MacDougall laced a tie-breaking three-run triple in the fourth to give the Tigers their first lead while Brady Morin fired 4.1 key innings of relief as Taunton earned a spot in the Div. 1 state title game in an 10-6 win over No. 6 St John’s Shrewsbury on Tuesday night at Holy Cross.

The defending champion Tigers (20-4) will make their third state final appearance in four years.

“Our guys just enjoy playing the game,” Taunton coach Blair Bourque said. “I don’t think anyone plays these games to win state championships. We play for our teammates, ourselves, our family, and our community. I’ve just incredibly proud of what these guys have accomplished so far.”

St. John’s held a tenuous 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third, but a MacDougall’s two-out RBI single to center evened the score.

One inning later, the Dayton signee who lifted Taunton to the state championship a year ago with a tie-breaking home run in the final versus Franklin, delivered again with the game-changing hit.

With the bases loaded, two outs, and a full count MacDougall, blasted a bases clearing triple to right to put Taunton in front 6-3. A wild pitch moments later brought home MacDougall to put the Tigers up 7-3.

“We had to battle back and our pitching staff did an amazing job,” MacDougall said. “We compete well. We just manage to get the job done and put up runs when we have to.”

Morin meanwhile was efficient in relief. The right hander escaped a jam in the third, held the Pioneers scoreless in the fourth and fifth, and allowing just a lone run in the sixth.

Ahead 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth, Taunton star Dawson Bryce put on the exclamation point launching a two-run blast to left to give the Tigers a 10-4 advantage.

“Ryan is a clutch player who has been hard on himself all year,” Bourque said. “He’s had some good games and some tough plays but it shows his tenacity.”

St. John’s jumped out of the gate as James Benestad blasted a leadoff home run on the second pitch of the game to put the Pioneers up 1-0. Later in the inning the visitors stretched their lead as Noah Basgaard connected on an RBI groundout before Brady Collins singled to make it 3-0 St. John’s.

“My body feels really good,” Suzuki said through an interpreter. “These past couple days I’ve just been dreaming. … I’ve been having those dreams of getting bullied. But I feel like I’m back.”

That also sounded like a perfect explanation for what has been ailing the Cubs, who returned from a 4-6 West Coast trip nine games under .500 after starting the season 12-7.

Maybe it all has been just a bad dream, and the Cubs suddenly will wake up against the division-leading Pirates, whom they play six times in their next nine games in home-and-away series.

The Cubs have been pushed around since their hot start, posting a .347 winning percentage (16-30) and threatening to fall into sellers at the trade deadline for the third straight season under President Jed Hoyer.

Can they punch back, or is this group destined to join the long list of Cubs teams that teased fans with a nice start only to show their true colors by the time the ivy bloomed?

Now is a good time to find out. Taking five of six from the Pirates would put them right back in the National League Central race, while losing both series could put them into a deep sleep and force Hoyer to consider moving players such as Marcus Stroman, Cody Bellinger, Drew Smyly and other veterans.

Only two months ago Hoyer said the Cubs were “on the front edge of where we want to be.” If this is the front edge, something is wrong.

“Our biggest thing, and I would think everyone would agree with this, is like, we have to continue building and finding our identity as a group because that’s going to pay us the biggest dividends,” shortstop Dansby Swanson told me Tuesday.

“Playing our version of baseball every day, no matter who we’re playing, is what we need. We did that in San Fran. We played well the first two days there. Slowly but surely we’re finding our rhythm.”

The Cubs had played 40% of their season already. Shouldn’t they have found their identity by now?

“For sure,” he said. “But when I say that it’s like continue to build on what winning baseball looks like and how we are cultivating that as a group, right? We’re slowly but surely starting to find that and understand roles and where guys are best suited. You’ve seen some of the differences in lineup changes and trying to get the right pieces in place because we’ve got a lot of really good players here.”

Manager David Ross used a set top of the lineup for most of the first two months, with Nico Hoerner, Swanson, Ian Happ and Suzuki, respectively, as his Nos. 1-4 hitters. Journeyman Mike Tauchman was back in the leadoff spot Tuesday, while Hoerner dropped to second, Happ to the cleanup spot and Swanson back down to the No. 5 hole.

Individually, Hoerner, Swanson, Suzuki and Happ have put up respectable numbers and been the least of Ross’ problems. But he had to try something new, and Swanson said he’s comfortable batting anywhere.

“If it jump-starts us one way or another,” he said.

Ross suggested this Pirates series was no different from any other, repeating his mantra from the last, oh, three years.

“We need to play our best brand of baseball,” he said, adding “not one game is more important to me than the next.”

Confirmed.

There was some good news to report Tuesday. Justin Steele, second to Stroman among National League ERA leaders, could return from the injured list during the weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles. And Bellinger, out since May 16 with a bruised left knee, was scheduled to begin his rehab stint Tuesday night at Triple-A Iowa, playing first base. While Bellinger’s Gold Glove-caliber defense in center was one of the reasons for the good start, Ross sounded as if he’s OK with leaving Tauchman in center and sticking Bellinger at first when he’s ready to return.

“Tauchman is swinging the bat really well and held down center field well,” Ross said. “Just trying to find the best lineup whenever Belli gets back. He’s pretty darn good at first base and has been. Having another option over the makes sense. … First-base production hasn’t been one of our strengths this year. Got to get somebody going over there.”

That means Matt Mervis, the highly touted prospect hitting .165 since his mid-May call-up, might be playing on borrowed time. Cubs first baseman — specifically Mervis, Trey Mancini and the recently released Eric Hosmer — are third worst among major-league teams with a combined .329 slugging percentage.

Except for a brief surge from Frank Schwindel in the final two months of 2021, the position has been a black hole since the Cubs dealt Anthony Rizzo to the New York Yankees two years ago. Ross called Mervis a young player “trying to find his way in the major leagues,” adding “the bats have been fine.”

In other moves Tuesday, the Cubs recalled Iowa infielder Miles Mastrobuoni, who hit .169 in his previous two stints, and selected the contract of Iowa left-hander Anthony Kay. Brandon Hughes was placed on the 15-day IL with left knee inflammation, and Jeremiah Estrada was optioned to Iowa. Nick Burdi, on the 15-day IL with appendicitis, was transferred to the 60-day IL to make room for Kay on the 40-man roster.

A lingering rainstorm prevented the Cubs-Pirates game from starting on time and delayed Suzuki’s return from whatever vague aliment kept him on the bench in San Francisco.

“I’m hoping I can get some good dreams in tonight,” Suzuki said.

After watching the nightmarish stretch of baseball since late April, Cubs fans could relate.

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1. Receiver Chase Claypool is dealing with “a few things” health-wise that are preventing him from practicing, Eberflus said.

Yes, you read that correctly. “A few things.” As in plural. Claypool has been off the practice field the past three weeks with what was originally described as an unspecified soft-tissue injury. Now, per Eberflus, there is more than one thing to keep an eye on. And Claypool’s missed practice time is significant as he tries to take a big leap forward in his first full season with the Bears, develop/ing timing and building rapport with quarterback Justin Fields.

“Training camp will be big,” Eberflus said.

Eberflus emphasized he still views Claypool’s injuries as minor.

“What’s great about this time of year is we have the luxury of him working with the trainers,” Eberflus said. “He’s not on a time crunch and we can get him fully healthy working into the summer because we have 40 days when we break from (minicamp) to get ready to report to training camp. So that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Claypool isn’t the only key Bears receiver working back from an injury setback. Darnell Mooney, who suffered a season-ending fibula fracture in November that required surgery, is still hoping to be back for training camp next month. But when Eberflus was pressed Tuesday to clarify whether Mooney has been cleared to do any on-field running he declined to answer directly.

“They have a progression for that, from working in the water to working on zero-gravity treadmills and all that stuff, and then working on grass. I’ll just tell you this: He’s on track with where he’s supposed to be.”

Eberflus also said linebacker Jack Sanborn is likely to be full-go for training camp as he completes his recovery from the ankle injury that ended his rookie season in Week 15. Eberflus said Sanborn will open camp as the Bears’ starter at strong side linebacker with fifth-round pick Noah Sewell also in the mix.

2. Guard Nate Davis downplayed his absence from the first two weeks of organized team activities.

Davis joined the Bears on a three-year, $30 million deal in March but chose to skip chunks of the offseason program, including a half-dozen OTA practices last month. Davis explained his decision as “normal routine for me.”

“At the same time,” he said, “I was in communication with the coaches, even with the players, staying in the playbook. I was also able to take care of some off-the-field stuff too. I’m here now. That’s what really matters.”

A lot will be expected of Davis on the interior of the offensive line, particularly as the offensive line attempts to enhance Fields’ comfort in the pocket. He said he is eager to see the line continue to jell through training camp and expressed his eagerness to continue developing under Bears offensive line coach Chris Morgan.

“He’ll get the best out of me,” Davis said.

3. Rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson has made a positive early impression.

Stevenson, whom the Bears traded up to draft in the second round in April, is on a fasttrack to being a Week 1 starter in a cornerback trio that also includes Jaylon Johnson outside and Kyler Gordon in the slot. Stevenson’s athleticism and work habits have quickly caught the attention of coaches, with Eberflus also praising his ball skills and instincts and noting that Stevenson has quickly become a player other defenders gravitate to.

“He’s a likable guy because he does love football and he is competitive,” Eberflus said. “So I think he fits well with Gordon and (Jaquan) Brisker and Eddie (Jackson) and all those guys who are really competitive and like to grind it and like to practice.”

Safety Eddie Jackson compared Stevenson’s quick emergence to that of Jaquan Brisker, who quickly seized a starting role as a rookie last season.

“It’s the mindset he’s coming out there with,” Jackson said. “Young guy? Don’t care. Years in the league? That don’t matter. He just wants to go out and ball.”

4. Add another testimonial to the Justin Fields-to-DJ Moore brochure at Halas Hall.

Fields and Moore continue to be on the same page and have been so productive in practices over the past month that not a day goes by where someone in the building doesn’t forecast a bright future for the duo.

Tuesday’s endorsement came from veteran defensive tackle Justin Jones.

“That (number) 1 to (number) 2 connection is going to be crazy this year,” Jones said. “I’m going to tell you that right now. I like what I see. DJ Moore is a great addition. … He is somebody who can get open, who can run every route on the route tree. He can beat man (coverage), press, any type of coverage you throw at him. Double teams, he’s running right by guys, hitting them with double moves.”

The potential for Fields and Moore to continue growing together is high and the internal expectations for what their production will be are growing.

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For the first half of Tuesday’s Division 2 state semifinal, heavy underdog East Longmeadow did just that, and were within shouting distance.

But after that, East Longmeadow found out what everyone who has played NDA already knows: running with the Cougars for 50 minutes is a different story.

NDA pulled away with a dominant second half in a 22-6 rout that was on running clock for most of the second half. The Cougars are now 24-0 and advance to the state final, where they hope to repeat as D2 state champs.

East Longmeadow’s season ends at 18-4.

“Absolutely, I think, especially this team, I think that was why it was a tougher first half for us,” said NDA’s Emma Connerty, who scored four goals. “They kept up. They were keeping up. That threw us off, because we like our fast breaks and pushing in transition. They were with us, and I think that kind of slowed us down. But, again, we just picked it up in the second half.”

It was a balanced attack for NDA, as Siobhan Colin and Jane Hilsabeck scored four goals. Alexa Kenney and Aubrey McMahon had three each, and Carolina Haggerty, Elizabeth Dillon, Taylor Watts, and Reilly Walsh all had one goal apiece.

NDA led most of the first half, but East Longmeadow hung around. The Spartans scored the final three goals of the opening frame, including one from Addy Jordan with nine seconds to go, as NDA only held an 8-5 edge.

But that was as close as the Spartans would get. NDA scored the next 13 goals before the Spartans answered, and it was well over from there.

“We knew that they were going to come out (strong). They were very strong on the draw, very good in transition. I felt like they capitalized on all our first-half mistakes. We got a little careless with the ball, just a little bit too eager with our decisions. They were on every single ground ball, finished every shot. We just needed to make sure we cleaned up our execution in the second half and did a better job finishing,” Notre Dame head coach Meredith McGinnis said.

Luckily, her scintillating senior captain, Lil Hancock, had what her coach was looking for.

Hancock’s ground ball win off the final draw of the game helped the Wolverines seal a 10-9 win, to allow them the opportunity to play for a possible third girls lacrosse state title in a row.

Westwood improves to 22-3, while Franklin ends its season at 20-4.

When asked if she noticed who made that play, Spatola said, “I have no clue,” but acknowledged its importance.

“We needed that,” Spatola said. “It was about time.”

Hancock scored two goals in a balanced Westwood attack. Caroline Nozzolillo, Emilie DeMaio, and Charlotte DeMaio also scored twice, and Kella McGrail and Ava Connaughton each added a goal.

Westwood goalie Riley Harrington made 10 saves and was terrific in the first half, with eight.

But Franklin dominated in the draws in the second half, and worked its way back from an 8-1 deficit. Led by Katie Peterson, who was great on the draws and scored four goals, the Panthers had all the momentum.

