing is show how laughable it is to challenge him in areas where he’s clearly a cut above. Garcia challenged Woods on the course, and Woods shut him down. Now Garcia has challenged him in an arena where he’s even more unquestioned. Race is so far from anyone’s mind when it comes to Woods that this isn’t even a low blow by Garcia — it seems more like something someone would do to get himself shouted out of the public arena for good. It’s hard to encapsulate just how off-base Garcia is, but most of the world will likely take a try in the coming days.

If Garcia was hoping to unite people behind Woods, he’s done it. Woods elevated his game to bat off Garcia, and now he has a chance to be lifted back to the position he previously held in the sports world — a spot where his ability and track record is so lofty that bringing up something like race is so out of touch that it’s baffling to even hear. Woods may have taken his lumps in years past, but Garcia has now opened the door for him to assume the mantle he was missing for so long — the place where Woods is so good and so respected that criticism only draws eye-rolling, and those who question him or try to tear him down have to resort to ridiculous depths because they don’t have much to say.

Woods has his flaws as a golfer and as a human being, but those aren’t going to be remembered as long as Garcia is drawing attention to the part of Woods where he can show the greatness he still has.

Garcia, meanwhile, has just polished off the nut graph to the obituary of a sterling career that never was.

Click here to see what Tiger Woods had to say >>

The Yankees have been one of the biggest surprises in baseball this season, not because they’re winning, but because they’re winning with spare parts. The Bronx Bombers have been without many of their stars, including Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson, yet they’ve clawed their way to the top of the American League East.

Those setbacks, while major, pale in comparison to Pettitte’s injury, though.

The Yankees find themselves in first place largely because of their starting pitching, and Pettitte has been a big part of that. The overall numbers — 4-3 record, 3.83 ERA, 1.30 WHIP — aren’t eye-popping, but Pettitte has been very consistent with the exception of one outing. The lefty gave up seven earned runs on 10 hits over 4 1/3 innings against the Astros on April 29, but he’s allowed three runs or fewer in each of his other seven starts.

Simply put, Pettitte gives the Yankees a chance to win when he takes the mound, and now New York will be forced to rely on 25-year-old rookie Vidal Nuno. Nuno’s first major league start on Monday went well — he tossed five shutout innings and got the win — but replacing a proven veteran presence like Pettitte is no easy task, especially when Phil Hughes’ recent struggles leave questions about where his season is headed.

CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda will need to continue anchoring the Yankees’ rotation in Pettitte’s absence, while the rest of the staff picks up the slack. David Phelps turned in another solid performance on Saturday, allowing just one earned run over seven innings, and he’ll need to continue pitching well for as long as Pettitte is sidelined — which the Yankees are optimistic won’t be long.

But even if Pettitte’s trip to the 15-day DL is precautionary, it still highlights just how thin of a tightrope the Yankees are walking. Ivan Nova could return before long, although he was hardly effective in his four starts before going down. And perhaps Michael Pineda, who hasn’t pitched in a Yankees uniform since being acquired prior to last season, will return and showcase his natural talent at some point this summer. Neither of those scenarios are a sure thing, though, so the Yankees should proceed with the mindset that any contribution from those two hurlers is an added bonus.

Will Pettitte’s recent injury kill the Yankees’ season? Probably not, especially if he only misses a couple of starts. However, if the injury bug sticks around and starts chomping away at him and the rest of the rotation, it could become awfully difficult for the Yankees to continue motoring along atop the division.

The Yankees have survived some big blows to their offense, but they simply cannot afford injuries to their rotation.

Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle or send it here.

Yu Darvish tossed 130 pitches in eight innings against the Tigers on Thursday despite the Rangers leading 10-4. Manager Ron Washington’s decision to leave Darvish in the game for so long has been a talking point ever since, but the whole debate is fruitless.

Baseball fans, coaches, players, pundits and statisticians have spent countless hours in recent years tossing in their two cents about the importance — or lack thereof — of hard-and-fast pitch counts and innings limits. Yet after sifting through all sorts of empirical data, bickering about individual scenarios and listening to plenty of stories about “how the game used to be,” we haven’t arrived at one universal rule or line of logic that makes total sense. We never will, and therefore making a firm determination on Darvish’s outing against the Tigers is downright impossible.

