The Boston Red Sox enjoyed a well-deserved day off Monday after stunning the New York Yankees with a four-game sweep at Fenway Park over the weekend.

The Red Sox outscored New York 28-13 over four remarkable games, and beat the Yankees in every imaginable way. They rallied from an early 4-0 deficit Thursday, won 4-1 games Saturday and Sunday – each game taking 2:33 or less to play – then scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game Sunday night before walking off with a 10-inning victory.

The teams played 37 innings and the Yankees led at the end of five of them.

The Red Sox are 79-34, 45 games above .500 for the first time since 1946. When the series ended, their 91/2-game lead in the East was the largest in baseball.

The Sox were Yankee Killers this weekend. They were also Myth Busters. Here are a few “hot takes” that were exposed in the light of a Fenway house party:

1. The Red Sox can’t beat good teams.

Entering the weekend, the Sox were 12-13 against AL teams that began this week with a winning record. After four straight wins there is no doubt they can play with the best. This team will still be judged on what it does in October – only then can they sweep away the lingering stench of two straight first-round losses – but this weekend’s sweep reminded us that this team has a killer instinct that the 2016 and 2017 teams may have lacked.

2. The Yankees have the best bullpen in baseball.

On Thursday, Yankee relievers were asked to protect a 4-0 lead at Fenway. The Sox scored the next 14 runs and took a wild 15-7 win.

Admittedly, the bulk of the damage came against Jonathan Holder and Luis Cessa. These are not the relievers you’ll see in a tight postseason game.

Aroldis Chapman is. New York’s closer hadn’t blown a game since May 3, but he walked three in the ninth inning Sunday while laboring through 39 pitches and giving up New York’s three-run lead. Chapman can be wild and if these teams meet again in the playoffs, everyone will remember how vulnerable he can be.

3. The Yankees are the second-best team in baseball.

They aren’t right now. They began the week two games behind Houston and are just 21/2 games ahead of Oakland in the battle to host the AL wild-card game. What’s more, Seattle is just five games back. Can you imagine this Yankees team not making the playoffs?

4. The Red Sox didn’t do enough at the non-waiver trade deadline.

Admittedly, Steve Pearce was acquired a month before the deadline, but he was the MVP of the series for Boston. He tied the franchise record with three home runs in Thursday’s comeback and followed with a two-run shot off Luis Severino in the first inning of Friday’s game. Ian Kinsler made two spectacular defensive plays Thursday and scored an important run Friday before landing on the disabled list with a hamstring injury. Nathan Eovaldi – the former Yankee – pitched eight dominant innings Saturday and has yet to give up a run in two starts (both wins) with the Red Sox.

5. Interest in baseball has dried up.

They partied like it’s 2004 at Fenway over the weekend. Thursday night’s game broadcast on NESN drew the biggest rating for a Sox game in six years. Sunday’s attendance was a season-high 37,830 – the 28th consecutive sellout at Fenway Park. Reports of baseball’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

6. The Red Sox wrapped up the division over the weekend.

It’s a commanding lead and there’s no sign they will give it up. Just don’t forget the lessons of 1978. The Yankees swept a four-game series at Fenway in September, outscoring Boston 42-9 in the Boston Massacre. The Sox blew a 10-game July lead and when the Yankees won the next two games of a series Sept. 15-16, the race was proclaimed over.

Then Boston won 12 of 14 to force a one-game playoff.

We offer this as a reminder that these final 49 games matter. Even if only six of them are against the Yankees.

Tom Caron is a studio host for the Red Sox broadcast on NESN. His column appears in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesdays.

« Previous

Next »

Related Stories