Hancock secured the final draw though with a little over three minutes remaining, and Westwood survived.

“It was key,” said Hancock, who complimented Nozzilillo on the last possession. “We had to get it, or else they would have scored and made it a tie game. It could have gone into overtime. But we knew we could get it, and we all trusted each other and fought to the end.”

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said the entire roster reported for minicamp, and the team posted images of Dobbins in uniform on its website Monday. The fourth-year running back has expressed doubts about his long-term future with the Ravens, saying in a series of tweets that he’d like to stay in Baltimore for the rest of his career but “Idk tho sadly.”

When Harbaugh was asked about Dobbins before practice, he didn’t indicate anything was amiss. He talked about Dobbins’ potential in new offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s attack: “It’s going to be interesting how he fits in, because J.K. has a lot of dynamic ability — backfield, motion, wide plays, inside plays, as a receiver out of the backfield I think he’s got a lot of potential. I’m very excited about J.K. and how he’s going to fit in here.”

Dobbins, who did not participate in voluntary organized team activities, is entering the last year of his rookie contract. He played eight games last season, averaging an impressive 5.7 yards per carry, after returning from a knee injury that cost him the entire 2021 campaign. He expressed frustration after he did not get the ball in a crucial goal-line situation in the Ravens’ playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Dobbins and wide receiver Rashod Bateman, who observed from the sideline, were the most notable absences from a well-attended practice. Fullback Patrick Ricard and cornerback Damarion “Pepe” Williams were not in uniform but worked out on the side. Harbaugh did not specify Williams’ injury but said the 2022 third-round pick won’t participate in minicamp: “He tells me he’s going to be back for training camp. We’ll see.”

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What the senior attackman didn’t truly realize, however, was that he was on the verge of turning a career performance. Sawyer went on to register a game-high four goals, as the top-seeded Eagles clinched their third straight trip to the Div. 1 boys lacrosse championship with a convincing 14-5 rout of No. 5 Hingham at Weston High School.

“I didn’t get told, but I had a feeling I would play,” Sawyer said afterward. “I felt good coming into the game, and everything went well today.”

These two historic programs had already engaged in one barn-burner this spring on May 27, with St. John’s Prep (21-1) closing its regular season with a thrilling 12-9 win. Most envisioned a similar battle in the semifinals. For the first seven minutes, it certainly appeared that it would pan out as such. Harlan Graber sniped a goal 48 seconds into play to provide the Eagles a 1-0 edge, a score that would hold until later in the opening frame.

Hingham (20-3) made an emphasis to neutralize St. John’s Prep standout attackman Jimmy Ayers, and successfully did so for the most part. However, in doing so, the Harbormen began to surrender opportunities midway through the first quarter. Cam McCarthy found the net off a rebound with 4:48 to play in the frame for the Eagles. Jake Vana then added a pair of goals before Christian Esposito scored following a face-off win to close the stanza. Suddenly, St. John’s Prep was leading 5-1 at the end of the stanza.

Yet, even when the Harbormen managed to find ways to subtract those star players, someone else managed to step up for the Eagles.

Enter Sawyer. The senior proceeded to record a hat trick in the second quarter alone, the last of which came with 12.4 seconds left in the half as St. John’s Prep seized an 8-1 lead at the break.

“I actually was thinking this morning about last year when we went down (to Hingham) and jumped out on them,” chuckled St. John’s Prep lacrosse coach John Pynchon. “We did everything really well in the first half, and I think we were up 8-1. Then in the second game, it was much closer. I was like: ‘It would be really nice if we could flip those games this year, because we already did the close one.’ ”

While Hingham found somewhat of a spark from senior captain Joe Hennessey (two goals, assist), the Harbormen were simply unable to keep up with the Eagles’ high-octane attack. When all was said and done, eight different players scored for St. John’s Prep.

McCarthy, Vana and Lucas Verrier each finished with two goals apiece for the Eagles.

To this point in the postseason, St. John’s Prep has outscored its opposition at a whopping 57-9. Now, the Eagles will look to continue their dynastic run by winning the Div. 1 title for a third consecutive year this upcoming weekend.

When the game was over, the Eagles gathered for their traditional ‘Circle’ to celebrate their latest victory. It was then that Sawyer was awarded the ‘Chain’ for the second time this year, given to the player of the game.

“It’s my senior year,” said Sawyer. “This is what I live for. I want to win (it all) as a senior. I’m just trying to do that.”

The Mets’ first baseman was taking ground balls at Citi Field on Tuesday ahead of the team’s first game of the Subway Series. Alonso was hit on the left wrist with a pitch last week in Atlanta and went on the 10-day injured list with a contusion and a sprain. The league’s home run leader with 22 long balls is expected to be out for three to four weeks, but it sounds like he might be ahead of schedule.

“He’s progressing well. He’s starting to do some things,” manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday at Citi Field before the Mets hosted the Yankees. “We all know when he’s eligible [to come off the injured list]. We’ll see if we get there.”

Showalter said he doesn’t want to “handicap” it when it comes to looking at a date for his return. But it goes without saying that getting the team’s best hitter back would be a boon for a struggling club. The Mets rank toward the bottom half of the league in OPS (.715), slugging percentage (.369) and average with runners in scoring position (.244).

“I think we’re too far off from that,” Showalter said. “You’ve got a lot of bridges to cross to say going to happen. Not there yet. I think we’ll take this week and see how he feels as we go forward. But I talked to him a couple of days ago, talked to him again early this morning after he went to the doctor. So I knew he was going out and doing some things, but little by little, hopefully, we’ll get there sooner rather than later.”

As much as the Mets need Alonso back, they need quality starting pitching. Left-handed starter Jose Quintana is nearing a return from spring bone graft surgery and went out on a rehab assignment Tuesday with Low-A St. Lucie. Quintana will pitch two innings to start, with the aim being to pitch five before the Mets put him in the rotation.

The Mets want to exercise caution given the freak nature of his injury (lesion on left rib), but the club is encouraged by his progress.

The situation with right-hander Tylor Megill and left-hander David Peterson has become untenable. Peterson was demoted to Triple-A last month and still hasn’t found his stride. Megill has gone 1-2 with a 7.15 ERA over his last five starts. The team had considered shuffling the rotation to skip Megill this weekend when the Mets host the St. Louis Cardinals for three games, but Showalter refuted those plans and said he expects Megill to start to Friday.

“We’re still hoping that McGill and Pete kind of graduate to another level,” Showalter said.

Keeping Megill in that Friday spot would allow the Mets to give Saturday starter, right-hander Kodai Senga, an extra day off his next turn through the rotation. The Mets have favored extra rest for the Japanese rookie.

The Mets also received positive news about Triple-A shortstop Ronny Mauricio, who was thought to have a sprained ankle. An MRI showed only a bone bruise and he’s considered day-to-day. In this case, the Mets might have avoided the worst.

RED STORM STRIKE

St. John’s basketball coach Rick Pitino caught the first pitch Tuesday. Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, a four-time NBA All-Star guard and the son of Mets director of player relations Donovan Mitchell Sr., caught the throw from his former college coach. Mitchel played for the former Knicks coach at Louisville.

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No. 9 batter Bella Boyer rocked River View Field with a two-run homer in the fifth inning that gave the top-seeded Raiders a lead it never relinquished in a 4-2 win over the Tanners.

Central (23-1) advances to face either Taunton or King Philip at UMass Amherst this weekend for a state title.

“I’m just happy that I could get a hit like that for the team,” Boyer said.

One of those people not truly surprised that Boyer came up huge was Central coach Stacy Ciccolo.

“We have a lot of faith in Bella,” Ciccolo said. “We like having her in that spot so we can turn the order around.”

The Raiders were fortunate to be in a 2-2 tie as they left nine on base over the first four innings against Peabody’s Abby Bettencourt. Central also committed three errors and saw Logan Lomasney and Bettencourt homer in the first and third innings respectively to give the Tanners (22-2) a 2-1 lead.

Central (23-1) tied the game in the bottom of the fourth as Amelia Orelles led off with a walk. A ground out and a fly ball got pinch runner Jill Clements to third with two outs where Caitlin Milner singled to left to deadlock things.

Peabody threatened in the top of the fifth as Bettencourt scorched a double to left and stole third, setting up the game’s most controversial moment.

Lomasney hit a slow roller to first baseman Ava Perrotta, who stepped on the bag and fired home to get a sliding Bettencourt by inches. Peabody coach Tawny Palmieri vehemently argued the call but it was upheld.

That set the stage for Boyer’s dramatics. Perotta singled and was still at first with two outs when Boyer turned on the first pitch she saw and rocketed one well over the bullpen in left field for a 4-2 lead.

“Abby was doing a great job of keeping us off-balance and we didn’t do a great job of getting the hits we needed with people on,” Ciccolo said. “Once we finally settled down we were able to make the adjustments.”

Elizabeth Kearney came in for Julia Malowitz in the circle to begin the sixth and she slammed the door on Peabody in the final two innings to save the win.

Progress is the message and focus as they rebuild from the rubble of last season. Mac Jones has dusted himself enough off to believe Bill O’Brien’s system can and should inspire hope, if not belief, for the 2023 season. Life will be different in Foxboro when the Patriots have the ball.

But when they don’t? When Bill Belichick’s defense prowls the field, sneering and hunting from sideline to sideline? Forget hope.

It’s time to convert already.

Early signs are the next Patriots defense will be fast, deep and multiple. Violent, vicious and deceptive. This unit forced Jones and Bailey Zappe to pump the ball and hang in the pocket repeatedly during team drills this spring, including Tuesday’s minicamp practice.

Jones tossed two picks, while thumping safeties, freak man-cover cornerbacks and pass-rushers took turns flashing all across the field. Defense dominated every 11-on-11 period to the point players began impressing themselves.

“I’ve never been a part of something so fast like that,” said safety Jabrill Peppers, who individually runs a 4.4.

It may not be until early in the regular season that Jones and Co. find similar cohesion and give reason to celebrate. But the Patriots defense, a top-3 unit last year that Bill Belichick kept almost entirely intact and bolstered with high draft picks this offseason?

Get your popcorn ready.

Here are the rest of the Herald’s observations from practice:

Attendance

Returned: OT Trent Brown

Absent: WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, OL Mike Onwenu, DL Lawrence Guy, WR Tyquan Thornton, DL Keion White, DB Quandre Mosely, WR Kayshon Boutte

Limited: S Cody Davis

Non-contact jersey: LB Marte Mapu, OL Atonio Mafi

Dress code: Helmets and shorts

Notes: Trent Brown returned to practice, but departed for a lower field after positional drills. He was closer to being a non-participant than a full one. This, of course, hurt the Patriots’ offensive tackle depth. No other player absent Monday suited up Tuesday, while second-round rookie Keion White sat out practice after a minor injury scare the day before.

Play of the Day

DeVante Parker’s back-corner touchdown

DeAndre who?

Parker staked an early claim to keeping his starting “X” receiver job with a spectacular grab over Jonathan Jones in a 7-on-7 drill early in practice. Mac Jones floated a perfect 30-yard pass into the back left corner, Parker plucked it over Jones’ head and took care of the rest. One of the best contested-catch receivers in the game showed why he has that reputation Tuesday.

Player of the Day

CB Jack Jones

Back-to-back.

Jones wins this award for a second straight practice after snatching an interception for a second straight day. As one play dragged on during 7-on-7 work, he dropped off his assigned receiver to pick a deep Mac Jones pass intended for Hunter Henry on an out-and-up route. Jones also intercepted third-string quarterback Trace McSorley when his starting defense faced the Pats’ scout-team offense in an 11-on-11 period.

QB Corner

Note: The passing stats below were tallied during competitive 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods only. Stats in parentheses cover all of minicamp.

Mac Jones: 23/32, 2 INTs (39/50, 2 INTs)

Notes: Here’s the good: Jones was more aggressive, and successfully so, during initial 7-on-7 periods that included the play of the day. He maintained the same command he showed Tuesday. A few problems that cropped up in 11-on-11s — like busted screens — weren’t his fault.

The bad: His other interception was a pass Marcus Jones undercut before it could reach Kendrick Bourne on an in-breaking route during a 2-minute drill. As was the case Monday, it’s unclear how fast the second-string defense should have been playing during that drill.  Overall, though, Jones performed OK around a 3-of-7 dry spell in one full-team period against the starting defense. A decent day.

Studs

S Joshuah Bledsoe

Remember him? The little-used safety recorded a team-high two pass breakups in team drills, extending himself to bat down a Trace McSorley pass to the flat and blanketing tight end Anthony Firkser to deflect another pass from Bailey Zappe. Bledsoe will need more of these performances to make the team again.

OLB Matt Judon

The Pats’ best pass-rusher flexed on new left tackle Calvin Anderson by zipping right by him for the only non-coverage sack in team drills. Judon remains a certified problem.

Duds

WR Kendrick Bourne

Despite taking virtually all of the first-team reps, and the absences of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton, Bourne failed to register a catch. Quarterbacks went 0-for-2 when targeting him, including Mac Jones’ second interception.