Every pitcher’s body is different. Every start, whether it be because of stressful situations or the types of pitches thrown over the course of the outing, is different. Every situation is different. Blah. Blah. Blah. Long story short: How long a pitcher stays in the game is something that should be determined on a case-by-case basis. No numbers, case studies, past scenarios or tall tales should override how a pitcher feels, how effective he’s been and what the situation in question calls for.

That’s why criticizing Washington as if he did something completely egregious is not only unfair, but it’s also ridiculous. We can hold Washington’s feet to the fire all we want, but then what is our end game? Are we simply making it a point to grill Washington on his managerial decision so that we have a leg to stand on if Darvish suddenly fizzles out in the second half?

Looking at the situation as a whole, there are a ton of people — myself included — who would have turned to the bullpen after Darvish threw 115 pitches through seven innings. That decision has nothing to do with pitch counts, per se, but a lot to do with whether rolling Darvish back out there with a six-run lead was all that necessary. Without being in the dugout alongside Darvish on Thursday, though, it’s stupid to definitively say, “Mr. Washington, you crossed the line.”

We can debate pitch counts and innings limits until the cows come home, and then keep a watchful eye on the cows’ workload once they enter the equation. But the topic, especially as it pertains to Darvish’s outing, is way too subjective to lay the hammer down on Washington.

Agreeing with or disagreeing with Washington’s decision is one thing. Making a big stink about a few extra pitches is another.

Have a question for Ricky Doyle? Send it to him via Twitter at @TheRickyDoyle or send it here.

Doc Rivers

Any Celtics fan looking for a deeper silver lining to this news, however, will be disappointed. Rivers will remain, giving the Celtics a decided tactical advantage on a solid three-quarters of their opponents in the league, but any definitive movement on Paul Pierce or Garnett’s situations is still mostly independent of Rivers’ decision.

Rivers’ return is promising news, so far as it goes, for those hoping for at least one more year with Pierce and Garnett. The coach’s departure probably would have meant Garnett, who makes no secret of his preference to play for Rivers and nobody else, had played his last game as a Celtic. In that, at least, they can take solace. Garnett is not definitely gone, so that is something.

Still, there is a massive difference between Garnett not being gone for certain, and Garnett unequivocally being back. Keep in mind that Garnett also had some strong things to say about Pierce after the Celtics’ Game 6 loss to the Knicks. If Pierce’s presence is not quite the deal breaker Rivers’ was, it clearly looms large in Garnett’s choice.

From the perspective of Danny Ainge, the Celtics’ president of basketball operations, retaining Rivers is a no-brainer. Rivers is one of the top five coaches in the NBA, without question, and unlike Pierce, his contract does not count against the salary cap or the luxury tax. Even if Rivers’ coaching acumen falls off slightly, he is still more than worth the roughly $7 million in average salary he is reportedly making over the life of his deal. Whether the Celtics trot out for the opening tip next season with a familiar lineup or one that features new faces and more youth, that team will be better off with Rivers leading it than it would be with just about anybody else.

Pierce and Garnett’s situations are trickier. Unlike their coach, their salaries do impact what types of other things the team can do personnel-wise, and Pierce’s performance in the playoffs is not sufficient for a player due to earn more than $15 million. Ainge and the other members of the Celtics’ front office have far more difficult decisions awaiting them there.

Looking at this logically, there should not have been any real doubt whether Rivers was coming back. The argument that he might not want to keep coaching a team that does not include Pierce, Garnett or Ray Allen seemed to have a faulty premise. After all, Rivers signed his current extension following year four of what was supposed to be a three-year project with the “Big Three” — if he was afraid to coach without those three Hall of Famers, he probably would not have committed to five more years when said Hall of Famers were 35 (Allen), 34 (Garnett) and 33 years old (Pierce).

