Saturday, August 02

BOSTON -- Name a charitable cause, and there’s a pretty good chance that Red Sox righty Liam Hendriks and his wife Kristi are out there championing it.

So it was no surprise that on June 2 -- which is Lou Gehrig Day in MLB -- Liam and Kristi were on the field at Fenway Park taking part in an involved ceremony that included the dedication of an electric wheelchair presented to Tara Bartlett of Swampscott, Mass.

A long-time radiologist for Massachusetts General Hospital, Bartlett was recently diagnosed with ALS, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Liam and Kristi clapped with appreciation as Bartlett was given a Red Sox-branded wheelchair to assist her, as public address announcer Henry Mahegan said, “the independence she needs and deserves.”

For the second time in three years, Hendriks is one of the finalists for the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, which was created in 1955 by Phi Delta Theta, the fraternity Gehrig was part of during his days at Columbia University.

“It’s such an honor,” said Hendriks. “We’ve been able to be involved in [Lou Gehrig Day] a couple years now. We did it in ’23 with the White Sox. Every single organization that works with MLB through Lou Gehrig Day, it’s incredible. 

“And it's all based on just giving back and making sure we can do anything to make lives easier. Because this isn’t curable. This isn’t something that can be kind of contained. And unfortunately, the end is almost 100 percent [certain].”

The Pete Frates Foundation -- in honor of the late Pete Frates, the former Boston College captain who once homered at Fenway Park and started the Ice Bucket Challenge -- also took part in Monday’s ceremony.

Hendriks caught the first ceremonial pitch from Pete’s daughter, Julie. The Ice Bucket Challenge raised approximately $115 million for ALS within six weeks of its launch in 2014.

As Hendriks, a native Australian, notes, other countries have followed suit.

“In Australia, it’s MND, Motor Neuron Disease,” said Hendriks. “So they did a thing called The Big Chill. And so it was brought on by someone from the football fraternity who was diagnosed, and they do a celebrity water slide into a freezing river. They do a big jaunt for it every year, and it's a fantastic event.”

How did Hendriks, who battled non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2022-23, get involved with ALS?

“It’s just one of those things that has become a lot more prominent, especially in the media and everything like that,” Hendriks said. “More recently, a couple of the organizations we worked with didn't have anybody that really did it, and especially with Lou Gehrig Day added by MLB, that was kind of like the forefront of that, to have someone who was going out there and doing that. And so we threw our hands up, and we'll take care of anything we need to.”

Hendriks also has a fondness for renowned MLB researcher Sarah Langs, who announced her ALS diagnosis in 2022.

“I had the pleasure of meeting her several times, both pre-and post, and she’s an incredible person. Just the knowledge base of what she has in that head of hers and now going through this,” said Hendriks. “I have one of the "Stars for Sarah" sitting in my house in Arizona.”

The Red Sox continue to search for some momentum. Maybe they finally got some from Ceddanne Rafaela, who capped a three-game homestand on Wednesday with a walk-off, two-run homer that curled around Pesky’s Pole with one out in the bottom of the ninth in an 11-9 win over the Angels.

Rafaela hit the ball a projected distance of 308 feet, making it the shortest homer by a Red Sox player at Fenway since Statcast started measuring long balls in 2015 and the shortest walk-off homer by any player in any venue.

This weekend isn’t an ideal time for the Red Sox to go to the Bronx for the first time this season, given that they trail the Yankees by 9 games in the American League East.

But perhaps the high-voltage atmosphere that engulfs the rivalry will bring out the best in Boston. Walker Buehler, who closed out the Yankees with the final pitch of last year’s World Series, will get the ball on Friday night. Garrett Crochet, Boston’s ace, gets Game 2. Rookie Hunter Dobbins will pitch the Sunday Night Baseball finale. 

Red Sox manager Alex Cora was asked how surprising it is for the rivals to have this big a gap in the standings so early.

“Surprised, but not surprised with the way they’re playing,” Cora said. “I think they’ve been doing that consistently for a lot of years. Their best player is playing at …  it’s been unbelievable the numbers [Aaron Judge] is [producing]. ... One thing they do, they pitch. They’ve been pitching for a while. The program is really good. Even with injuries, they have capable guys and the guys they add are performing and when you do that consistently, you win consistently.”

The Yankees will come to Fenway next weekend.

MLB released All-Star ballots on Wednesday. There’s a change from past years on Boston’s ballot, as Rafael Devers is listed as a DH for the first time. That shouldn’t hurt his candidacy. Devers, coming off a monster May, has been one of the most productive designated hitters in the game. 

Due to Triston Casas' season-ending injury, Romy Gonzalez is Boston’s rep at first base, despite playing in just 20 games so far this season. Third baseman Alex Bregman built a strong candidacy to be an All-Star, but his significant right quad injury suffered on May 23 could prevent him from getting the votes he needs.

Given Cal Raleigh’s monster start for the Mariners, he could be close to a lock at catcher. But Carlos Narváez, perhaps Boston’s most surprising player this season, could draw consideration as a reserve.

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