K Chad Ryland

Ryland slipped on his first field goal try and missed a 43-yarder at the end of practice, while incumbent Nick Folk nailed all of his kicks. It’s way too early to move Ryland off being the favorite to win the job, but the rookie surely wants that period back.

Offensive notes

• Top targets in competitive team drills: Hunter Henry 7, Devante Parker 7, Pierre Strong 7, Mike Gesicki 5, Rhamondre Stevenson 4, Anthony Firkser 4, Malik Cunningham 4
• Penalties: None
• The Patriots’ first-team offense again worked exclusively from two-tight end personnel: running back Rhamondre Stevenson, wideouts DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne and tight ends Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki.
• Mac Jones enjoyed a fast start, going 5-of-6 in an opening period of 7-on-7 work. Among the completions, he hit Parker for a back-corner touchdown on the Play of the Day and Henry on a corner route over Joshuah Bledsoe.
• After Jack Jones picked his first pass in the next drill, Jones finished 4-of-5, including a 30-plus-yard slot fade throw to Gesicki with Adrian Phillips in tight coverage. Perfect throw.
• Around Jones’ 7-on-7 periods, Bailey Zappe dealt with bouts of inaccuracy. He went a combined 6-of-11 to start practice, firing behind receivers and overthrowing third-string tight end Scotty Washington on an out route.
• Zappe reined himself in, however, for a rare period of 11-on-11 work with the starters. He relied entirely on flat throws and checkdowns and went 5-of-5, though he took a sack and whipped one pass that would have led Gesicki straight into obvious trouble on a screen.
• Overall, Zappe finished 13-of-21 and was more erratic than Jones. Again, there is a clear hierarchy in the quarterbacks room, and it shows Jones at the top.
• That said, in the only 11-on-11 period that pitted Jones’ starting offense against the top defense, he went 3-of-7 with a sack and one checkdown. He suffered from a busted screen, overthrow, batted pass at the line and Henry drop.
• In the backfield, Stevenson caught all four targets and took a couple hand-offs as the coaching staff mixed in some light work. Pierre Strong was frequently up next and recorded a team-high seven catches.
• Jones’ connections with his tight ends — one fostered partly due to a lack of receiver depth — is evident and strong. So far in minicamp, he’s completed 10 of 13 passes to Henry and gone 9-of-10 throwing at Gesicki.
• Nice bounce-back day for DeVante Parker, who caught five of his seven targets. He was in the vicinity of two pass breakups on Monday and zero Tuesday.

Sacks: Judon, Team
Absent: Smith-Schuster, Onwenu, Thornton, Guy, Keion White, Boutte, Mosely, Ju. Tavai
Trent Brown returned, was not a full participant.
OT depth is troubling. Starting OTs: Calvin Anderson and Conor McDermott. Backups: Riley Reiff and rookie Sidy Sow.

— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) June 13, 2023

• Bourne’s performance in training camp deserves extra attention. Not only because he went catch-less Tuesday despite eating up first-team reps, but two of his five grabs in Monday’s practice — when he also took a penalty lap — came on screens.
• Not to mention, if DeAndre Hopkins signs, Bourne could be on his way out due to a logjam at receiver and his team-friendly contract on its final year.
• None of the backup receivers have flashed enough to warrant consideration as a sleeper to make the final 53-man roster — yet.
• Trent Brown’s absence in team drills left Calvin Anderson starting at left tackle and Conor McDermott at right tackle. Their backups were Riley Reiff and fourth-round rookie Sidy Sow, respectively.
• That, of course, is a major concern given Brown’s inconsistent conditioning and spotty injury history. It’s been five years since Sow, a college guard, played offensive tackle in a game.
• Inside, fourth-round rookie Jake Andrews took the first reps in Mike Onwenu’s place at right guard. Andrews rotated with practice-squad alum Bill Murray, who converted from defensive line less than a year ago.
• Interestingly, Andrews also replaced starting center David Andrews halfway through Zappe’s lone 11-on-11 period with the starters. The younger Andrews currently projects as the team’s backup center, but the Patriots invite competition at every position, even at the expense of established veterans and captains.
• From left to right, the second-team offensive line: Reiff, Chasen Hines, James Ferentz, Bill Murray and Sow. Fifth-round rookie Atonio Mafi also took reps at left guard with the second team and a few first-team reps at right guard.
• During special teams periods, the quarterbacks threw to the side with the tight ends, including Washington. He’s a former wide receiver who bulked up almost 30 pounds to play his new position and appeared in one game last season, the Christmas Eve loss to Cincinnati.

Defensive notes

• Starting personnel used during 11-on-11 periods: defensive linemen Davon Godchaux, Deatrich Wise, Christian Barmore, Carl Davis and Daniel Ekuale; linebackers Matt Judon, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Josh Uche and Jahlani Tavai and defensive backs Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips, Jonathan Jones, Christian Gonzalez, Jack Jones, Jalen Mills, Marcus Jones and Jabrill Peppers.
• Interceptions: Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips
• Pass breakups: Joshuah Bledsoe 2, Christian Barmore
• Would-be sacks: Matt Judon, Team
• Penalties: Anfernee Jennings (offsides)

• Have another day, Jack Jones. He didn’t allow a completion in man coverage, per the Herald’s charting, as he continued to rotate with Jonathan Jones and Christian Gonzalez at outside cornerback.
• Gonzalez did not stand out for reasons good or bad. Overall, the first-round rookie has been a natural fit at minicamp.
• Jonathan Jones took a few reps at safety during 7-on-7 work, a position he’s moonlighted at before. Jones most notably played back deep during the Patriots’ last Super Bowl win over the Rams as a game-plan wrinkle.
• The plan to replace Devin McCourty appears to involve all available safeties, including possibly the eldest Jones. Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, Adrian Phillips and Jalen Mills all took turns rotating into deep-half coverage and/or a single-high spot as the free safety with the first-team defense in 11-on-11 work.
• That group did not include 2021 sixth-rounder Joshuah Bledsoe, who was the most productive of all defensive backs and started the second 7-on-7 period. Great day for him.
• Up front, the defensive line rapidly recognized most screens a day after Bill O’Brien dialed up a ton of misdirection. Deatrich Wise and Christian Barmore were among those fastest on the scene against running back and receiver screens.
• Josh Uche has had an unexpectedly quiet minicamp considering his raw talent, the non-padded setting and lack of starting-caliber offensive tackles across from him.
• Third-round rookie linebacker Marte Mapu took snaps with the first, second and third-team units. He bounced between linebacker and safety, and yet again earned high praise from veterans in their post-practice press conferences.
• The Patriots’ starting unit used far more personnel groupings with two linebackers in team drills. Interestingly, Mack Wilson — their fastest linebacker who was benched for most of the second half of last season — joined Ja’Whaun Bentley on those downs.
• Bentley, again, was a staple in the middle of Belichick’s defense for every drill and starting package.

Special teams

• Punt returners: Marcus Jones, Jabrill Peppers, Myles Bryant, Demario Douglas, Ed Lee
• Kick returners: Isaiah Bolden, Ed Lee

• Starting punt team: Bryce Baringer, Joe Cardona, Matthew Slater, Chris Board, Brenden Schooler, DaMarcus Mitchell, Jonathan Jones, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Mack Wilson, Jahlani Tavai, Jabrill Peppers
• Starting kickoff team: Chad Ryland, Matthew Slater, Chris Board, Brenden Schooler, DaMarcus Mitchell, Raleigh Webb, Jonathan Jones, Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, Jalen Mills, Mack Wilson
• Nick Folk out-performed rookie Chad Ryland during end-of-practice field goal attempts. Meanwhile, rookie Bryce Baringer seemed to at worst draw veteran Corliss Waitman and crushed a few balls that reached notably higher heights than Waitman’s.
• Seventh-round rookie Isaiah Bolden continues to see top reps on kickoff returns. He was the best kick returner in college football in 2021 at Jackson State, though the staff won’t know what it has with him until training camp or perhaps the preseason.
• Matthew Slater and Jonathan Jones repped as the starting gunners on punt team. Tre Nixon and Jourdan Heilig, an undrafted rookie who hardly played any defense in college at Appalachian State, were their backups.

Extra points

• Former Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman visited practice.
• Penn State head coach James Franklin attended his second straight practice and spoke briefly to the team after they huddled at the end.

Pastore fired rounds of 68 and 66 to reach 10-under at TPC Boston in Norton. In second place was amateur John Broderick. Broderick, playing out of Dedham Country & Polo Club, has been consistent, carding rounds of 68 and 68.

One shot back of Broderick in a four-way tie for third place at 7-under were Kyle Gallo of Berlin, Conn. (70-67), Brad Adamonis of Ponte Vedra, Fla. (68-69), Mike Van Sickle of Wexford, Pa. (71-66) and Nicholas Pandelena of Atkinson, N.H. (68-69).

The inaugural event was won in 1905 when the legendary Donald Ross was the winner at Vesper Country Club in Tyngsboro.

Hours later, Baltimore placed Mountcastle on the 10-day injured list with vertigo, the sensation that the environment around oneself is moving or spinning. About 4:15 p.m. Tuesday, Hyde said Mountcastle was set to go through a full pregame routine and be available off the bench, with hopes he could be in Wednesday’s lineup. The roster move, which is retroactive to Saturday, came just before the game’s 7:05 p.m. first pitch.

To fill Mountcastle’s place on the active roster, the Orioles selected the contract of Mark Kolozsvary, adding a third catcher to the roster. Baltimore designated right-handed pitcher Noah Denoyer — the organization’s No. 20 prospect according to Baseball America — to create a 40-man roster spot for Kolozsvary.

Mountcastle, 26, leads the Orioles with 11 home runs, though he hit only one in his past 15 games while batting .158 with a .459 OPS and 20 strikeouts in 65 plate appearances. In his past eight games, Mountcastle was 4-for-30 with no extra-base hits and 11 strikeouts. The IL stint comes at an unfortunate time for Mountcastle, who has dominated the Blue Jays. In 45 career games against Toronto, Mountcastle has slashed .306/.368/.613.

Kolozsvary hit .200/.238/.450 for the Cincinnati Reds last season in his first major league action. The Orioles claimed him on waivers in October and outrighted him off the 40-man roster the next month. Between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, the 27-year-old was hitting .172 with a .549 OPS in 25 games, often spending time with the Orioles as a member of their taxi squad.

Signed as a free agent after going unselected in the 2019 draft, Denoyer, 25, was added to Baltimore’s 40-man roster in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft after he posted a 2.61 ERA and 35.4% strikeout rate for Bowie last year, working largely as a bulk reliever. In a similar role this season at Triple-A, he has a 5.04 ERA while walking 6.5 batters per nine innings, more than triple his rate from last season. The Orioles have a week to trade Denoyer or try to pass him through waivers.

This story will be updated.

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However, that doesn’t appear to be something the Yankees are considering, as Hal Steinbrenner said the club hasn’t discussed the possibility of demoting Volpe, per MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. The owner added that he told Volpe at the end of spring training that the Yankees weren’t just giving the 22-year-old a three-week audition when the team named him the starting shortstop.

“You can benefit from so many things in this game,” Aaron Boone added when asked if it was best for Volpe to experience growing pains in the majors. “Like there’s not the end-all answer. My feel and my belief in Anthony is that the cream is gonna rise to the top. I believe in his ability and the person, that he’s going to be an outstanding player in this game, and we’ve seen signs of that already all year. He’s had his fair share of struggles, but he’s also been in the middle of a lot of winning.”

Volpe has made positive contributions in his first 67 games, totaling nine home runs, 26 RBI and 14 stolen bases entering his first Subway Series on Tuesday. He’s yet to be caught running.

But Volpe’s 77 strikeouts easily led the Yankees, and he was slashing just .186/.260/.345. His already-poor numbers have been worse over his last 80 plate appearances: he’s slashing .122/.175/.257. Volpe has also been striking out more and walking less compared to earlier in the season, when his speed and knack for getting on-base alleviated some shortcomings.

Volpe has also had some bumps in the field. While he’s made spectacular plays throughout the season, he’s also booted routine ones with regularity. His seven errors led the team entering Tuesday.

Peraza, meanwhile, has been hitting .321/.396/.728 with 10 homers and 17 RBI over 19 games since returning to Triple-A on May 14. Still, Volpe’s job doesn’t currently appear to be in danger.

“When we made the decision to go with Anthony at the start of the season, it wasn’t that we thought he was just gonna light the world on fire right away,” Boone said. “We expected that there’d be some ups and downs. But one of the things we’re betting on is the person, too, and knowing that he’d able to handle some of the inevitable adversity, some of the inevitable challenges and adjustments that you got to make.”

Boone said that some of those adjustments include getting Volpe’s strikeouts down, as he had racked up 28 in his last 24 games entering Tuesday. He’s striking out 30.8% of the time this season — nearly matching what he did over a limited stint at Triple-A last year.

“There’s adjustments to be made,” Boone said. “I think we’re talking about the right things to get him on track and get him really going the way we feel like he’s capable of. That’s part of it. Mechanically, you can get a little bit out of sync. That can take you out of it for a little bit.”