Allen is gone, of course, but the remnants of that championship era live on as long as Pierce and Garnett are still in green. Whereas Rivers’ exit would have shut the door on that era completely, his return leaves the door the slightest bit ajar. Whether Garnett and Pierce will be walking through that door remains as open-ended as it was before.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

Roberto Mancini

Mancini was fired as Manchester City’s manager on Monday, exactly one year after ending the club’s 44-year quest for domestic supremacy. He departs after three-and-a-half years, two major trophies and one long-running saga about his job security.

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, the club has failed to achieve any of its stated targets this year, with the exception of qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League,” a club statement said.

“This, combined with an identified need to develop a holistic approach to all aspects of football at the club, has meant that the decision has been taken to find a new manager for the 2013-14 season and beyond.”

Two words in City’s statement, ”failed” and “holistic,” are more important than all others, for they sum up Mancini’s exciting, yet turbulent, reign at the Etihad Stadium.

Overall, Mancini was no failure as City’s manager. Winning the Premier League and FA Cup ensures that label can’t stick. The tangible success City achieved on his watch ended generations of fans’ suffering, and his reputation remains intact in England, Italy and beyond. He won’t see out the last four years of his £7.5 million-a-year [$11.5. million] contract, but he’ll begin his job search with a pocket stuffed with one year’s salary severance pay. Napoli, AS Roma, Inter Milan, AC Milan, PSG, AS Monaco and Chelsea are just a few of the clubs that are reportedly interested in hiring him. Others will emerge in the coming weeks.

But Mancini’s time at City wasn’t exactly successful either. He joined the world’s richest club in December 2009, spent close to £300 million ($458 million) assembling his squad, won and lost leagues and cups and couldn’t advance past the group stage of the UEFA Champions League … before he lost his job.

The real failure is that the 2012-13 campaign will go down as a missed opportunity for both Mancini and City. They stunned Manchester United and other domestic rivals by winning the league last season. Had they built on that success and progressed on the field, all the talk would be about City’s looming era of domination and its bright future under Mancini. Instead, both club and manager must assess what happened, reset themselves and put things right next season.

City’s stalled for a number of reasons, many of which concern the second keyword: “holistic.” There was a fundamental disconnect between how Mancini behaved and how he should have behaved in these unique times and circumstances.

Mancini’s job was under threat as late as April 2012 when it looked like United would win the league. United collapsed, City surged to victory and Mancini was rewarded with a lucrative, five-year contract extension. Normally, this would have strengthened his position, as the new deal represented the full support of owner Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak.

But everything changed — first in August when Ferran Soriano was hired as City’s new CEO, then in October when Soriano recruited another former Barcelona administrator, Txiki Begiristain, as director of football. The club started moving forward and Mancini wasn’t the one driving. He acted like he was, and that won him few friends when (and where) it counted.

Mancini’s man-management shortcomings saw him clash with star players — including captain Vincent Kompany and goalkeeper Joe Hart – both publicly and privately. He repeatedly blamed City’s failure to strengthen in the summer transfer market, particularly its fizzled pursuit of Robin van Persie, as the main reason for its weak title defense (doing so both in public and in private).

Mancini’s inability (or unwillingness) to strengthen ties between City’s youth and senior teams is another oft-cited reason for his dismissal. The same can be said about his personal relationships with senior officials, especially youth director Brian Marwood in addition to Soriano and Begiristain.

By most accounts Mancini was aloof and abrasive with players and bosses inside the walls of the club, while he came across as combative and domineering when discussing them in public. Could he still train players, prepare for opponents and manage egos in the dressing room? Yes, but his attempts at exerting total control at the very time when he lost itleft him isolated, an island unto himself. Mancini either would not or could not adapt to changing circumstances. Players and bosses saw this months ago. It was made clear to the public Monday.

Some say Mancini’s firing was too harsh or ruthless and that he should have been given another year on the job. City was out of the Champions League in December, Mario Balotelli (Mancini’s troubled but talented “son”) was sold to Milan in January and United all but wrapped up the league title by late February. City bosses would have been well within their rights to fire him two months ago. They might have looked better had they done so before news of their courtship of Manuel Pellegrini turned Mancini into an object of sympathy. Mancini’s clandestine 2009 arrival creates a strange symmetry to the whole affair.

