Red Sox 5, Rockies 2

 

The beleaguered Boston Red Sox, who despite their humble record (32-45) are one of the finest baseball teams playing the game today, defeated the Colorado Rockies, 5-2, last evening. There is joy in Beantown, quite arguably the greatest city in the United States and a beacon of hope, wisdom, and the arts for the entire world.

Sorry I said y'all sucked, but it really hurt losing game one of this series.

Sonny Gray pitched seven innings, striking out 11 Colorado batters and giving up only one run on six hits. Wilyer Abreu tripled in the first, scoring one run, and hit a solo homer in the fifth. Nate Eaton had two RBI hits, a single in the second and a double in the sixth, and Rafaela brought him home later that inning. In fact, every player on the team got at least one hit, except Jarren Duran, the Designated Hitter, and Andruw Monasterio, who was walked in the second and brought home with Eaton's RBI single.

The despicable New York Yankees (boo!) finally managed to get a win last night after three straight losses, so the Red Sox remain 14½ back. Boston's six games out of contention for a Wild Card spot, with seven teams now in the standings above them for the last slot.

With the Rocky Mountain series tied at one game each, the Sox again have a seemingly invincible advantage in this afternoon's (3:10 pm) pitching matchup. Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.93) will lead Boston against Colorado's Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.36). Suarez last faced the Rockies May 22 last year when he was with the Phillies, and struck out six over 6⅔ shutout innings. Freeland also struck out six the last time he faced the Red Sox, but gave up three runs in what turned out to be a 10-2 Boston blowout. 

The Sox can avenge Monday's embarrassing loss to Colorado by at least winning this series. They'll need all the wins they can get, because starting tomorrow they have a long, four-game weekend series in the dreaded Fenway Park, where they're 12-25, against the fucking Yankees (47-31).

Rockies 3, Red Sox 2

 

Oh, for fuck's sake! They couldn't beat the Rockies? The 30-48 Rockies, officially the worst team in all of baseball? The Dodgers (50-29), the Braves (48-29), the Brewers (47-29), and even the Marlins (40-39) have all swept the Rockies this season - the  Padres (40-37) swept a four-game series against them. Meanwhile, the 2026 Boston Red Sox (31-45, and dropping) are 0-1 against the Rockies so far this season.

But wait, it gets worse. The Sox went into the bottom of the ninth with a 2-0 lead, and put their ace closer, Aroldis Chapman, on the mound. Chapman didn't register a single out - he gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases, and then a game-winning, walk-off, three-run triple. Thanks, Chapman. You just lost the game for Boston to the Colorado Fucking Rockies. Chapman, you suck. 

I've had it! The Red Sox suck. They really do. Rafaela and Mayer both went 0-4 at bat in the game, so Rafaela and Mayer suck. Gasper, Wong, Duran, Durbin, Yoshida, Seigler, and Monasterio all went hitless last night, so Gasper, Wong, Duran, Durbin, Yoshida, Seigler, and Monasterio  all suck. Coach Chad Tracy sucks. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow sucks big time. Owner John W. Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, and President/CEO Sam Kennedy all suck.

It doesn't stop there. Boston sucks. There, I said it! Boston sucks. Boston Harbor sucks (and smells funny), the Boston Common sucks, Beacon Hill sucks, the Back Bay sucks, and Harvard and MIT both suck. Boston College sucks, but everybody already knows that. Comm Ave sucks, Kenmore Square sucks, Fenway Park sucks, the Green Monster sucks, and even the Citgo sign sucks. 

Aerosmith, J. Geils, The Cars, and the Dropkick Murphys suck, and Mission of Burma are overrated. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck suck, Mark Wahlberg sucks, and even John Krasinski sucks. The ladies, too: Eliza Dushku sucks, Maura Tierney sucks, Allison Janney sucks, Connie Britton sucks, and even Amy Poehler sucks.

Dropping the letter "r" sucks and the Boston accent is wicked annoying.

This blog, Sweat Dissolves Water, which primarily covers Boston teams, sucks. You suck if you're reading this and I certainly suck for writing it. 

The Yankees lost last night, dropping their third straight game, and it goes without saying that the Yankees suck. 

