I Watch The Red Sox So You Don't Have To | July 7 - 10 vs. Yankees

What's up everyone? First Red Sox post in a while; after a four game set vs the Yankees I have to get some takes off. I went to three of the four games this weekend, I'm a little overtired and probably overexcited after back-to-back big wins, so let's get to it before I decide I'm delusional and don't post this at all.

The Yankees are better than the Red Sox. They've been the best team in baseball from the beginning of the season and they're the World Series favorites for a reason. They've been healthy all year, have incredible continuity in the rotation, a lights out bullpen, and a murderer's row lineup. This is not me saying the Red Sox are better than the Yankees, it's not close, but I'm here to stir the pot. Let's take an unbiased (read: incredibly biased) look at what happened over the weekend.

Thursday: Josh Winckowski vs. Gerrit Cole. Yankees win 6-5. The Yankees bullpen did what they've done all year and close door in a tight game BUT the Red Sox touch up Cole for five runs in six innings. Rafael Devers owns Gerrit Cole, that's a fact.

Friday: Connor Seabold vs. Nestor Cortes. Yankees win by seven. Again though, the Red Sox get Cortes out of the game in just three and two-thirds innings.

Saturday: Kutter Crawford vs. Jordan Montgomery. Red Sox walk it off in the tenth. The Yankees immortal bullpen proves mortal and the Sox walk it off on the back of Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs.

Sunday: Nick Pivetta vs. Jameson Taillon. The first real pitching matchup of the series. Sox score nine unanswered after a bad outing from Pivetta and win the game by five. Series split, two games a piece.

A little more in depth now. The Sox have nine pitchers on the IL, not all of them are all-stars, but Nathan Eovaldi, Chris Sale, Michael Wacha, and Garrett Whitlock are certainly better than the stable of rookies the Sox tossed to start the series. Seabold has good stuff, but the command isn't there yet. Winckowski is a four or five starter at best. Crawford, while probably not who you want to start the game to stop the skid, is the best of the bunch and has an electric fastball. I think he should stick in the bullpen as the team get's healthier. A Whitlock/Houck/Crawford trio being able to throw a couple innings at a time can be useful come crunch time.

So, the Sox won two out of four against the leagues' best team with three rookie starters. They also did it without only a game and a half from their best hitter, Rafael Devers. Again, I'm not saying the Red Sox are better than the Yankees, but they split the series without their best lineup out there. It's something to consider.

This Sox team has a long way to go before they can even think about making the playoffs and playing a playoff series, but with some important players coming back from injury and some potential deadline additions, they could make some noise. Yankee fans on Twitter will take their victory lap, saying they're still 15 games up in the division; that's fine, it's not about the division anymore. Deep down they should be at least a little worried. Their top two pitchers got hit around, their bullpen blew a lead, and they gave up nine unanswered to a lineup featuring Rob Refsnyder, Jeter Downs, and Bobby Dalbec. Five game series with Eovaldi, Sale, Wacha, Whitlock, a healthy Devers and even Kiké Hernandez? It's late and I'm probably not thinking straight, but I don't hate our chances.

The next week against the Rays and Yankees will be huge. If the Sox can take a couple from the Rays and remain in the driver seat for the Wild Card going into the all-star break, I'll love where we're at. Not the best series from a record standpoint, but plenty of encouraging signs to look at while the team gets healthy.

Love That Dirty Water.

-Jake