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Red Sox notebook: Masataka Yoshida nearing return, ‘honored’ to share field with Shohei Ohtani

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

This past spring Masataka Yoshida and Shohei Ohtani shared the field together and helped bring the World Baseball Classic championship back to Japan.Now, the two will face off against one another as rivals for the first time in Major League Baseball.Yoshida, who was out of the lineup for the third straight game Friday due to right hamstring tightness, expects to return on Saturday for the second game of this weekend’s series against Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels. Speaking in the home dugout prior to Friday’s game, Yoshida expressed excitement about getting to share the big stage with his countryman.“I’m really honored to play with him in the best place in the world,” Yoshida said via translator Keiichiro Wakabayashi.Between his unprecedented big league exploits and World Baseball Classic heroics, Ohtani is a bona fide national hero in Japan and is again looking like a favorite to win American League MVP. Entering Friday he was batting .300 with thre...

Yankees Notebook: Isiah Kiner-Falefa talks trip to the mound

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

Isiah Kiner-Falefa never wanted to pitch.Odds are any situation that called on him to do so wouldn’t be favorable to the Yankees. That was the case Thursday night, when “IKF” took the mound for the first time in the ninth inning of the Bombers’ 11-2 loss to the Twins.Still, Kiner-Falefa enjoyed the career first, and even joked that his arm felt fine Friday after the super utilityman threw 12 pitches while allowing one hit over one scoreless inning.“It was fun,” Kiner-Falefa admitted. “Not my favorite thing to do, but definitely, they need me to do it, I will go out there and do my best.”Kiner-Falefa pitched as a kid, but he stopped in high school. He said that he probably threw faster back then than he did Friday night, when he recorded the slowest pitch in Yankees history, a 38.5-mile-per-hour eephus.Kiner-Falefa, who said he only threw at 50%, topped out at 74 miles per hour.“I was just worried about throwing strikes,” he...

Dai Dai Otaka brings a fresh approach to his role as Chicago Cubs minor-league infield coordinator: ‘Make the extraordinary ordinary’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

Dai Dai Otaka always thought he would become a lawyer.He majored in political science, earning a bachelor’s degree from Yale while starting for the baseball team, appearing in 108 games and recording a career .975 fielding percentage as an infielder. Heading into his sophomore season, Otaka talked to some people who were lawyers to learn more about his future career.“I always thought it was like a John Grisham-type thing,” Otaka said. “And it just wasn’t.”Otaka realized his passion centered on coaching and infield defense. Three years after he finished his fifth-year graduate season at Johns Hopkins, the Cubs hired Otaka, 25, as their minor-league infield coordinator for the 2023 season.“I’m very blessed with the opportunity and just trying to just learn as much as I can,” Otaka said. “So many people know way more than I do, and I’m just trying to pick their brains and understand where they’re coming from and wh...

After record-breaking heat in Boston, temps will drop to ‘near perfect’ for Boston Marathon participants

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

Boston Marathon participants should be very thankful that the race is not for a few days, dodging these brutally hot record-breaking days in mid-April.After the city smashed its record-highs for temps in the 80s on Thursday, April 13 and Friday, April 14, temps will plunge to “near perfect” for marathoners on Monday.Temps for race day should be in the 50s, while runners will have to deal with some spotty rain showers and a slight headwind.“Temperatures should be near perfect for the runners,” Bill Simpson, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Boston office, told the Herald on Friday.It has been wicked hot in the city over the last couple of days. Boston on Thursday hit 88 degrees, breaking its previous high for April 13 of 86 degrees from 1977.On Friday, another record-high was set at Boston Logan International Airport. Boston hit 83 degrees, smashing its previous high of 81 degrees from 1945.Related ArticlesWeather | Kenyan Eliud ...

Ticker: Tailwind Air aims for Nantucket; Swan Boats back; pump-and-dump

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

St. Regis Residences in Boston is announcing a partnership with Tailwind Air in which residents of the Seaport’s newest luxury building can depart from their back dock and travel by seaplane to Nantucket, New York City, and other destinations.Service to Nantucket begins on May 17. Traffic jams are now optional.Swan Boats returnFifteen-minute swan boat rides in the Boston Public Garden lagoon return for the season. Weather permitting, the boats will run daily through September from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.Mud ballsThe Department of Conservation and Recreation hosts “Let’s Have a Ball! The First Jurassic Mud Ball Festival In 200 Million Years.” Families are encouraged to join the department to celebrate “mud season” with an exploration of rare Jurassic-age rocks found only in Turners Falls: armored mud balls. Sunday, 2 p.m., Great Hall, Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Ave. A, Turners Falls.Pump-and-dumpAn Everett man pleaded guilty this week to exerting secre...