The end of Mancini’s era is holistic failure on his and the club’s part. There’s a thin line between success and failure at the elite level of the game, and Mancini’s final season shows what can (and often does) happen when all members of an institution aren’t pulling in the same direction. City finished second in the league, runner up in the FA Cup — a record which fails to meet the demands of the club’s 10-year plan.  Blame the owners. Blame Soriano, Begiristain and Marwood. Blame Kompany, Hart and the other players. Certainly blame Mancini. For years, City has had a reputation as a bit of a madhouse. The estimated $1 billion Mansour has poured into the club since 2008 hasn’t really changed that perception, and that is one expensive and holistic failure in itself.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Rose tore the ACL in his left knee in the first game of last year’s playoffs. He had surgery and began the recovery process, with optimistic hopes being that he could be back for some of this season, and at least the playoffs, which would be the one-year mark for an injury that generally takes a year to recover from.

But it’s more than a year later, and although Rose is cutting and jumping, he’s not playing. Fans that were once telling him to get well soon have instead started clamoring for him to play, with more and more people becoming irate that he would sit on the bench while his injured and ailing teammates fight through.

Rose has every right to preserve his health. An ACL injury is pretty serious, and coming back too fast and getting reinjured, or never regaining original speed and movement because the injury hasn’t completely healed, are good enough reasons to be slow in returning to play. Even a selfish reason, such as Rose not wanting to be on the court at less than his full potential, is understandable when it comes to a star who wants to build a long career and legacy.

Ultimately, Rose must do what is best for Rose, and so far, that has been to sit and wait until he’s completely comfortable with playing again.

But in keeping his body healthy, Rose may be damaging something much bigger. Rose may make it through this postseason with his ACL in fine shape, but the greater ideals that a star of his stature chases could be slipping away.

Let’s go back to Aladdin. In the movie, Jafar is obsessed with scheming to take over Agrabah (or the world), and he finally starts to see his plans fall in place when he procures the magic lamp. He takes over the palace and subdues his adversaries, and everything is just fine until Aladdin comes back and tricks Jafar using the most human motivation of all. Aladdin tells Jafar that, while he may have conquered much as a ruler and a sorcerer, he’s not the most powerful being in the world. That desire — to be the greatest — leads to Jafar’s ill-fated final wish: to be a genie.

As Jafar is transformed into one very ugly red and black genie, though, Aladdin’s smarts show through. Jafar gets the incredible power he was lusting after, but, as Aladdin tells him, he got his wish — “And everything that comes with it!”

In that moment, Jafar gets twisted down into the lamp like trash through a toilet, holding the most power in the world but forever confined. In gambling to be the greatest he could possibly be, he had to accept the other complications of the role — and ultimately do the bidding of others.

Now, Rose has not sold his soul to any devil, and he certainly isn’t making the kind of life-altering choices to which moral weight can be assigned, no matter what Chicago fans are saying. But in the larger game of being a legend, of making promises and fulfilling them, of overcoming challenges and becoming a once-in-a-generation player, Rose may be forgetting his part of the bargain.

This is the player who stars in a marketing campaign that pins the entire city’s hope on his rehabbing left leg. This is the player who promised to come back stronger. This is the player who is supposed to be transcendent enough to lift a really good team — a team that is already pushing the Heat pretty hard despite an injured Joakim Noah, an ailing Luol Deng and the hodge podge in the backcourt — to another level.

Where Rose has failed is not that he isn’t playing, but rather that he set the stage to be the one to lift his team and the city, and then he declined his opportunity. This isn’t the sixth week. It’s not ninth months later. Rose isn’t having any trouble running. He’s scrimmaging. He’s dunking. He can pass. Steve Nash has done more on less.

Rose may be a diminished Rose, but he’s still Rose, and even if he isn’t ready to jump in full-speed, or the team isn’t ready to play with him as the centerpiece, he’s an upgrade over what the Bulls have been putting on the court. This may not be “their year,” but given the effort Chicago has shown against Miami already, what more could Rose ask from his team? What more could they do on their own to make his arrival, even at a lesser level, not help? If the Bulls never had a chance without Rose, then he shouldn’t have tried to come back at all this year — especially now that, as he appears to be back, he is withholding even his limited abilities.