Game two of the Colorado road series is tonight. Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.12) faces rookie Sean Sullivan (0-1, 10.29), making his third-ever MLB appearance. The Sox, who, by the way, suck, are improbably 1½-run favorites.

Mariners 3, Red Sox 1

 

I was hoping for a sweep in Seattle. A sweep would have been nice, a morale lift for a team in desperate need of a pick-me-up. But alas, a sweep was too much to ask for. This is the 2026 Boston Red Sox we're talking about, and this team don't do no sweeps.

Tolle gave up a first-inning home run, but Eaton homered in the third for the Sox to even up the game. But Tolle then allowed a pair of RBI singles in the fifth and sixth, and even our old friend Rob Refsnyder (.139) got a base hit, and that was all Seattle needed to win the game with Boston's anemic batting.

At least the Yankees lost yesterday, too. We missed an opportunity to move up one in the AL East standings, but at least we didn't fall even further back. For the record, the Sox are in last place, 14½ games out from first.

The road trip proceeds next to Colorado, where Boston has its best chance ever for a series sweep. The Rockies are 30-48 (.385), worst in all of baseball. Rookie Jake Bennett (1-3, 4.79) takes the mound for Boston, but the Rockies starter, Ryan Feltner (2-2), has an ERA of 5.05. So we have a chance. The Sox are even betting favorites to win by 1½ runs.  

Boston is .500 (19-19) on the road this year. If we can't sweep the woeful Rockies in Colorado, we can't sweep anyone.

Red Sox 5, Mariners 1

 

Young Connelly Early lives up to his potential. It took him an inning to settle in, and the two hits in the first gave Seattle a run, but after that he no-hit the Mariners for five innings, earning seven K's along the way. And then the bullpen kept the no-hitter (other than the first) going through the final three. 

Meanwhile,. Abreu hit a two-run homer in the fourth and scored on a wild pitch in the sixth. The Sox also scored two more runs on RBI singles by Durbin and Mayer in the sixth. 

The Mariners moved our old (2022-2025) friend Rob Refsnyder (.133), from first to fifth in the lineup, but he still went 0-3 at bat last night.

Two wins in a row, back to back victories. It's good to be playing anywhere but Fenway. 

More good news: the fucking Yankees finally lost a game, so the Sox pick up a game in the AL East standings. We're only 14½ back now, with 88 games left to play! 

That was sarcasm by the way.

But here we are now, out in the PNW - Cascadia - two up in a three-game road series with the potential to earn a sweep. We're putting Payton Tolle, our best starter (3-4, 2.93), on the mound to face the Mariners for the first time in his career. He'll be opposed by Seattle's Logan Gilbert (5-4, 3.43), who's a career 0-2 against Boston. The last time Gilbert pitched to the Sox, he struck out an impressive 10 batters over five innings, but the now-injured Roman Anthony also got his career-first MLB home run off him in a 2-0 Boston win. 

Past results are no indicator of future performance, so so they say, but really, it's all we've got to go on.

Red Sox 6, Mariners 2

 

The Boston Red Sox break a four-game losing streak with a win in Seattle over the AL West-leading Mariners. 

Celeb Durbin homered in the second inning, a solo shot into deep left center. After what was starting to look like a 1-0 game, the Sox scored four runs in the seventh inning on a wild pitch, an RBI single, and a sac fly. Mayer added another RBI in the ninth, bringing Durbin home from second.

Suarez one-hit the Mariners through 6⅔ innings, striking out five along the way. The bullpen also kept Seattle to only one hit through 2⅓ innings - unfortunately, that one hit was a two-run homer off Tommy Kahnle in the bottom of the ninth.

Our old friend, Rob Refsnyder (.137), who played for the Red Sox from 2022-2025, went 0-4 last night in the Mariners' lead-off position, with one strike out. 

Doesn't mean shit, though - the Yankees won last night and the Sox remain 15½ back in the AL East.

Young Connelly Early (5-5, 3.81) takes the mound tonight in his first start against the Mariners. Seattle will counter with Emerson Hancock (5-3, 3.28), who struck out seven Boston batters while giving up two runs on five hits in an April 23, 2025 game in Fenway. 