While Boone acknowledged Volpe has some improvements to make at the plate, the manager hasn’t wavered when discussing his belief in the rookie with the media. Boone also said that he expresses that confidence to the player “every now and then,” but he tries not to send the wrong message by overdoing it.

“We believe in him a lot,” Boone said, adding that Volpe has been the same person through peaks and valleys. “And part of that is we’re gonna treat him like he’s one of our key guys. So I’ve gone about that a lot. There’s certain days you pick a spot, you have a little conversation, but at the same time, I probably do that on some level with even some of our most veteran guys.

“I truly believe he’s equipped for all this.”

BADER IN BOSTON

Boone said the “the hope” is to have Harrison Bader return against the Red Sox on Friday in Boston.

Bader, out since May 29 with a hamstring injury, went through a full workout on Tuesday at Citi Field. He will play in a rehab game at Somerset on Wednesday.

RORTVEDT HURT AGAIN

Ben Rortvedt, the Yankees’ oft-injured No. 3 catcher, has suffered another injury at Triple-A. He landed on the seven-day injured list with a bone bruise after getting hit by a pitch, per Boone.

The skipper’s understanding was that Rortvedt wouldn’t miss more than a week, but the only other catchers on the Yankees’ 40-man roster are major leaguers Jose Trevino and Kyle Higashioka.

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One year after receiving NL MVP votes, Lindor is hitting just .216 with an OPS+ of 96. However, he does have 12 home runs, which is tied for second on the team with Francisco Alvarez. He made a brutal error over the weekend in Pittsburgh in the first of a three-game series, the same day Gucci released their collaboration on a custom glove.

The timing wasn’t great, but just about everything this season has been off for the Mets. Heading into the start of the Subway Series on Tuesday, the Mets were 31-35, good enough for fourth place in the NL East. An underperforming club has been searching for answers for the last month, maybe even longer, which has been the most frustrating part.

“It’s been difficult in that sense of, there are days I can’t explain how we lost,” Lindor said. “There are other days when I can explain. Like, days when I had the chance to impact the game, but I didn’t do it.”

The Mets continue to find creative ways to lose, losing eight of their last nine coming into the week. Each loss seems to be more befuddling than the last.

“It’s a difficult stretch, not because we’re losing because of the lack of effort, or because we’re losing because of we’re not playing well,” Lindor said. “A lot of the games that we have lost we’ve been like, ‘What happened?’ And then, there’s been a lot of times where I don’t hit, where I don’t get it done.”

Lindor has experienced stretches like this in the past, but it’s much different now that he has a family. His 3-year-old daughter Kalina offers a mental break that he never fully understood until his wife, Katia, gave birth to her. Katia is due any day with baby No. 2.

“Going home to my girls, it changes everything,” Lindor said. “It’s almost like a safe haven. I’m at ease when I’m with them. It has been different to struggle with a family and struggle without a wife and a daughter.”

Katia is ready to give birth to baby No. 2 any day now. Lindor has consistently expressed awe and admiration for her and for all of the women in his life for various reasons. They might be mothers, but they’re also compassionate. They help the 29-year-old disconnect from baseball in a different way.

“I had my mom before,” he said. “Going home, my mom would make something to eat and we inherited would sit on the couch for hours and not say a word to each other. But it was quiet time.”

There is no quiet time with a 3-year-old child, but Lindor has found that quiet isn’t what he needs anymore. The frustration subsides with Kalina, and Lindor starts to see things a little clearer.

“Now, I’m running around chasing my daughter,” he said. “I don’t have that time on the couch.”

With Pete Alonso on the injured list and likely to miss the next three to fours weeks of play, Lindor has become an even more important leader. Manager Buck Showalter doesn’t want to blame any of the team’s leaders, but it’s clear some are feeling the heat.

The always-positive Alonso has let the positive slip at times as he, like the rest of the team, have struggled to find answers. Justin Verlander has been upset with his recent performance. Max Scherzer hasn’t admitted defeat, but seemed more determined than contrite.

“I think sometimes the hanging [the blame] on one phase or one person is a little unfair,” Showalter said. “[Verlander and Scherzer] only pitch every five or six days, people in the bullpen have to do a job behind them, we have to catch baseball we have to score runs. There are a lot of other factors in there, so it’s not that simple.

“Baseball is the epitome of a team sport.”

The Mets still believe in their leadership group, and the leaders believe in the team’s ability to play at a higher level.

“Every day, we’re one step closer to where we want to be,” Lindor said.

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In the first of three mandatory workouts, the Ravens looked very much like a team trying to learn a system implemented by new offensive coordinator Todd Monken.

Jackson was solid but could have been better, especially during the opening seven-on-seven period. As for Beckham, he practiced like a veteran who has been in the NFL since 2014 and was once considered one of the game’s top players.

He did very little.

Beckham participated in some individual drills but was held out of most of the team-oriented drills.

It was all planned, some of it by Beckham. First of all, Beckham is trying to rebound from a torn ACL that forced him to miss all of last season. Then there is the superstar status. A lot of them don’t participate in offseason team activities, regardless if they are under contract or the practices are mandatory.

“He’s going to be full go as far as health, but I expect us to ramp up,” coach John Harbaugh said. “It will be kind of see as you go.”

That’s logical. There is no sense putting him in danger for a minicamp practice. But there were some flashes of quickness and superb route running that once made Beckham one of the most dangerous receivers in the game.

As for Jackson, it’s going to take him a while to get used to running the offense after operating under former coordinator Greg Roman for nearly his entire NFL career. The Ravens have spent more time developing the passing game, and it’s apparent that Harbaugh wants the offense to work at a faster pace.

Also, on every passing play there is a quick option so that Jackson doesn’t have to hold the ball unless he chooses to do so.

This newfound freedom for Jackson to change plays at the line of scrimmage is a work in progress. Jackson has to be willing to put in more time in meetings and practices to earn that right, and that wasn’t always the case in the past.

Maybe that will change under Monken.

“Lamar has always prepared really hard, but it’s going to be a different type of preparation,” Harbaugh said. “There are going to be different things he’s going to be responsible for looking at. It will be a different lens he’s going to be looking through.”

Don’t fret over offense

I agree with Beckham that there is too much emphasis on learning a new offense. Beckham has been in this offense before as a receiver in Cleveland when Monken was the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2019.

Football is football. A lot of the plays are the same as they were decades ago, except that each team has its own terminology and style. Winning football still comes down to blocking, tackling, passing and catching. It will never change.

“Conceptually, there are a lot of things where it might have been called this over there and it’s called this over here, so I’m just familiarizing myself with the offense, the playbook, everything,” Beckham said.

Actions speak louder

Harbaugh said this group of receivers might be the best in team history, but that’s nothing to brag about.

The Ravens have Beckham, Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor and rookie Zay Flowers, but the Ravens haven’t produced a deep, quality group of receivers since 1996, when they had Michael Jackson, Derrick Alexander and Jermaine Lewis.

Because of the team’s inability to draft a quality No. 1 wide receiver, the Ravens should dampen their enthusiasm about how good this group will become.

Let’s see it on the field first.

Standout plays

The best noncatch of the day belonged to Agholor, who broke cornerback Marlon Humphrey’s ankles on an inside move and left him a couple yards back at the line of scrimmage. Unfortunately, Jackson missed Agholor down the sideline.

The best catch of the day belonged to wide receiver Tylan Wallace, who snagged a one-hander on the right side of the field from backup quarterback Tyler Huntley for a 15-yard gain.

Rookie to watch

Rookie outside linebacker Malik Hamm, an undrafted free agent from Lafayette, continues to impress. The 6-foot-3, 246-pound Baltimore native and City graduate not only has strength and quickness, but a strong motor.

He refuses to stay blocked and has good pursuit. Finding more outside linebackers, especially for special teams, will be a concern for Harbaugh going into training camp.

Left guard intrigue

The Ravens like to rotate offensive linemen, especially on the interior, but rookie Malaesala Aumavae-Laulu, a sixth-round pick out of Oregon, took all the repetitions with the starting group at left guard.

He is expected to challenge third-year player Ben Cleveland for the starting left guard spot, but Cleveland is more of a power run blocker and the Ravens will need more speed and quickness in Monken’s offense.

Running back help needed?

The Ravens were without top running backs J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards on Tuesday, as well as starting fullback Patrick Ricard.

Justice Hill was the top running back in practice and Ben Mason took most of Ricard’s repetitions. Dobbins — who sat out with a minor soft-tissue injury — and Edwards were solid last season while returning from major knee injuries, but Harbaugh might want to find some insurance on the waiver wire. There are plenty of veterans available this time of year.

Hill, though, has practiced well while breaking off several cutback runs.

Passing the torch

Veteran defensive tackle Calais Campbell played only three seasons in Baltimore before signing with the Atlanta Falcons earlier this offseason, but he made a long lasting impression with his teammates.

“He’s really loud, if you know what I’m saying,” said defensive tackle/end Justin Madubuike, who’s entering his fourth season. “He was the old vet, but he showed us a lot of great things, and I definitely want to pass that forward and just definitely be a leader by example.

“There’s a lot of young guys asking me questions. They like the way I work; they tell me that. So, I like to inform them about stuff that I was informed of by older guys. I’m just trying to pass it down, but also try to work hard and try to make sure that I’m leading by example and just doing the right things and just focusing on the little details more than anybody else.”

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Now the two everyday infielders are set to see their roles scaled back.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora indicated that Hernández will no longer serve as starting shortstop and will instead shift to a utility role, while Justin Turner will see more time at first base in place of Casas, who instead started at designated hitter Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies.

“We went with our best defensive alignment,” Cora said. “That’s something we recognized, obviously the roster is the roster and we have to play with it, but last night I told (bench coach Ramon Vazquez) this is where we’re going.”

Instead of playing shortstop, Hernández will now primarily play second base and center field and will occasionally come in as shortstop in late-game pinch hitter situations. Pablo Reyes will see more time at shortstop, but Cora also emphasized they do not see him as an everyday player either, so the club will most likely mix and match until Yu Chang is ready to return.

Cora also said they’re going to try and avoid using Christian Arroyo at shortstop, leaving the club with limited options with the current roster.

Hernández’s struggles have been well documented. Entering Tuesday he led MLB with 14 errors, 12 of which came on botched throws, and Monday he threw away a ball that would have ended the fourth inning but instead allowed Colorado to score its first run of the game.

Cora said Hernández’s struggles have been surprising and that his arm and mechanics are good, but he’s had a lot of trouble making certain routine plays.

“There are a few plays, especially to his right, where he gets it on time and he slows down and he throws it away. It’s always to his right,” Cora said. “The other ones, trying to turn a double play, all that stuff, that’s going to happen, but the routine ones, he’s having trouble.”

Though Casas drew praise for his defense upon being called up last September, he’s struggled making certain plays and couldn’t cleanly field a routine ground ball in the 10th inning on Monday, which resulted in the eventual game-winning run scoring. Casas leads American League first basemen with four errors, and Cora said there are certain fielding adjustments they would like to see.

“There are a few things he’s not doing,” Cora said. “We’re working with him on his pre-pitch, some things that we have to clean up, decisions on certain ground balls. We’ll keep working with him just like we’re working with Kiké.”

Cora said they have no plans to demote Casas to Triple-A and they will continue working with him at the big league level, but for now the priority needs to be winning games. He said the number one rule of baseball is if you play bad defense you won’t win games, so if the Red Sox hope to close the gap between themselves and their peers they have to take action or risk falling further behind.

“At the end of the day you get (only so many) opportunities to play the position, but you have to make adjustments,” Cora said. “Is it late? Maybe, maybe not. We’ve just got to move on.”

Story’s role a question

With no regular shortstop available on the active roster, the Red Sox could really use Trevor Story back. The two-time All-Star is still recovering from offseason elbow surgery, but on Monday Story said he believes he could be ready to return as a shortstop by August, and possibly by July as a designated hitter.

Story would be a huge help in either capacity, but working him back into the picture as a designated hitter would be much more complicated than it seems at first glance.

Roster-wise, Story serving as everyday DH would require either Turner or Casas to sit most days, and it might also limit the club’s ability to mix and match its outfielders. More importantly, Story would also presumably use up his minor league rehab assignment dates serving as a DH, which might complicate his ability to transition back to shortstop — where he’s really needed — once he is ready to return in that role.

Does that make a Story return as DH in July impossible? Not at all, but Cora said Tuesday that it wouldn’t be easy to pull off.

“With the roster right now it’s kind of hard to do that, but I’m not closing the door,” Cora said. “Like I said a few days ago, right now where we are roster wise that’s very difficult but you never know what could happen in the future.”

Schreiber taking steps

Red Sox right-hander John Schreiber (right teres major strain) threw off flat ground up to 85 feet on Tuesday and is feeling better, Cora said. The reliever has been out since May 15 and has a 2.12 ERA on the season in 18 appearances.

Cora also said lefty Joely Rodriguez (left shoulder inflammation) is expected to throw a bullpen in the coming days, and fellow lefty Richard Bleier (left shoulder inflammation) is still not playing catch. Shortstop Adalberto Mondesi (left ACL rehab) is shut down from baseball activities and is not close to a return.

