Picked-up pieces while wondering if Tom Brady will jump up on the couch — Tom Cruise style — when we see his interview with Oprah . . .
■ Let the record show that the much-maligned David Price won the two biggest games of the Red Sox season thus far. After the Sox lost the first two games of a four-game series against the Houston Astros two weeks ago, Price stopped the bleeding, winning a duel against Justin Verlander. Thursday night, when we were beginning to think the Sox can only beat the Orioles, Price beat Felix Hernandez and the first-place Mariners, 2-1. He’s 6-0 with a 2.64 ERA in his last seven starts, and the Sox have won all seven games. He has not lost since the carpal tunnel syndrome nonsense in New York. The Sox next play the Yankees in New York the weekend of June 29-July 1. We need to see Price in that series. My math has him lined up for the series finale. It will be unfortunate if the Sox maneuver things to keep Price away from the Yankees.
■ I loved the late Jerome Holtzman, but he contributed to the decay of modern baseball by inventing the “save.’’ It’s an overrated stat. It’s putting Trevor Hoffman in the Hall of Fame this summer and it has produced Craig Kimbrel, who is a different pitcher in save situations vs. non-save situations. With a three-run lead, a clean ninth inning, and a cast of Orioles and Rays coming to bat, Kimbrel is one of the best pitchers who ever lived. He strikes out more than half the hitters he faces. In non-save situations, it’s a different story. Kimbrel is in his walk year. He wants saves. But Alex Cora needs to forget about the bogus soft saves and use Kimbrel to get the big outs. And Kimbrel needs to be on board with this.
■ Sorry, but outfield defense is one of the more overrated skills in baseball. It’s great to have Jackie Bradley Jr. making highlight-reel plays in center, but a center fielder doesn’t change games with the regularity of a shortstop or a catcher. The Red Sox won World Series with Johnny Damon and Jacoby Ellsbury playing center. They won with Manny Ramirez playing left. JBJ has to crack the Mendoza Line (.200) to justify his everyday spot in the Sox lineup.
■ It should concern Sox fans to hear Hal Steinbrenner talking about acquiring starting pitching. “We’ve got some flexibility payroll-wise,’’ Steinbrenner said Wednesday. The Yankees also have many more minor leaguers of value to deal than the Red Sox have.
■ At the finish of his swing, Andrew Benintendi looks a little like a young Yaz.
■ Quiz: Name a player with Hall of Fame stats who played a record 2,831 games without making it to the World Series. Answer below.
■ Mike Stenhouse, who was a member of the 1986 Red Sox American League pennant winners, wrote a thoughtful op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, explaining the unfairness of a Major League Baseball pension system that penalizes players who played before 1980. Before 1980, players needed four years of big league service to be eligible for pension benefits. After 1980, players qualified with only 43 days on a big league roster. Dave Stenhouse, Mike’s dad, failed to qualify even though he was good enough to start the 1962 All-Star Game for the American League. The MLBPA needs to step up and take care of the old-timers. Share the gold.
■ Breaks my heart to see the Orioles drop so low. The once-proud franchise will probably fall to 30 games out of first place before the end of the weekend. Hard to remember that Earl Weaver once said, “People don’t realize how hard it is to stay 50 games over .500.’’
■ Still wondering why Cora would have Blake Swihart catch his first game on the same day that Jalen Beeks was making his big league debut on the mound.
■ Dennis Eckersley’s NESN interview with Kirk Gibson (they were in involved in the same historic World Series moment in 1988) was television gold.
■ Not a fan of Holy Cross renewing its football “rivalry’’ with Boston College. The Crusaders and Eagles met 82 times between 1896 and 1986, then stopped when it was obvious that the programs were headed in different directions. Holy Cross plays in the Patriot League and went 4-7 last year. The Crusaders are playing a different sport than that which is played at Boston College. Here’s hoping nobody gets hurt.
■ Looking forward to two books coming out in the fall. Keep an eye out for “Belichick’’ by ESPN.com’s Ian O’Connor, and a new tome on Babe Ruth from the estimable Jane Leavy, who produced masterpieces on Mickey Mantle and Sandy Koufax.
■ Former Globie Lesley Visser will receive the 2018 Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media June 18 at the Newseum in Washington. Visser is the 32nd honoree. Walter Cronkite was the first.
■ The NCAA champion Wake Forest men’s tennis team visited Donald Trump at the White House last month without incident. Patrick Hannity, son of Fox News host Sean Hannity, was a redshirt freshman on the squad this season.
■ At the age of 76, longtime UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun is returning to the sideline to coach Division 3 St. Joseph’s in West Hartford.
■ The final two days of the Battle New England basketball tournament are Saturday and Sunday at the Madison Park Community Center in Boston. There are four games Saturday and three on Sunday, featuring high school talents from Boston, New York, Springfield, Worcester, Rhode Island, Hartford, and Maine.
■ Speaking of high school basketball, sympathies go out to the family of Bill Gibbons Sr., who died on June 5. His professional life was devoted to teaching and coaching. He was affiliated with the Clark Tournament (Central Mass. holiday hoops) for more than 60 years. His son, Bill Jr., is the longtime women’s coach at Holy Cross.
■ Quiz answer: Rafael Palmeiro.
■ And speaking of guys who never got into a World Series, we have Adrian Gonzalez getting cut by the Mets last weekend. The Cooler did his magic from coast to coast and the only time his team made it to the Fall Classic (2017 Dodgers), they asked him to stay away from the team.
■ A dinner marking the 50th anniversary of the Lt. Paul J. Sullivan Scholarship will be held at the Sons of Italy Hall in Watertown June 23. The fund’s annual golf tournament will be held at the Heritage Country Club in Charlton Sept. 21. For information, call Tom Sullivan at 617-924-7589.
■ The Stanley Cup champion Bruins of 1970 and 1972 owned Boston in their heyday. That roster was dotted with the Hall of Fame likes of Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, and Gerry Cheevers, but the player that best encapsulated that team and those times was Johnny “Pie’’ McKenzie, who died on June 9 at the age of 80. RIP, Pie.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @dan_shaughnessy.