Blue Jays 4, Red Sox 3

 

A sweep. The Red Sox just got swept on their home field by a sub-.500 team.

This loss was made all the more infuriating because the Sox tied the game up in the bottom of the eighth with a pair of solo homers by Kiner-Falefa and Durbin. But then Chapman uncharacteristically gave up a run in the top of the ninth and then, in the bottom of the inning, the Sox flied, grounded, and popped out. Three up and three down, and the fourth straight loss at Fenway, where they're now 12-25.   

Time to hit the road. The Sox leave Boston for a road trip to Seattle (38-37) and then to the woeful Colorado Rockies (28-47).  Teams they statistically have a chance to beat, especially on the road, where they're at last close to .500 (17-18). But who knows in this accursed season? 

So the question that Red Sox fans across this great nation are now asking themselves: when you cut your wrists, is it better to slice horizontally across the arm to sever more arteries, or vertically along the arm for a longer open cut? 

Blue Jays 3, Red Sox 0

 

Okay, we're not going to sweep this home series, I can handle that, but now the Jays went and clinched the series win, winning game two, 3-0. Are we about to get swept at home?

At this point, I usually go over the game highlights, but there were none yesterday. The Sox are 15½ games back from first place in the AL East and 5½ games back from qualifying for a Wild Card spot, with five other teams in the playoff standings ahead of them.

Boston pins its hopes to avoid a sweep on Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.03) this afternoon (1:35). But it doesn't matter how well Gray pitches if the Red Sox batters can't manage any runs. All week, they've gotten only one run, a Jarren Duran solo homer in the eighth inning on Tuesday. Gray could go nine innings and hold the Jays to only one run, and Boston could still lose the game.

Meanwhile, in the Pribilof Islands, the harbormaster on St. Paul has finally put the docks in the water, meaning that the Yeva can soon be launched and Capt. Ella Hibbert can re-start her circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean and give us some distraction from this wretched Red Sox season.     

Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 1

 

Well, we're not going to get a home sweep in this series either . . . 

Rangers 6, Red Sox 4

 

Well, maybe a home sweep was a little too much to ask for. I shouldn't have put that much pressure on the poor, struggling team. Maybe some other time, boys.

Willson Contreras homered twice, both solo blasts, and Mayer and Abreu both had RBIs. Early gave up all six runs before getting pulled in the fifth, but the bullpen locked in and gave up only two hits and no runs the rest of the game. Still, the Sox weren't able to catch up to Texas, and were forced to settle for a 2-1 series win and a 12-22 home record.   

Boston (29-40) falls back to 13½ out of first place. They're off today and then after three against Toronto (24-38), back on the road where they're 17-18 for a road trip to Seattle (37-36) and Colorado (27-45) before returning home to Fenway for four against the Yankees (43-27). Six games against teams within a few of .500, and then three against the team with the worst record in MLB, before coming home and seeing if their Fenway mojo has improved any since last weekend.     

Red Sox 6, Rangers 3

 

Way to go, Boston! First back-to-back wins since May 31! First back-to-back wins in Fenway since April 8! I knew you had it in you! 

The Red Sox beat the dastardly Texas Rangers, 6-2, yesterday afternoon, taking a 2-0 lead in the weekend home series.

Jarren Duran got his 9th-inning home run out of the way in the 8th inning yesterday, scoring Contreras in the process. Gasper and Abreu both hit RBI singles in the third, and Rafaela hit a two-RBI single in the seventh. Ranger Suarez struck out seven over five innings and pitched his way out of bases-loaded situations in the fourth and fifth. To finish the game, the Sox went deep into the bullpen, bringing on five relievers - Slaten, Whitlock, who got the win in his second appearance since returning from the IL, Guerrero, Coulombe, and finally, of course, Chapman to seal the deal.

The Red Sox are still 12½ games back, even though Tampa Bay finally lost a game. However, the Yankees won and took over first place, so New York fans are going to be fucking insufferable what with the Knicks winning the NBA Finals last night and their precious Yankees in first place. 