With steady rain falling, Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus shifted practice indoors to get in good work in the passing game. It was one of a handful of really nice plays for the defense. When Jackson headed to the sideline with a large grin on his face, there were hand slaps from teammates to go around.

In a vacuum, that play is why general manager Ryan Poles decided to keep the 29-year-old Jackson, coming off an injury to his Lisfranc ligament in his left foot in November, with his contract set to pay him $13.1 million this season.

Jackson enjoyed a bounce-back season in 2022 with four interceptions, six pass deflections and two forced fumbles to go with 80 tackles. Without question, it was his best season since 2019, and as a more steady tackler for the new coaching staff, he was one of the few bright spots on defense.

A long offseason spent primarily at Halas Hall rehabbing from the injury suffered in a Week 12 loss to the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium paid off. Jackson was mostly in individual drills last week when he first got back on the field during OTAs and was a participant in full team drills during the first day of minicamp. His timeline for recovery was aided by the fact he did not require surgery, something he learned before the season concluded. He expressed gratitude for the help he received from the training staff.

“It was huge,” Jackson said. “That was the goal to get back in time for vet minicamp. Just to be out there with the guys and get that chemistry back. We have a lot of new faces, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

“It’s just a different feel out there right now, even for me when I got back and watched from the sideline, you just see the energy that the young guys even bring. Then (linebackers) Tremaine (Edmunds), T.J. (Edwards), those guys inside, they are a staple to our defense. Just continue to build off the momentum but the energy is high.”

As much as the new front office and coaching staff valued Jackson for becoming a playmaker in the middle of the field, his leadership was critical for a young roster that will be very young again. He was a sounding board for fellow safety Jaquan Brisker during his successful rookie season, and other rookies held Jackson in high regard. It was evident in the postgame locker room that Jaylon Jones and Elijah Hicks, players who could add depth to the secondary this season, were devastated last year when Jackson was injured simply backpedaling. They were following his lead on and off the field,and Jackson had hosted players at his home just days prior on Thanksgiving.

The Bears would like Jackson to help rookie cornerbacks Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith, among others, this season.

“He’s been a true pro,” Eberflus said. “He’s works his tail off. And it wasn’t easy. His love of football helped him to do it. It’s infectious for him the way he works and the experience he brings to the table for our entire secondary because we have a pretty young secondary now. He’s that one guy in there that has that experience and brings that know-how and what to do and how to do it to our room. We really love where Eddie is.”

Jackson had been down the injury road before, so he knew about the grind that would be involved in making it back. What he hadn’t experienced is a season as raw and distasteful as 2022 when the Bears stumbled to 3-14. Entering his seventh season, maybe there was a lesson in that.

“Especially right now, these years, we can’t waste them,” he said. “I feel like I go out there — I’ve got to lead the right way. I’ve got to lead by example. I’ve got to go out there and play the best ball that I can and and make plays.

“How I act, how I go out there, how I perform. I feel like we feed off that. We feed off one another. Just going out there and just doing my best. It’s huge. It’s Year 7 for me, so it’s not more years to waste. Every year I want to come out and improve and get better and better.”

If Jackson can continue to make plays in the post like he did on Day 1 of minicamp, he’ll be just the kind of leader the Bears need — one that leads first by his performance.

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Taylor suggested to Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren in a letter written Monday that the Bears build a new stadium on lakefront property in Waukegan, expanding the team’s footprint in Lake County.

Taylor said in her letter there are several locations with the necessary land to build a stadium and entertainment area with easy access to Interstate 94, U.S. Route 41 and public transportation. The Bears already train in Lake Forest, making Waukegan an excellent location for a stadium, she wrote.

“The City of Waukegan has multiple large parcels including lakefront property which could be developed into both the state of the art stadium and entertainment district the team has publicly expressed in building,” Taylor said in the letter.

Bears senior vice president for marketing and communications Scott Hagel said in an email Tuesday afternoon a June 2 statement issued by the team said, “It’s our responsibility to listen to other municipalities.” Waukegan is now one of them.

“That holds true today,” Hagel said, referring to the statement, indicating it is the team’s responsibility to listen to Waukegan officials.

The Bears acquired the former Arlington International Race for $197 million with plans to build a stadium and large development there. Naperville recently began discussions with the team to locate in that suburb, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he will make an effort to keep the team in the city.

While the Bears will continue with the current demolition work in Arlington Heights, the team said in its statement it is talking to other municipalities about possible locations because of recent developments with the Arlington Heights location.

“The property’s original assessment at five times the 2021 tax value, and the recent settlement with Churchill Downs for 2022 being three times higher, fails to reflect the property is not operational and not commercially viable in its current state,” the team said in the statement.

While the Bears continue to consider locations other than Chicago or Arlington Heights, Lake County Partners President and CEO Kevin Considine said Waukegan is a place worthy of consideration. Halas Hall, the team’s practice facility, is less than 15 miles away from the city’s lakefront.

“From what we see, there are a number of potential sites for a Bears stadium in the Chicago area and Waukegan is absolutely one of them,” Considine said. “We understand the Bears needs, and we have the ability to meet them. The Chicago Bears have been an important community partner in Lake County for a long time.”

Along with a history of training in Lake County since the first Halas Hall was built on the campus of Lake Forest College in 1978, Taylor said in her letter Waukegan can offer the team an opportunity to continue to play along Lake Michigan which the other suburbs bidding to host the stadium cannot.

“We believe that the Monsters of the Midway deserve the opportunity to continue the tradition of playing along the shores of Lake Michigan, with the market opportunity of having a year-round facility capable of hosting other major events, including the Super Bowl, the Final Four and other events of an international scale,” Taylor wrote in the letter.”

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It might be only June and the Bears-Packers season opener Sept. 10 at Soldier Field might be nearly three months away, but Jones still fanned the rivalry’s flames Tuesday during mandatory minicamp at Halas Hall by calling Packers fans “s—–” and adding that “half of them don’t even know football.”

Jones’ barbs came in response to a question about the seemingly wide-open NFC North picture this year after the Packers traded quarterback Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets.

The sixth-year veteran said he wished Rodgers had played another season in Green Bay. (It probably should be noted that Jones played in just two of Rodgers’ 25 career victories against the Bears after the defensive lineman joined the Bears on a two-year contract in 2022.)

“We went up there and we played a pretty good game, but it got away from us at the end, obviously, and they won,” Jones said of the Packers’ 27-10 win in September. “But their fans are really (s—–). So yeah, I wanted to go back up there and I wanted to play them and I wanted to beat them and I wanted him to be there so he could see it. But the fact he is gone, I mean, it’s cool. I guess it’s better for him not to be here.

“But yeah, I’m ready to take it over. I mean, it’s a good time to be a Bears fan. I’m not even going to lie to you.”

Asked why Packers fans are so “s—–,” Jones called them “frickin’ obnoxious just yelling and all that other stuff about things that don’t even matter.”

“The game hasn’t even started yet, like what are we talking about here?” Jones, 26, said. “Whatever, bro. Half of them don’t even know football. It’s so weird to me. But I’m just ready to go back out there and play. And I want to go out there and I want to beat the hell out of them on their field and I want to hear the boos then. That’s what I look forward to.”

Jones isn’t the only player to trash talk in the rivalry. After all, Rodgers, claiming to see a Bears fan flipping him the double-bird in October 2021 at Soldier Field, yelled on the field to Bears fans, “I own you! All my (bleeping) life! I own you! I still own you!”

But the Bears haven’t had much substance to back up their insults directed at the Packers during the Rodgers era. Perhaps that will change with Rodgers gone and new quarterback Jordan Love at the helm.

Jones at least sounded optimistic about the Bears core despite a 3-14 season in 2022.

He noted the difficulty of playing through a year in which the Bears traded defensive stars Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn and had another star, Eddie Jackson, go down with a foot injury. He spoke highly of the potential of rookie defensive linemen Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens. And he said the 2023 team is “a whole different locker room than it was last year”

“We’ve got a lot more guys who are more team-oriented versus themselves,” Jones said. “When you’ve got a bunch of guys that are on one-year deals and they’re all worried about what they’re going to be next year, it’s kind of hard to build a tight group. But when you’ve got guys that are going to be here for three years, four years, two years, guys who really want to come in here and win, that’s when you really start cooking with fire because now you’ve got talented players and you’ve got guys that want to be here and want to play for the Bears. It’s going to be a good deal.”

Jones, who had 52 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss, seven quarterback hits and three sacks last season, spoke of that chemistry again when he was asked about the Bears potentially signing a veteran edge rusher to bolster the thinnest position group on the roster.

“Whoever they bring in here I hope that he fits the team chemistry and team camaraderie that we’re building here because that’s a very delicate type of thing that you don’t want to mess up,” he said. ”Because when your team is close, that’s kind of rare in the league. The biggest thing you try to build is like an actual team who care about each other. Being in this league, everybody’s worried about the money and about making plays and doing it for self. So if you get a bunch of guys who are doing it for each other, you’ve got a special group of guys. And we’ve got that here with the Bears.”

Of course, adding a defensive end who can help make sure Love doesn’t look like Rodgers probably would boost morale too. And help Jones back up the trash talk.

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The city was under a haze because of smoke carried down from wildfires burning in Canada.

“Insane, it was like orange outside,” starter Lucas Giolito told the Tribune on Friday.

The team’s scheduled game on Wednesday against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium was postponed because of what Major League Baseball called “clearly hazardous air quality.”

“It’s that warning, that reminder that ‘Hey, don’t take this for granted,’” Giolito said. “‘We keep going the way we’re going, we continue to piss Earth off, we’re going to feel the consequences.’ We felt those in New York. I pitched the first night (Tuesday). We could all tell it was tough and the next day we couldn’t even get a game in.

“Earth’s trying to remind us, ‘Hey, why don’t we take care a little bit better.’”

Giolito is doing his part to help.

He and fellow Sox starter Dylan Cease joined the Play For Trees Program in 2022 — a partnership between the global reforestation nonprofit One Tree Planted and Players for the Planet, which according to its website focuses on “positive change for our environment” — to help athletes make an impact by tying performance statistics to trees planted.

They wedged planting trees with strikeouts last season, each supporting the work of reforestation through One Tree Planted.

Chris Dickerson, the Players for the Planet co-founder, presented Giolito with the “Golden Shovel Award” during an on-field ceremony before Friday’s game against the Miami Marlins at Guaranteed Rate Field for his commitment to planting more than 30,000 trees — the most by an athlete in the program in 2022.

“He’s been such a huge piece of the new generation and the athletes that continue to come on and want to get involved,” Dickerson told the Tribune on Friday.

“The thing about Lucas, it’s putting his money where his mouth is. Walking the walk while talking the talk. Lucas has been the pinnacle of that in 2022.”

Dickerson said Giolito’s commitment of more than 30,000 trees planted in Northern California roughly represents an area three times the size of Guaranteed Rate Field.

Giolito and the Sox were in California on Tuesday, beginning a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.

Giolito said the honor “means a lot.”

“I lived in Northern California for a few offseasons over the last few years, I was out there when pretty much all NorCal was on fire, it was devastating for communities, especially devastating for wildlife population,” Giolito said. “To be able to kind of do my part with my platform, raising awareness, raising money, especially with the One Tree Planted, I love what they do.

“Being able to support them through Players for the Planet has been an amazing opportunity. I’m looking forward to doing more in the future, hopefully have a few Golden Shovels under my belt by the time I’m done playing.”

Through the partnership, Giolito has aided in bringing trees back to areas that need them.

“Trees are a huge part of life,” Giolito said. “They’re big parts of habitats, big parts of bringing oxygen and other things to the environment, stabilizing the environment. Planting trees is one of the simplest things you can do, but also one of the most impactful.

“(One Tree Planted) does a wonderful job organizing, providing different options, different areas of need. We take it from there, go out, try to get some strikeouts and keep planting them.”

Last offseason, Giolito participated in a beach cleanup project in the Dominican Republic with Players for the Planet. The group collected about two tons of marooned debris — nearly 3,000 pounds of which was plastic — during cleanups totaling almost three hours, first at Playa Montesinos and then Fuerte San Gil.

His involvement in environmental causes isn’t new. Giolito did some charity work for the environmental nonprofit Heal the Bay while in middle school in Southern California

“I’m going to continue to use my platform and the platform of Players for the Planet to spread that message of, ‘Do that little bit more to be more conscious of the waste we’re producing,’” Giolito said. “‘Be more conscious of how it could be affecting the environment, how it could be affecting our Earth.’

“Spreading that message, take one second and think, ‘Hey what’s one little thing I can maybe change to do my part to help a little bit.’ It starts there and then it can grow from there. If everybody does one little thing, it all adds up.”

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NFL Network reported that a contract offer the Giants had pulled from Barkley prior to Daniel Jones’ March signing is now back on the table. However, a source told the Daily News that as of Tuesday afternoon, that was not true.

This is why it was hard to accept when head coach Brian Daboll tried to preempt questions about Barkley Tuesday by saying: “Every conversation I have about Saquon will be private.”

