Sox Beat Yanks Again (And Again And Again And Again And Again And Again And Again)
Boston sweeps the Yankees for the second time this season, regains first place in the AL East and does it by torching Gerrit Cole and by getting a strong start from Eduardo Rodriguez
The Red Sox have won four World Series in the past two decades, more than any other franchise. Each is my baby and I refuse to pick which is best (it’s 2004 duh) but those successes have created an atmosphere around the team somewhat similar to that of the pre-2004 Yankees. I don’t mean in terms of team-building, but in terms of culture, the way fans and media talk about the team, the expectations associated with simply wearing a Red Sox uniform. While I’m not here to tell you winning isn’t the goal, and I will never espouse the benefits of not winning the World Series, there are other ways to achieve joy within a baseball season. I present to you, dear reader, this: sweeping the Yankees!
Again!
Are you not joyful?!?
I wanted to write about yesterday’s game as soon as it was finished, nay, as soon as the first inning ended, but the problem was, and I don’t mind letting you go [does annoying finger quotes thing] behind the curtain a bit here, I was hiding at the beach. I live in Portland, Oregon and this was the weather here yesterday:
We do not have air conditioning in Oregon, at least not typically and not at my house, so when Oregon turns into Temporary Arizona (starring Nic Cage) we hide by the ocean. So yesterday I took my family and we hid by the ocean. The benefit of which is twofold: 1) it’s only a few hours east of Portland, so not a bad drive, and 2) it was 38 degrees cooler:
The downside to that decision was that I wasn’t able to watch the Red Sox play on Sunday nor was I able to write about it when Rafael Devers sent one into the stratosphere off of Gerrit Cole in the first inning. But the momentous nature of sweeping the Yankees can’t be ignored. It’s truly like winning a playoff game, or completing something you’ve worked hard on for months or even years, or having a second child and naming him Pedro. It’s an accomplishment, a big occasion, and not one to be ignored, dismissed, or downplayed, but to be celebrated and cherished.
The 2021 Red Sox might win the World Series or they might not, but that shouldn’t impact in either direction the smaller - but not small! - victories over the course of a long and difficult season, of which sweeping the Yankees is most certainly one.
Another one of those is being in first place. It’s not early in the season anymore, folks. It’s not exactly September either (though look at those temperatures above and tell me I don’t want it to be September right now) but while it’s always nice to be in first, it isn’t always meaningful. I’d argue we’re at the point in the season where it is starting to be meaningful. Not predictive, but meaningful. The Rays are really good. The Jays can truly hit. The Yankees are the Yankees and we should treat them as such, meaning we should always presume they will wake up and play at a 100-win pace the rest of the season until the season officially ends and it is revealed they actually can not do that. Even if they don’t do that though, it’s still a brutally tough division. Standing on the top of this particular mountain, even if the time limit hasn’t yet expired, is never a bad thing.
All of which is to say that’s where the Red Sox find themselves after dismantling Gerrit Cole yesterday (insane question you might hear on sports talk radio: did the Yankees protect the wrong “Garrett” in the Rule 5 Draft? ). For my money Cole is still the second best starter in baseball, so it’s pretty impressive when the Red Sox can win a game he starts, let alone straight up beat him badly. But that’s what happened. It’s worth noting that the Sox beat Jacob deGrom this season as well. Are the Red Sox a giants killer? Or a Giants killer? We’ll know by the end of October for sure.
One of the benefits of sweeping a good team like the Yankees is you’re picking up games in the standings that you dropped previously to teams you should’ve beaten. For example, the Red Sox lost two of three to the Royals last week. This effectively evens that out, but it doesn’t eliminate it. To eliminate it, the Red Sox need to beat the lesser teams in the standings when that opportunity presents itself, and well hey there, will you take a look at the schedule!
-Four at home versus the KC Royals
-Three in Oakland
-Three in Los Angeles against the Angels
-Three at home versus the Phillies
This is what Boston has left before the All Star Break. No disrespect, but the Royals, Angels, and Phillies are not good baseball teams. They have some good players, sure, but their collective run differential is -170. The A’s should be a good challenge and you’d hope to win two of three but you’d settle for one of three. If Boston can go 8-5 this set of games will be a success. You’d happily take better, but you have to win three of those series. We’ll see how they do, starting tonight with Garrett Richards on the mound [ducks].
Stay cool everybody.