Alan Greenwood

When a big-league pitcher with a bad arm seeks input from multiple doctors it usually means he is determined to find one who will tell him what he wants to hear.

That’s human nature. When your career is fully dependent on your favored wing, and the diagnosis calls for surgery and extended down time, you aren’t going to be in any hurry to schedule your appointment.

So Chris Sale, with an MRI on his left elbow already examined by the Red Sox’ medical staff and by Dr. James Andrews, plows on. Wednesday it was reported that the MRI images will also be sent to Dr. Neal Elattrache for analysis.

Presumably, if diagnosis No. 3 is similar to the first two, the next time we’ll see Sale at work is sometime in 2021 … if all goes well.

If Elattrache confirms the worst, seek out the over/under on Red Sox wins in 2020. If the number is 82 or higher, take the under.

DEFENSE RESTS: As Celtics fans wail about the need for someone to come off the bench and shoot the lights out, how about taking the players now on the roster and sending them to a remedial course on fundamental defense?

Tuesday night’s overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets was as hideous as they get. And the ugliness was rooted in Brooklyn’s points off the bench. The Nets scored 51 points in the fourth quarter.

How awful is that?

Good defense is more about work than it is about skill.

TIME TRAVEL: March 5, 1955 (from Fred Dobens’ “Around the Town” column) – “If the Boston clubs in the Major Leagues had adopted the TV policy which the Red Sox are going to put into effect this year the city and the rest of New England might still be enjoying live baseball in their backyards.

“The Red Sox are going to be televising less than half their (home) games this year and only 11 at night. That would lead the field of night baseball wide open for minor leagues such as the New England League, which was doing all right at the gate until 1949 when the Boston Braves televised every single one of their home games, most of them night contests. That combination killed the New England League deader than a doorknob and out went the Dodgers, Phillies, Chicago Cubs and some other Major League teams which owned clubs in the league.”

TV was a body blow to many minor leagues, which struggled for decades until enjoying the renaissance that arrived in the 1990s.

Contact Alan Greenwood at 594-1248 or agreenwood@nashuatelegraph.com.

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