Jermaine Wiggins introduced as new Brockton High football coach

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

BROCKTON — When it comes to naming a new coach, it’s a pretty common trend to see schools try to make a splash.Brockton High did that and then some by tabbing former New England Patriots tight end and longtime WEEI personality Jermaine Wiggins as the school’s new football coach. Wiggins will look to bring the Boxers back to prominence as he returns to the gridiron.“You have to learn from the past to forge ahead for the future,” Brockton Mayor Robert Sullivan said during a press conference held at Marciano Stadium. “I want to personally thank the Colombo family. I’ve had the honor to play for coach Armond Colombo and now coach Peter Colombo. (That’s) 53 years of Colombo legacy here at Brockton High School. Thank you Colombo family.“I am really excited about today in Brockton to have the announcement of Jermaine Wiggins to be the next Brockton Boxers football coach. Coach, welcome to the City of Champions.”Wiggins takes over for former Brockton coach Peter Colombo, who ret...

Multiple car crash prompting significant delays on I-5

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A Sig Alert has been issued along the northbound Interstate 5 through Carlsbad following a multi-car crash near Palomar Airport Road.Reports of the collision came in around 1:36 p.m., notifying the Carlsbad Fire Department of a vehicle on fire on the freeway. According to department logs, six cars were involved in the collision: three smaller vehicles, two vans and a semi-truck. SkyFOX aerial footage showed significant damage to the front of at least two of the vehicles involved in the incident. Empty fishing boat pulled from rocks in Carlsbad It is unknown at this time what caused the crash. No injuries have been confirmed by authorities.All lanes were blocked following the crash. As of 2:30 p.m., only one lane is open for through traffic, according to aerial footage captured by SkyFOX. Sig Alert indicated that significant delays for drivers on the I-5 through Carlsbad are likely and could last up to two hours.

It’s ‘The Joe Show’ as Biden closes out Ireland visit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

BALLINA, Ireland (AP) — Quoting Irish poetry and soaking up the cheers of thousands, President Joe Biden on Friday pronounced Ireland not just part of his family history but part of his soul as he wrapped up a trip that gave him the kind of adoration that eludes him back in the U.S.Roughly 27,000 people gathered at the foot of St. Muredach’s Cathedral, constructed in part with bricks made by Biden’s great-great-great grandfather. Biden drew a crowd was nearly double the size of the town’s population — some drove from hours away and waited nearly all day in the rain and cold for a chance to see him, calling out for “the Joe show” to begin. “Over the years, stories of this place have become part of my soul,” Biden told the massive crowd, associating himself with those in the audience as “we Irish” and a “part of my family lore.” It’s no wonder he said repeatedly during his trip that he didn’t want to leave. Back home, Biden’s approval rating is near the l...

At Irish shrine, Biden meets priest who gave Beau last rites

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

KNOCK, Ireland (AP) — President Joe Biden was moved to tears on Friday during a stop at a Catholic shrine when he discovered that a chaplain there had performed last rites for his late son Beau Biden. “It was incredible to see him,” Biden said later during remarks at the foot of a cathedral in nearby Ballina. “It seemed like a sign.”Knock Shrine is a pilgrimage site where, according to Catholic lore, the saints Mary, Joseph and John the Evangelist appeared near a stone wall in 1879. Biden touched the remaining old wall, and toured the site with priest Father Richard Gibbons.Gibbons said he discovered earlier in the day that the Father Frank O’Grady working at the site was the same one who’d performed last rites, a ceremony in the Catholic faith that spiritually prepares people for death, for Beau. It’s common in the Catholic faith for priests to move around to different posts during their lives in the church. O’Grady is a former U.S. Army chaplain and was for...

Ohio governor postpones 3 more executions scheduled in 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:00:46 GMT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Gov. Mike DeWine continued Ohio’s unofficial death penalty moratorium on Friday, postponing an additional three executions scheduled for this year.DeWine, a Republican, attributed the need for the reprieves to the state’s ongoing inability to obtain drugs from pharmaceutical companies to carry out its lethal injection program. The state’s last execution was July 18, 2018, when Robert Van Hook was put to death for killing a man he met in a Cincinnati bar in 1985. On Friday, DeWine postponed executions scheduled for August, September and October to three dates in 2026. Two men remain scheduled for executions this year, the next being Keith Lamar on Nov. 16. Lamar was condemned in the slayings of fellow inmates during a 1993 Lucasville prison riot.The governor’s decision comes as momentum builds for Ohio to eliminate the death penalty altogether. A bipartisan group of state lawmakers proposed legislation to do so last month and Republican Attorney General Da...