The Yankees Came To Fenway Park To Win Four Games And It Just Didn't Work Out

I can’t believe that happened last night. I really can’t. I can’t believe that whole weekend happened, if we’re being honest. I had the Red Sox taking three out of four in that series just based on the pitching match-ups, but what were the odds of even that outcome coming to fruition? The pessimist in me figured that, with my luck, after making that prediction that the Yankees would take three of four and cap the series off by kicking David Price’s teeth in again because fuck me, right?

It’s almost like when your mortal enemy gives you permission to date his daughter and then gives you a hundred dollar bill to buy a trunk full of condoms. First of all, I’m not using a condom. Second of all, what’s the catch? I don’t trust you. Are the Red Sox really this good, or are the Baseball Gods fucking with us, allowing this highly improbable four-game sweep to happen that finished with Aroldis Chapman blowing a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, followed by a walk-off victory in the bottom of the tenth? I’ll ask you this one more time — are the Red Sox really this good, or are you pushing us higher up the ladder so that it hurts even more when we inevitably fall from it somewhere down the line?

Answer: The Red Sox are really this good. They are. That’s not to say that it’s a slam dunk that they’ll go on to win the World Series, as the postseason is often a crapshoot, but the whole “the Red Sox can’t beat good teams” crowd can finally go fuck themselves. The next time that someone says that the Red Sox can’t beat good teams, please point them in the direction of the pile of rubble that the Red Sox left behind at Fenway Park this past weekend. That pile of rubble used to be called the New York Yankees.

I can’t wait to hear the excuses, too. Do you want me to go down the list of all the Red Sox players who are currently on the disabled list, yet they were still able to take four in a row from a team that was on pace to win north of a hundred games? Chris Sale, Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia, Rafael Devers, Blake Swihart, Christian Vazquez, Steven Wright, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Carson Smith. That’s all just currently.

That’s not even mentioning that Xander Bogaerts, Mookie Betts, Brian Johnson, Drew Pomeranz (who cares), Hector Velazquez, Brock Holt and Tyler Thornburg have all spent time on the DL this year. Despite all of that, the Red Sox are still on pace to win 113 goddamn games. A hundred and thirteen fucking wins. Sure, Aaron Judge is hurt, but what else ya got for an excuse? Gary Sanchez? Please. The Yankees got outplayed in this series in every way possible. All four games. The Red Sox out-pitched them, out-hit them, out-smarted them, out-managed them, and flat out outperformed them. They beat them.

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Not that you ever want to settle, but I think most, if not all, Red Sox fans would’ve been happy with walking away from that series winners of the first three games and dropping the last one. Can’t win ‘em all, right? Somebody made that up. That’s actually not true. The reason why Sunday was so important was because of one man — David Price. I don’t care what the standings (that I may or may not have changed with my bare hands) said prior to the game. This was about one man versus one team, and that one man needing to prove that this one team would no longer be an obstacle in an otherwise very good season for him.

Just like the last time Price faced the Yankees, he came into this start having pitched really well leading up to it, an ERA under two over his previous three starts. Would the results be any different this time? Uhhhhh, yeah. They would. Price blanked the Yankees over the first six innings, striking out five. I didn’t have a problem with Price coming back out for the seventh inning at 95 pitches. I didn’t see anyone complain about it until after he allowed the first two batters to reach base, both of which ultimately came in to score when Heath Hembree allowed them to. This was Price’s game until proven otherwise.

Hembree allowed a pair of unearned runs on top of Price’s pair of earned runs in the seventh, making it a 4-1 lead for the Yankees going into the bottom of the ninth. The Red Sox scored that lone run on a bomb off the bat of Mookie Betts that cleared the Green Monster in the bottom of the fifth, snapping Masahiro Tanaka’s scoreless innings streak, but that’s all the Red Sox offense could muster for eight innings. The Red Sox’s chances weren’t looking all that great when Aaron Boone called upon his closer, Aroldis Chapman, in the ninth inning to close it out.

Just kidding; that guy sucks against the Red Sox. He struck out Brock Holt to start the inning, walked the next two batters, struck out Andrew Benintendi, walked Steve Pearce to load the bases, gave up a rocket two-run base hit to JD Martinez, and then the tying run came in to score when Miguel Andujar botched a throw to first base on a ground ball off the bat of Xander Bogaerts. I was stunned. If you’re a Yankee fan, I’m sure you were, too. But I was legitimately stunned. I thought for sure the Red Sox were going to get within one, and then I’d have to say something like, “The Red Sox couldn’t complete the four-game sweep, but the Yankees didn’t get out of Fenway without at least feeling like they were going to lose all four.” Nope. They lost all four. Silver lining — Chapman struck out the side.

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An inning later with Jonathan Holder on the mound (ironic last name considering how well he pitched in that series), Sandy Leon got the party started with a two-out base hit. Leon advanced on a wild pitch, opening up first base so that the Yankees could intentionally walk Betts to get to Benintendi. Walk the league MVP favorite to get to the guy who should’ve been an All Star, and if you can’t get him out then you’ve gotta face the guy who has four home runs this series, and if you can’t get him, then you’ve gotta face the guy who leads the league in homers. Tough.

Benintendi had it all taken care of, though. With a 2-1 count, Benintendi chopped a base hit back up the middle, bringing the winning run to the plate, as the Red Sox pulled off what very well could have been their biggest win of the year. It wasn’t the biggest win in the sense that it had huge AL East implications, but that comeback victory was a statement. It was a “fuck you” that those who question the legitimacy of this team needed to hear. It was a “fuck you” that Brian Cashman needed to hear after talking about how the Red Sox beat up on everybody but the Yankees, and that the Yankees “do some damage” to the Red Sox when they play head to head. How’s a four-game sweep, and nine and a half games back sound for damage?

PS — Shout out to #MyManager Alex Cora. With that win, he is already the all-time wins leader for any manager from Puerto Rico. I know how much that means to him, so big time congrats to #MyManager.

Final score: Red Sox 5, Yankees 4 — 10 innings