It’s a sad truth that fans expect their stars to play injured, but this isn’t a case of fans crying for a player to do something he shouldn’t. Rose is healthy enough to at least play a little. But that’s not even what fans are asking for. The bigger point here is something less tangible but ultimately more important as a player looks to “preserve his career.”

Rose promised to be a savior, and the way he’s played in his career so far suggests he wants to be a legend. That status, always available to him before, is now precarious in his moment of truth. Rose is quickly approaching a place with fans and critics where this decision not to play could undo everything else he’s been trying to do.

He can sit out. He can fail to finish that commercial that was playing while his knee was still on ice. He can do the normal person thing and not push himself, even when teammates choose to.

But he’ll never be a legend. He’ll never be the guy who put team above himself. He’ll never do the impossible, even if it’s crazy for fans to ask for that. He’ll never fulfill the obligations that came with him making that wish to be great.

If Rose doesn’t play now, he may be right, but he’s going to have to take everything that comes — or doesn’t come — with it.

Photo via YouTube/adidasbasketball

According to reporters on the scene, Joyce addressed the media after the game while literally in tears. He didn’t get belligerent or try to hide from his mistake, but owned it, openly bemoaning that “I just cost the kid a perfect game.”

Galarraga’s reaction was downright heartwarming. He showed little emotion on the field after being informed of the call — after he had already begun celebrating the non-perfect game. Afterwards, Galarraga focused not on the blown call or his robbed perfecto, but the fact that it was the best game of his career.

“[Joyce] probably feels more bad than me,” said Galarraga, noting that Joyce had approached him and apologized after the game. “Nobody’s perfect. Everybody’s human. I understand. I give the guy a lot of credit for saying, ‘I need to talk to you.’ You don’t see an umpire tell you that after a game. I gave him a hug.”

In short, what came about from that singular moment of Joyce’s failure turned out to be one of the best showings of sportsmanship in the history of professional sports. The two continue to be friends to this day and even wrote a book together about the whole ordeal.

Beyond sportsmanship, however, the underlying theme of Joyce’s redemption was one of accountability. And accountability was something that umpire Angel Hernandez was sorely missing after Wednesday night’s contest between the Athletics and Indians at Progressive Field.

After the game, which the Indians won 4-3 because Adam Rosales‘ home run was ruled a double, even after video review by the umpiring crew, Hernandez shirked accountability in a pretty stunning way. Multiple reporters on the scene noted that the 23-year umpiring veteran did answer questions after the game, but demanded that journalists were not allowed to electronically record his comments and asked to only take notes by hand.

The human element is intrinsic to baseball and will always be until cameras and computers completely replace umpires. In short, we accept missed calls as a part of the game, the idea being that everyone eventually winds up with an equal number of lucky breaks and cheated opportunities. Hernandez’s gaffe was a bad one, but it’s the apparent belligerence with which he behaved afterward is what was truly problematic.

Now, all of this being said, Hernandez is flatly a bad umpire. He’s drawn the ire of players for a long time now, and the statistics (about his work behind the plate, in particular) of his consistency also bear that out. There’s a different discussion to be had about performance reviews of umpires, but, again, even the variables of different umpires and their proclivities and weaknesses is something we accept in baseball.

If Hernandez is bad at his job, then that is something that needs to be addressed by Major League Baseball. Presumably he’s not intentionally trying to miff calls on the field. Mistakes are a part of the game, whether they’re made by coaches, player or umpires. That human element is part of what makes baseball great, and it’s also what occasionally makes moments, such as the one shared between Galarraga and Joyce, truly transcendent of sports, entirely.

If Galarraga had completed his perfect game, he would have soon been forgotten — how many people have already forgotten what Philip Humber did just over a year ago? But thanks to Joyce, Galarraga shared in a moment that will live on much longer in the annals of baseball.

Getting back to Hernandez, it’s a matter of character. This 700-word essay is not to suggest any fundamental change in MLB, or to suggest Hernandez should be fired. It’s not meant to accomplish anything at all.

The point here is nothing but mere moral outrage, and to point out the lack of character Hernandez has. Human mistakes we can live with, but failing to hold yourself accountable for them is cowardice.