Because Barkley said Sunday at his AMPT Events kids’ football camp in Jersey City that his problem is the Giants haven’t kept their negotiations private. And so while Daboll deflected, this conflict and potential distraction appeared to escalate.

Not all of Tuesday’s rhetoric was unhelpful, though.

Assistant Giants GM Brandon Brown, who has been part of the Barkley negotiations that have lasted “about nine months,” seemed optimistic about pushing past the running back’s frustrations to get a deal done.

“I think when you’re dealing with someone who is extremely mature like Saquon, you can separate the personal and the professional,” Brown said. “And I think that’s when you have honest and open conversation. You take the feelings out of it. You’re able to establish common ground. It doesn’t mean you’re gonna agree, but that’s what I appreciate about him: He can listen, and he can digest the information we’re giving him, and he can tell us his feelings, as well.”

And yet the lingering question is how far apart the Giants and Barkley were on that last deal that GM Joe Schoen pulled off the table in March. What the Daily News understands, according to a source, is this:

Any of these reported $13 million-per-year offers were much lower in real value due to some combination of mechanisms such as low guaranteed money and per-game roster bonuses.

Frankly, if this ever reached a point where Barkley got offered a contract with acceptable guaranteed money that averaged $13 million a year, it would be a mistake for him to not sign it. That would place him third among all NFL running backs in average annual value behind only the 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey ($16 million) and the Saints’ Alvin Kamara ($15 million).

This is about “respect” for Barkley, in his words. So he wants both the contract offer and the Giants’ behavior around the negotiations to reflect that.

Of course, if the Giants are willing to discuss the $13 million annual number at all, it theoretically should put both sides in the ballpark to get a deal done.

They have until July 17 at 4 p.m. to strike a multi-year extension before Barkley can only play on the $10 million, one-year franchise tag. He hasn’t signed the tender yet, so he isn’t on the roster and can’t be fined for his absence.

But right now, this situation has gotten tense after Barkley admitted holding out could be an option if they don’t reach a deal by mid-July.

“We want him back as soon as possible,” wide receiver Sterling Shepard said. “I can’t visualize him in another jersey. That’s my best friend. Obviously, I want him here. But you know, you’ve got to figure out stuff that’s right for you, right for your family, and I understand that part, too. [I’ve] been doing this awhile, so I’ve seen a lot of situations like that.”

Shepard and Barkley both saw the Giants sign their good friend Odell Beckham Jr. to a mega contract extension in 2018 and then trade him to the Cleveland Browns the next spring. That was a different GM, but that was the players’ first lesson about the harsh business they’re in.

That’s part of why Barkley felt comfortable challenging the club on Sunday over what he clearly considered a breach of trust.

“We say ‘family business is family business’ in that facility, in that building, and I’m gonna stick to that,” Barkley said. “The thing I’m frustrated most about is, like how I said ‘family business is family business,’ and then sources come out and stories get leaked, and it didn’t come from me … I feel like it’s trying to paint a narrative of me, a picture of me that’s … not even close to being true.”

Brown, the assistant GM, interestingly used that same phrase on Tuesday about Barkley’s negotiations: “We’re gonna keep family business inside.” But he also believes they have a strong enough relationship to bridge the gap over this disagreement.

“I think it’s one of those things where you look at the foundation of your relationship,” Brown said. “Our foundation of our relationship with Saquon is one of not just trust but honesty. It’s no different than being in a family. Family’s going to disagree at some point, but one thing you know at the crux of your relationship is there’s love there.

“Saquon knows how we feel about him,” Brown added, “and whether it’s said openly or behind closed doors, we’ve had multiple conversations with him where there’s things we agree on and there’s things we disagree on. But at the end of the day, he knows how we feel about him, and that’s something that’s not gonna change.”

Brown even went as far as saying about Barkley: “I’ll be excited whenever he’s back, but I know he’s taking care of his business right now.”

And yet, on the business side, Brown said, “I just think precedent sets the market.” And Daboll said of the depressed running back market: “I think each year’s different.”

“That’s something — we don’t control it,” Brown said of market values. “We don’t. What we do is try to forecast and react. So that’s what we’ve done. And the market is the market. But I think precedent dictates where it sits.”

So will the Giants compromise to find a middle ground? If they don’t, couldn’t this become a training camp distraction?

“I’m just focused on today,” Daboll said.

Fair enough. On Tuesday, though, here was the story of Giants minicamp:

“Is everybody here?” a reporter asked.

“Everybody except Saquon,” Daboll said.

THE TUNA STOPS IN

Hall of Famer Bill Parcells, the two-time Giants Super Bowl head coach, stopped by to watch practice and addressed the team on Tuesday. His message?

“Just about accountability,” quarterback Daniel Jones said. “Talking about what makes a team great and what tests a team in a season and staying close, staying together, taking accountability for your role on the team. I think it was a great message.”

The Giants have one more minicamp practice before breaking until training camp.

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It’s no wonder, then, that the simple act of slipping on a jersey for the start of a mandatory three-day minicamp Tuesday at the team’s facility in Owings Mills struck him as a “meaningful” moment. The 30-year-old former All-Pro missed all of last season with the second major knee injury of his career and was back at the Ravens’ facility for the first time since signing as a free agent in April. It was his first meaningful football action in nearly 500 days.

“I’ve been trying to not think about it because there’s been so many disappointments,” Beckham said. “I’ve been in a good mental head space to where I’ve tried to downplay this, but I think I’ll be excited to put a jersey on and go out and do the thing you’ve done your whole life.”

The workload is not expected to be particularly heavy for Beckham in what are the final offseason practices before Baltimore breaks for the start of training camp in late July.

That was evident once Beckham took the field for the 2 1/2-hour practice. He was in for only a few plays and caught one pass from quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Still, Beckham said he feels good about where he is at in the process of his return to full speed after his injury with the Rams in February 2022.

“It feels good to get out of bed and not feel pain,” he said. “It’s been a long journey this time around.”

While he wouldn’t put a percentage on just how good he feels, Beckham smiled and noted that he’s still “definitely fast.”

“I don’t have a set play amount or number that’s in my head,” Beckham said. “You come here, be a pro, you get your reps, get your work, you talk. You don’t always have to build chemistry by taking reps.”

Likewise, Ravens coach John Harbaugh is in no hurry to push when it comes to Beckham’s return to full speed in what will be the receiver’s ninth year in the NFL.

“He’s going to be full go in terms of health, but I also expect us to ramp up a lot of our guys,” Harbaugh said. “We’re not going to be in a hurry to throw guys out there too much [with] too many reps. … It’ll be a see-as-we-go.”

It is only mid-June, after all. Training camp doesn’t begin for another six weeks, and the Ravens’ first regular-season game isn’t until Sept. 10.

But it will be important for Beckham to come up to speed on a new offense and more importantly to develop chemistry with Jackson. He was one of the main reasons Beckham signed with Baltimore, and in turn Jackson signed his five-year extension with the club a few weeks later.

Though Ravens players will head home for the summer after this week, Beckham said he and Jackson plan to work out together in South Florida before training camp.

“Chemistry is going to develop over time,” Beckham said. “The most important thing is getting ready for the season coming up in September.”

It helps, too, that the Ravens’ new offensive coordinator is Todd Monken, who worked with Beckham in the same role with the Cleveland Browns in 2019. That season, Beckham caught 74 passes for 1,035 yards and four touchdowns.

The language is different now, Beckham said, but conceptually there are similarities that carry over.

His arrival also provides a badly needed jolt to a receiving corps that ranked last in the NFL in yards in three of the past four years and includes largely young and unproven players.

When healthy, Beckham has proved to be one of the league’s better receivers throughout his career. Five times he has topped the 1,000-yard mark, the last of those under Monken. In 2021, his last season on the field, he caught 44 passes for 537 yards and five touchdowns in 14 games for the Browns and Rams.

In that season’s Super Bowl, he was also perhaps on his way to a Most Valuable Player performance with two catches for 52 yards and a touchdown before he went down late in the second quarter. The Rams went on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, giving Beckham his first ring, but the experience was a bitter one.

“It’s hard when you get to the pinnacle of success in this sport and feel like it was something that was taken away from you,” Beckham said. “It wasn’t something that was easy to live with. It was very hard to go through that.

“It sucks. I watched plenty of Super Bowls and finally, it was my opportunity and I was so locked in. I could feel it that day when I woke up. … I knew that I was probably going to be the best person on the field that day. I just wanted to have that moment.”

Finally, he was able to have another one Tuesday in what the Ravens hope will be the first of many.

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“I’m not expecting ‘Bate’ to be a part of it right now,” Harbaugh said. “He had a shot, for healing purposes, a cortisone-type deal, so that’ll keep him out for a couple days. We decided to just let him keep rehabbing and make sure he’s ready to go for training camp.”

Bateman was a limited participant in the Ravens’ three weeks of voluntary organized team activities, and Harbaugh gave no indication that his readiness for training camp is in question.

The team’s 2021 first-round pick played just six games last season before electing to have surgery on his injured foot. He also missed the beginning of his rookie season because of a groin injury suffered in training camp.

Beckham, who’s coming back from a torn ACL, said he can empathize.

“I know that it’s never easy. Each injury is usually different, but it’s just about helping each other out with the mentality,” he said. “When you come back from being injured, there’s always that little bit of fear that you have to get over. You don’t want it to happen again. We haven’t talked about it as much in the room, but he was training with me … so we chopped it up about it. I think he’s headed in the right direction.”

The Ravens are hoping a healthy Bateman and a healthy Beckham will team up with first-round pick Zay Flowers to give them one of the most dynamic wide receiver groups in team history. Harbaugh said he recently stared at a picture in his basement featuring Steve Smith Sr., Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones in Ravens uniforms.

“This group rivals that group; it might be the best,” he said. “We’ll see. That’s up to them to determine that, but I’m very excited.”

This story will be updated.

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After Basallo hit the high and away pitch for a home run, Delmarva hitting coach Josh Bunselmeyer said another Orioles prospect took notice.

“Wow, that’s impressive,” Bunselmeyer recalls Jackson Holliday saying after Basallo’s long ball.

Holliday, the No. 1 prospect in the entire minor leagues, isn’t the only one impressed by Basallo this spring. In its most recent prospect ranking update, Baseball America moved Basallo into its top 100 at No. 79 after a solid start to the 2023 campaign, his first in full-season ball. At 18 years old, Basallo is one of the youngest players on the list.

“He’s done some impressive things out on the field. I didn’t think he’d have the immediate success that he’s having,” Bunselmeyer said. “I knew he could do what he’s currently doing, but I thought it would happen a month, two months into the season. He made a comment the other day that he feels like he’s seeing pitches better than he did last year. I think that’s the biggest thing, just having the confidence to know that he can play at this level.”

Basallo is nearly three years younger than the average player in Low-A, but he doesn’t look like it. In 50 games with Delmarva, the left-handed hitter is slashing .288/.336/.444 — good for a .781 OPS — with 12 doubles, five home runs and 41 RBIs. The season is his first with Delmarva after spending 2022 in the Florida Complex League and 2021 in the Dominican Summer League.

“When you look at him, he’s just so young, so he hasn’t seen a whole lot of pitches in his life,” Bunselmeyer said. “For him, it’s just time and exposure to seeing those different things that, as he moves up levels, are going to get harder.”

While Basallo still has a long way before arriving in Baltimore, the good start to his career is a positive sign for a player the Orioles signed as an international free agent in January 2021. The Orioles gave Basallo, just 16 at the time, a then-organization-record $1.3 million signing bonus.

Bunselmeyer has been Basallo’s hitting coach all three seasons of his career, moving with him as he’s progressed from the DSL to Low-A. Bunselmeyer said he still has videos on his phone of a 16-year-old Basallo’s swing, and the pair sometimes look back on those videos and laugh at much his swing has improved.

“It’s been really awesome for me to just see how he’s grown as a player and gotten better through the years,” Bunselmeyer said. “I’ve really seen the full spectrum of his growth. As a young kid, he wants to be so good. It’s a matter of taking those goals and expectations and understanding that there is failure that comes with that. For him, he’s just learning how to handle that failure.”

With his improving skills at the plate and a rocket arm behind it, the next step for Basallo is focusing on the mental part of the game, Bunselmeyer said.

“He’s still young and still growing up and still trying to mature, but the desire to be good or be great stands out,” Bunselmeyer said. “It’s been really cool to see him from where he started to where he’s at now and the attention he’s starting to get as he’s played well.”

Basallo is now the seventh-best prospect in the Orioles’ system, but some other players on that list are also having standout seasons. That’s why each week, The Baltimore Sun will break down five of the top performers in Baltimore’s prospect ranks and hand out some superlatives for those who didn’t make that cut.

1. High-A Aberdeen outfielder Jud Fabian

After a relatively slow start to the season, Fabian has started hitting for the power he displayed at the University of Florida when he hit 20-plus home runs in his final two seasons. In his past 17 games, Fabian, 22, has recorded 13 extra-base hits and posted a whopping 1.261 OPS. Last week, the Orioles’ No. 13 prospect went 11-for-19 with three home runs, three doubles, 11 RBIs, four walks and two stolen bases to earn South Atlantic League Player of the Week honors. Fabian, whom the Orioles drafted No. 67 overall last summer, is slashing .297/.401/.517 for a .918 OPS.