The Red Sox could achieve a season milestone and complete their first home sweep of the year with a win today. Young Connelly Early (5-4, 3.30) goes up against our old friend, former Red Sox Nathan Eovaldi (5-7, 4.26). Since leaving Boston after the 2022 season (was it really that long ago?), Eovaldi has been 4-1 against the Sox. Last year, he struck out nine and seven Boston batters in games on March 27 and May 6. This will be the first time Early faces the Rangers.

C'mon, Boston. The trophy for first home sweep of the season is right there in front of you for the taking. You're one Duran ninth-inning homer away from a milestone. Seize the moment, carpe the fucking diem.

Red Sox 10, Rangers 1

 

Oh yeah, baby! The Sox are back! Back in Fenway, and back to playing some winning baseball!

Last night, the first four batters in the Boston order went a collective 10-for-17 at bat. Rafaela hit a two-run homer and an RBI double, Abreu homered and hit an RBI double and a sac fly for a run, and Contreras homered and hit an RBI single and an RBI double. Durbin, sixth in the line up, chipped in a sac fly for an RBI. Sonny Gray gave up a run in the first before he settled down and struck out seven over six innings, and the bullpen gave up only one hit over the final three innings.

Yes, sir. This is the hard-hitting Boston team I've been waiting for. Let's keep this going!

To make things even sweeter, both the Rays and the Yankees lost last night, so Boston (38-29) picks up a game in the AL East standings. We've still got a better record than the Royals or the Angels, and were only 12½ back with 95 games left to go!

This afternoon (4:10), Ranger Suarez (2-3, 3.18) will get the start against the Rangers' Jacob deGrom (5-4, 3.18) in some hot, Ranger-on-Ranger action. Lefty against righty and two veteran pitchers with identical ERAs. Suarez hasn't pitched against the Rangers since 2024, when he was with the Phillies, and threw 10 strikeouts over seven innings in a 5-2 Philly win. deGrom is 0-2 against the Red Sox in five starts over his long (12½ years) career, but he shut out the Sox over five innings in his last start against Boston (March 30, 2025), striking out six. 

The Sox have been abysmal in Fenway so far this season (11-21). It's time the celebrated park turns things around for us and starts giving up some wins for the home team.    

Summertime Blues

 

Today is June 12, 2026. The Red Sox were off last night (thank god) but are threatening to play again tonight.

This season has been horrible - historically, epically bad. I take no joy in reporting how they lose from day to day, or tracking their downward trajectory in the standings, but there's little else to distract me.

I'm not jumping on the Knicks' bandwagon in the NBA Finals. As a longtime (pre-Bird) Celtics fan, I'm biologically incapable of cheering for the Knicks, or any New York team for that matter. 

And fuck FIFA. Sorry, but I don't have World Cup fever. I'd like to say I lost all respect for FIFA when they gave the Stable Genius that faux FIFA peace prize, but even if that didn't happen, I'm not spending my summer watching a bunch of grown men in shorts run around kicking a ball up and down the field with occasional outbursts of comically long shouts of "Goal!" That brand of football isn't for me, I'm taking a hard pass, and won't be covering the games here.

Then there's the burlap heroes, those brave men and women out there all alone facing the planet's extreme conditions. Some guy is attempting a Forrest Gump, coast-to-coast walk across the entire United States, but it's somehow tied in to the FIFA World Cup and besides, he's almost finished, so good for him, but nothing much to say about it here. 

Ella Hibbert still plans on completing her solo sail around the Arctic Ocean, and has been on St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea for a month now painting and prepping her boat, the Yeva. I covered her voyage here last season and it provided a delightful distraction from last season's Sox, but while I know that the Siberian icepack melts late and there's no point in starting now, until she actually starts sailing, there's nothing to report on.

Tamara Klink, who sailed the Northwest Passage last summer while Capt. Hibbert was also passing through the archipelago, has written a book (in Portuguese) and is currently on the Brazilian talk-show circuit promoting it. It looks like there will be nothing to cover on her this season, although who knows what she'll do next?     

This July, a woman will attempt to swim the entire coastline of California. I plan to cover her feat once she get started, but until then, it looks like I've got nothing but the Red Sox to occupy my time. Sox on the mind. 

This summer's brutal!