2. Double-A Bowie right-hander Chayce McDermott

In his minor league career, McDermott has struck out 34.8% of the batters he’s faced but walked 14.2%. Last week, though, he displayed the strikeout ability without the concerning walk rate. The 24-year-old right-hander struck out 12 and walked two in nine innings, allowing two runs across two outings. It was the first time in McDermott’s professional career that he’s walked one or fewer batters in back-to-back outings of four-plus innings. He had walked 31 in his 43 2/3 innings before last week. McDermott, whom the Orioles acquired from the Houston Astros in the Trey Mancini trade last summer, has a 2.56 ERA and is allowing just 5.1 hits per nine innings.

3. Triple-A Norfolk infielder Joey Ortiz

After the Orioles optioned him to Triple-A, Ortiz didn’t play for 14 days because of an illness and weather postponements. It didn’t take him any time to find his footing, as the 24-year-old hit a home run in his first game back and recorded a hit in all five games he played last week. Ortiz, ranked No. 73 on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list, went 8-for-22 with two home runs, a double and a triple. He’s hitting .328 with a .926 OPS with the Tides.

4. High-A Aberdeen right-hander Alex Pham

Last week, Pham was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month for his outstanding performance in May. He kept it going in June. Pham, 23, struck out 11 and walked two over five no-hit innings Saturday. The double-digit strikeout game was Pham’s second this season. The 19th-round pick in 2021 has a 2.58 ERA and a 35.8% strikeout rate this year.

5. Double-A Bowie outfielder John Rhodes

After struggling in Double-A to end his 2022 season, Rhodes has bounced back to start his second full professional campaign. The 2021 third-round pick has a .786 OPS this year after posting a .555 OPS in 18 games with the Baysox in 2022. Last week, Rhodes had perhaps his best week of the season with three multi-hit games. The 22-year-old went 10-for-27 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, five RBIs and three stolen bases.

The top prospect not featured so far

During his first week as the No. 2 prospect in baseball, Holliday went 6-for-21 with a home run, seven walks and three stolen bases. The 19-year-old shortstop was moved up on Baseball America’s list, and with No. 1 prospect Elly De La Cruz making his major league debut last week, Holliday is now the top prospect still in the minors. His production has dipped slightly — for his high standards — the past few weeks, as he’s now hitting .324 with a 1.006 OPS with the IronBirds.

International acquisition of the week

The Jorge López trade continues to bear fruit for the Orioles, but it’s not just Yennier Cano and left-handed pitching prospect Cade Povich. Juan Nunez, a right-hander out of the Dominican Republic, has impressed in his first full year of A-ball. The 22-year-old has a 3.71 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 51 innings with Low-A Delmarva. Last week, he struck out 15 batters in nine innings across two outings, allowing three runs and walking just one.

Time to give a shout-out to …

Low-A Delmarva infielder Carter Young and High-A Aberdeen right-hander Jake Lyons. Young, a 17th-round pick last summer, went 10-for-22 with a double, a triple and a home run to improve his season-long OPS to .684. Lyons, meanwhile, didn’t allow a run in three innings after being named Baltimore’s best minor league pitcher for the month of May. The 24-year-old has a 3.11 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 37 2/3 innings.

Short-season snippets

Right-handed pitcher Zack Showalter struck out 13 in six innings across two FCL outings last week in his first professional action after being drafted in the 11th round last summer. Showalter, 19, is the Orioles’ No. 24-ranked prospect, according to Baseball America. … Aneudis Mordán, a 19-year-old catcher the Orioles signed in January 2021, went 7-for-11 with three doubles and two home runs for Baltimore’s FCL club. … In his first week of professional baseball, shortstop Luis Almeyda hit two home runs and totaled seven RBIs in 17 DSL plate appearances. The Orioles signed Almeyda, 17, in January for a franchise-record $2.3 million bonus.

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Among those players is Jabrill Peppers, a 7-year veteran who re-signed on a 2-year deal this offseason. His return fit neatly into the overarching theme of the Patriots’ offseason on defense: let’s run it back.

For Peppers, running actually feels like running again. After Tuesday’s minicamp practice, he admitted he finally feels explosive, now a year and a half removed from the ACL tear that ended his 2021 season. Last year, he played 17 games for the Patriots, while he literally found his footing, learned a new system and worked with new teammates.

Now?

Everything is familiar, down to the burst in his movements; whether he’s hunting ball carriers close to the line of scrimmage or patrolling the back end in McCourty’s old coverage grounds.

Bill Belichick sees the change, too.

“Yeah. Oh my god, yeah. He’s a much different player now than he was last year at this time or even in training camp,” Belichick said before practice. “A full year after the injury, a lot of confidence in the communication, the system, his assignments. He’s playing fast, aggressive, helping out his teammates.

“Last year he was trying to learn things, now he’s helping out his teammates, anticipating, making calls or adjustments that maybe help him or possibly help his teammate be in a better position to defend a certain play or type of play. Yeah, he’s been great. He’s way ahead of where he was last year.”

In minicamp, Peppers has been a cornerstone of the first-team defense. He’s rotated through the secondary positions with fellow veterans Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips and Jalen Mills. Third-round rookie Marte Mapu has also seen a few starting snaps, as a young, hard-hitting safety whose practice performance has been Peppers-esque.

Kendrick Bourne suggested he would welcome him with open arms.

Bill Belichick deflected, but at least confirmed the Patriots had interest when asked about DeAndre Hopkins on Monday.

As for Matthew Judon and DeVante Parker, though, they passed on Hopkins chatter all together.

“In the NFL, he’s a great player. He did amazing things, and wherever he lands, he lands,” Judon told reporters after Tuesday’s minicamp practice. “If it’s here, it’s here. Then we can talk about him.”

The Patriots will reportedly host Hopkins on a free-agent visit Wednesday and Thursday. The 31-year-old took his first visit to Tennessee on Monday. If signed, Hopkins would instantly become the Pats’ best receiver. He’s a three-time All-Pro who led the NFL in catches after returning from a suspension in Week 7 last season.

Hopkins’ arrival might also mean an exit for one of the Pats’ current receivers, with a top four of JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne and 2022 second-round pick Tyquan Thornton already in place. Parker and Bourne are both entering contract years on team-friendly deals. Trading either of them for draft capital would offer an easy avenue to creating both cap room and a roster spot.

That might explain why Parker quickly dismissed follow-up questions about Hopkins after practice Tuesday.

“I’m just focused on us right now. Great player, but I’m focused on us,” Parker said.

Has Parker ever met Hopkins before?

“Focused on us,” he replied.

Does Parker think his offense could use some help?”

“Focused on us,” he said. “Next question. Next question.”

The Patriots are scheduled to hold their third and final minicamp practice Wednesday.

Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown returned to the field after missing the start of mandatory minicamp Monday after his flight was cancelled due to a hail storm, per MassLive. The 6-foot-8, 380-pound tackle warmed up with the team and did positional work, but did not participate in any team drills. He was the only starter who missed Monday’s practice to return.

Wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton continue to sit out because of reported injury precautions, while defensive tackle Lawrence Guy was again absent over his contract.

Tuesday’s complete attendance report is below.

Absent: WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, OL Mike Onwenu, DL Lawrence Guy, WR Tyquan Thornton, DB Quandre Mosely, WR Kayshon Boutte, DL Justus Tavai

Limited: OT Trent Brown, S Cody Davis

Non-contact jersey: LB Marte Mapu, OL Atonio Mafi

“It was like winning a scratch-off ticket,” Martindale said Thursday at the practice facility.

Corner is one of football’s most difficult positions, though, so it would be understandable if the Giants tempered expectations internally and were preparing for growing pains.

It is rare that a corner takes the NFL by storm as a rookie like the Jets’ Sauce Gardner did last season. It is just as common that a young player can lose confidence when thrust prematurely into an unforgiving and isolated spotlight, such as the outside boundary of a blitz-heavy defense like the Giants’.

And veteran Amani Oruwariye’s presence on the first-string defense ahead of Banks in early OTAs, which had conflicted with Banks’ college graduation, initially gave life to the possibility that this could be a process for the Giants’ rookie.

But Martindale’s most important declaration this week was that the Giants are not coddling Banks at all. They drafted him to start at outside corner in year one, and they expect that he will play well there.

“The expectation is that he plays football,” Martindale said. “He’s a smart kid that is grounded, and he doesn’t make it bigger than what it is. I’m sure that they’re going to catch an eight-yard out on him and everybody’s going to be up in arms, but that happens to every corner. We’ll be okay. I think the expectation is to go in there and play and play well.”

Obvious? Maybe. But still a valuable show of support for Banks, whose quick acclimation is vital to the Giants’ success in 2023.

Martindale might have the tools to assemble a dominant pass rush this fall if players stay healthy and improve. However, that only works if the secondary can cover on the back end. And apart from safety Xavier McKinney and outside corner Adoree Jackson, everyone is either seemingly replaceable or an unknown commodity.

The second safety position is up for grabs. The slot corner position is a giant question mark. And then there is Banks, an exciting addition but a player who needs to perform well for this team to compete with the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys in division, not to mention three other high-powered offenses the Giants will face in the first five games of Banks’ NFL career: the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills.

Martindale quoted a famous pop culture coach to demonstrate one of Banks’ greatest strengths that he believes will benefit him early on: a short memory.

“He’s very instinctive. What’s Ted Lasso say? He lives life like a goldfish,” Martindale said. “He’s got a short memory when things don’t go right. He’s tough minded, he’s physical, he can tackle and on top of that, he can run. So, we’re excited about it. He’s getting into the groove. There’re still some rookie mistakes, which you expect, especially this early. But we’re really excited.”

It’s safe to say that Martindale is confident that with the appropriate amount of coverage, opposing offenses would be in trouble.

“Quarterbacks get rid of the ball against us faster than most teams they play,” he said. “We face more max protection than anybody else in the league … Because we know how to hit the quarterback. They know it. It’s not like I’m being boastful either, they just know that we know how to defeat protections. If you ask any offensive coach in the league, they’ll tell you that.”

A productive Banks could make a major immediate impact. It’s important, therefore, that the Giants and Martindale aren’t running from that and are setting the bar high.

ONCE A GIANT: IN PAIN AFTER PLAYING

A new book by former Daily News NFL columnist Gary Myers opens the door to emotional, heartbreaking and jarring stories about life after football from members of the Giants’ first Super Bowl team in 1986.

“ONCE A GIANT, A Story of Victory, Tragedy and Life After Football,” to be released on Sept. 12, includes new interviews from Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor, Phil Simms, Harry Carson, Bill Belichick, Mark Bavaro and many more big names from the franchise’s beloved first championship team.

The players are at the stage in their lives in the mid-50s-to-late 60s where their bodies are breaking down from years on the gridiron. And they openly discuss the physical, financial and mental health issues they’ve faced, after initially hoping they’d escape the fates of their football ancestors.

“I thought my generation and my group of players was going to avoid it, and I was wrong,” Simms says in the book. “I just thought we had progressed a little further along and knew a little bit more about taking care of ourselves, and we wouldn’t be all crippled when we were sixty years old. Every generation that comes along we are better than the group before us. But it’s not as dramatic as I thought it would be.”

The heartbreaking stories are balanced by heartwarming, funny and boys-will-be-boys tales about the love these players have for each other and the fun they had, too. But the ‘86 team’s brotherhood nowadays is more about taking each other to doctor’s appointments.

They have a text chain as a method of support. Carson, who considers himself the club’s captain for life, usually gets the first phone call when a teammate is in trouble.

Parcells even reveals he has loaned former players over $4 million without any expectation of being repaid. He feels a need to help them because of what they sacrificed for him.

“Why wouldn’t you feel that way?” Parcells says in the book. “Some of these guys spent 10-12 years with me. Some of them didn’t have fathers. I feel an obligation to help them.”

The book, which goes deep with tons of previously untold stories and emotional testimonials, will be released two days after the Giants’ season opener against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

On Sept. 14, Simms will join Myers for a book-signing event at Bookends in Ridgewood, N.J. The book can be pre-ordered now at Bookends, on Amazon or at Barnes & Noble.

TOO MANY COOKS IN THE KITCHEN

Friday was another bad day for running back value. The Minnesota Vikings released veteran Dalvin Cook, who was due to count $14 million against their salary cap this fall. They cut Cook, 27, despite 1,468 total yards and 10 touchdowns last season for a Vikings team that went to the playoffs purely due to its offense. Minnesota is eating $5.1 million in dead money and saving $9 million in cap space with the move while Alexander Mattison vaults up the depth chart to RB1. The Miami Dolphins are viewed as the most likely destination for Cook to land, though the Denver Broncos are also a possibility … Speaking of running back value, this weekend, Saquon Barkley may make his first public comments on his contract standoff since the end of last season. Barkley is hosting a youth football camp Sunday at Jersey City’s Caven Point Field from 5-7 p.m. through AMPT Events. What Barkley says, and doesn’t say, should provide some clues about how this situation will proceed up to – and potentially through – the mid-July deadline for him and the Giants to reach a multi-year deal … Indianapolis Colts corner Isaiah Rodgers is being investigated by the NFL for alleged gambling, including possibly betting on Colts games. He said on social media that he takes “full responsibility” for his actions. This is just the latest in a series of crackdowns by a league that is making money hand over fist from the same companies that it is preventing its players from patronizing, although betting on games in which a player is participating obviously jeopardizes the integrity of that game and can’t be allowed under any circumstances … Jets coach Robert Saleh’s decision to cancel mandatory minicamp is an eyebrow-raiser coming off a season when his team lost its final six games, even with his team due to start training camp early with the Hall of Fame on the Jets’ exhibition slate. Granted, modern CBA rules prevent coaches from doing the type of work they’d ideally like to do this time of year. And the Jets aren’t the only team doing it. Still, don’t they need every opportunity to build chemistry with Aaron Rodgers and the rest of his offense? Doesn’t the defense need to receive the message to not take last year’s improvement for granted? Speaking of that: the Jets need to stop screwing around with the Quinnen Williams contract and get it done. They’re talking about Super Bowl contention, but their best returning player isn’t signed yet. Get it done.

THEY SAID IT

“There was a quote circling around the NFL Draft this year talking about positional value in the draft. Get the f— out of here. You made it up because it’s draft day. You can’t be wrong on draft day. There was somebody who said, ‘I don’t care if Bijan Robinson goes in the Hall of Fame.’ You don’t even know what you’re talking about. Get your clicks some other way. You see what Derrick Henry does. You see what Saquon Barkley does. If you’ve got the ball in your hands and you can score touchdowns, that’s the most important thing in sports.” – Bron Heussenstamm, founder and CEO of the Bleav Network, on the Talkin’ Ball with Pat Leonard podcast

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The Knicks legend had established a goal of telling his life story as a theatrical performance adapted to film, a 90-minute solo act that Bradley wrote and committed to memory during strolls around Central Park.

Before his live shows, Bradley made sure to regiment his meals, nap and exercise. It was like readying himself for a tipoff at Madison Square Garden.

“It was like re-orienting my life to when I was a Knick,” Bradley tells the Daily News. “When the big night came at 7:30.”

Bradley was so nervous during the first rehearsal that his mind went blank.

“I lost it,” he said.

But the actual performance went well. And on Friday, Bradley’s latest ambitious venture, “Rolling Along,” will premiere as a documentary film at the School of Visual Arts Theater on 23rd St. It’s certainly a unique story of a small-town Missourian who became a Princeton cum laude graduate, an NBA champion and a U.S. Senator, which Bradley weaves together with America’s ugly racism history as a backdrop.

While creating the film, Bradley linked up famed directors Frank Oz and Spike Lee, who are both credited as executive producers.

Now 79, Bradley spoke to The News about “Rolling Along” and other topics, including legalized gambling, Phil Jackson’s latest controversial comments, Julius Randle’s complicated relationship with Knicks fans and whether Carmelo Anthony should have his jersey retired:

Daily News: What inspired you to do this film?

Bill Bradley: In 2018, I gave my political papers to Princeton, and they did an oral history project and interviewed people. Interviewed about 60-70 people. I then did a reception and invited all of them to come and most of them did come. And I stood up and told stories about each one of them. And one of the people in the audience was Manny Eisenerg, who produced 72 plays on Broadway and has been a friend for 50 years and the only compliment he ever gave me was after the first Knicks championship. He said, ‘Nice going.’ That’s about it. He came up afterwards and said, you sound a little bit like (Tony-winning actor) Hal Holbrook, you outta work something out. And so, I spent the next six months writing the first draft and then over the next following six months, eight months, I took it to 20 places around the country. Went to a theater in San Diego or in Seattle or San Francisco or wherever. Boston. And I would essentially read it, and there were only about 50-60 people, people who were part of their subscriber list and they’d make suggestions and I take notes and I refined it that way. I did that for about a year, with the thought being that I would do a theatrical production. And then COVID hit. And it all ended. And I thought, ‘Well, I’ll still do it and we’ll turn it into a film.’ And that’s how it happened.

DN: Was there anything in particular that was difficult to talk about?

BB: No. I asked a person what they thought this was about, and that person said, ‘All of us.’ In other words, there are elements of my life that people can identify with. Not all but there are moments people see their lives. And that’s my hope because if I had my biggest goal to come out of this, it would be that I’m being honest about myself. That’s the first step toward healing and I think the country desperately needs healing.

DN: So it’s not just about your healing?

BB: Yeah, as I say at the end, we can learn from the lessons of basketball, which is take responsibility for yourself, respect your fellow human being and enjoy their humanity and never look down on someone you don’t understand. And if we all do that, our country is going to be in good shape over the long term.

DN: In the film you talk a lot about race and social issues, both in your experiences growing up and as a politician. How did those hurdles shape you?

BB: Race was a kind of a theme throughout my life. From a small town in Missouri all the way through to the Knicks, to the Senate, to today. And as my grandmother said, ‘Never look down on someone you don’t

understand.’ And to me, we’ve made a lot of progress, and we still have more to do. And that’s the story of America. Moving things forward.

DN: On that note, your former teammate, Phil Jackson, said recently that politics shouldn’t be a part of the game and that he was turned off by the messaging during the NBA bubble, particularly some of the slogans that were on the back of jerseys that were meant to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. I was wondering what you thought of those comments?

BB: I don’t know what Phil said exactly. But I think that people should express themselves. And it’s a free country. You can express yourself with something on your jersey, and you can express yourself in some interview. The key thing is protecting your right to do that.

DN: In the film, you talked about how Knicks fans adored you, and then quickly rejected you when you struggled in the beginning. What were some of the things that were said to you and how did you react to that?

BB: Well, it hurt. It was painful. People would come out and say, ‘Bradley, you overpaid bum.’ I was failing. I was too slow to play guard. And even in my second year, I was still too slow. I improved but I was still too slow laterally. And that’s when Cazzie [Russell] broke his ankle, and they moved me to forward, which was my natural position.

DN: I also asked that because now the Knicks have a player, Julius Randle, who’s had a very up-and-down relationship with the fans. Where they can chant ‘MVP’ one night and then boo him the next. And he doesn’t seem to react very well to negativity. What would be your advice to a player in New York and under that spotlight who has to deal with those kinds of things?

BB: It’s just part of the job that you bear down and develop your own game and your relationship with your teammates. And if the team wins, everybody feels a part of it. And that’s what you want to do as a player. With your teammates, get to a championship. And then everybody feels a part of your expression of excellence. If you lose, there are always 100 different stories as to why you lost. You can’t let it bother you. When I was booed, it hurt me. But at the same time, it’s part of the whole experience.

DN: Carmelo Anthony just retired and there’s some debate about whether his number should be hung alongside yours at MSG. Do you have an opinion one way or another about that?

BB: Nah, I’ll leave that to the Garden hierarchy. They make those decisions.

DN: As a politician, you were steadfast against gambling on sports. …

BB: I was. One-hundred percent. It was my bill. Literally, I passed one law about sports in my 18 years, which was prohibiting sports betting. I think that the Supreme Court erred when they reversed the law. And I think that there will be problems. There’s stories now of people betting on high school games. It’s ridiculous. It’s just not what the game is about. It’s OK if it’s a business and people pay to come and so forth, but I always thought the guys who were booing because the points spread was covered were kind of ridiculous. You’d never pay attention to them. They were always out there. But now the Supreme Court has legitimized this. The game should be about excellence, should be about team, should be about the collective expression of the community. If you turn it into point spreads and betting on this betting and on that — there always was betting but why would you have the Supreme Court legitimize this in the eyes of the public? And anytime people see money, they go towards where the money is.

DN: When you say there ‘will be problems,’ what do you mean by that?

BB: I’m a kid of the betting scandals of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. People are paid a lot of money now, so it’s unlikely it would be so overt. But you never know. I just think that the game shouldn’t be broken down into things like betting on somebody scoring X amount of points and whatever else. Make the bet with your friend. Don’t legitimize it. I think it demeans the sport. There’s a value to sports. And those are the values that are lost when you turn everything into a betting chip. I don’t think players should be roulette chips.

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It’s difficult to look at an NBA Finals series as lopsided as Denver’s 4-1 gentlemen’s sweep of the Heat in a vacuum. Miami was overmatched, shorthanded, and competing against the player who should have won his third straight league Most Valuable Player of the Year this season.

The Nuggets had the deeper team one through five, a transcendent point center in Nikola Jokic and had the healthiest starting five of any team in the playoffs.

With the deck stacked, the Heat had just one viable route to emerge from this series as NBA champions.

Jimmy Butler had to be special.

And not just special, because special is what got the Heat to the NBA Finals in the first place. Special is how Butler powered the Heat past the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, courtesy of 37 points per game against the NBA’s top-ranked regular-season defense. Special is how Butler bullied the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, winning Game 7 at the TD Garden to punch Miami’s ticket to the big dance.

The Heat needed Butler to be more than special. They needed him to elevate to the undeniable level of superstardom that has evaded him all of his career.

That level continued to elude him in the NBA Finals against the Nuggets: The Heat star finished Game 5 with just 21 points on 5-of-18 shooting from the field. He averaged 21.6 points, 6.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds through all five NBA Finals games.

Meanwhile, Murray joined Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson as the last three guards to post 100 points and 50 assists in an NBA Finals series while shooting at least 45% from the field.

Getting outplayed by the opponent’s second-best player? Hardly special.

In fact, Butler wasn’t even the third-best player of the series: Jokic became the first center to win Finals MVP since Shaquille O’Neale in 2002; Murray flirted with a triple-double all series long, and Bam Adebayo — not Butler — led the Heat in scoring and played far more impactful minutes on both ends of the floor for the entirety of Miami’s championship run.

The Heat needed more from their leader, and he did not deliver: Of Butler’s 21 points, nearly half (nine) came at the foul line. Not to mention he played on cruise control for the game’s first 45 minutes before stringing together 13 points in a two-and-a-half-minute stretch in crunch time.

Butler’s short-lived, late-game theatrics may have impressed the untrained eye, but it was too little, too late for a player who had shot just 2-of-13 through the first three quarters. He then fumbled a potential Game 6 away in Game 5′s final 30 seconds: First by driving into the paint, losing his footing, then throwing the ball directly to Denver’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a sequence that turned a one-point game into a three-point deficit and cost Miami a valuable timeout.

“I turned the ball over,” Butler said of the game’s final two minutes. “That’s what stood out.”

On the very next possession, with time on the shot clock to create a better look, Butler attempted to tie the game on a turnaround fading three from the top of the key.

Again: Hardly special.

Maybe Heat coach Erik Spoelstra should have turned to Tyler Herro.

Herro broke his wrist in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Bucks and missed nearly two months of action before receiving clearance to play in Monday night’s elimination Game 5.

Spoelstra said pregame it would be “all hands on deck,” and that he would assess the game to determine whether or not Herro’s services would be needed. Reminder: This is a former Sixth Man of the Year who averaged 20 points per game for Miami before suffering his injury.

Which is why it became more and more befuddling to watch the second-unit scorer stew on the bench while both Butler and his Heat teammates struggled to generate offense. The Heat scored just 18 points in the fourth quarter as Spoelstra kept Herro sidelined.

“It’s just a really tough call, and I’ll probably have to wrestle with that all summer,” Spoelstra said of his decision. “That’s the hardest-played, most physical competition you can have, and that would be a tough thing for a guy that’s been out for two months that hasn’t had any kind of ramp-up.

“But that won’t save me from thinking about that for the next few weeks.”

And while the Nuggets enjoy the hangover associated with the champagne showers they enjoyed in the locker room, the Heat leave the NBA Finals with more questions than answers.

Chief among those questions after fizzling out in Game 5: Can Butler get it done as this team’s No. 1 scoring option, or will it take more for the Heat to return to NBA Finals, let alone dethrone the Nuggets should these two teams meet again down the road?

The Heat have already been rumored to have interest in Portland Trail Blazers’ bona fide superstar Damian Lillard, and Miami can put together an attractive trade package built around Herro, role players and draft compensation. With the June 22 NBA Draft looming and free agency commencing shortly thereafter, there will be no shortage of opportunities for the Heat to explore adding additional firepower to a team that made the conference finals two years in a row.

Just any old firepower, however, won’t do.

The Heat need another closer, given their current one couldn’t get it done. It could be the only way to tangibly raise Miami’s ceiling given no one expected they would make it to the Finals in the first place — and likely fewer expect the Heat to return in the years to come without a landscape-altering mega deal.

“You never know what the team’s gonna look like next year or the year after that. I’m just grateful. I learned so much. They taught me so much, and I wish I could have gotten it done for these guys because they definitely deserve it,” Butler said. “You don’t have to score 100 points to win a basketball game. I think we’ll be OK. That’s Coach Pat [Riley] and Coach Spo’s job to put together another team, which I’m confident they will do. And we’ll take it from there.”

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