Seahawks 13, Patriots 10

 

The 2026 NFL season opened last night with a repeat of last winter's Super Bowl LX: the New England Patriots versus the Seattle Seahawks. Like last year's Super Bowl LX, Seattle won.

Seattle starting QB Sam Darnold left the game early in the Seahawk's very first drive, and the Pats took a 10-0 lead on a second-quarter passing TD to rookie receiver Eli Raridon and a third-quarter FG. The Patriots' defense held Seattle scoreless in the first half, and then forced them to settle for a FG late in the third despite four plays inside the New England red zone. 

Patriot receiver A.J. Brown, the biggest acquisition by New England in the offseason, had to leave the game in the third with an ankle injury and did not return. The timeline for his return is still up in the air. New England teams, incidentally, seem to have the worst luck with new players getting injured in their first game, from Curtis Mead getting hit by a pitch on the wrist in his first game as a Red Sox to Gordon Hayward breaking his leg in his first Celtics' game, not to mention the tragedy of Len Bias.   

But the fourth quarter was when last night's catastrophe occurred. New England QB Drake Maye, who finished the game with 23 completions on 33 attempts for 178 passing yards and 47 rushing yards, threw an interception in the opening minute of the fourth that led to a Seattle TD and a 10-10 tie. Another Drake interception that quarter led to a Seattle FG for a 13-10 Seahawk lead. 

But no worries. New England got the ball back with 5:50 left to play. The drive started inauspiciously with a 10-yard holding penalty and a sack, but Maye then started a Brady-esque drive from his own 17 to the Seattle 16 in fourteen plays and 5:24 minutes. It was looking like New England was either going to score or at the very least tie the game up with a FG and force OT. 

And then Maye committed his third interception of the quarter, throwing it to a Seattle defender in the end zone with 0:26 left to play. The Seahawks took possession and after one short play, the game was over, 13-10.  Maye called the INT "unacceptable," and vowed to be better, but the Patriots start the season 0-1. Seattle fans couldn't help but remember Malcolm Butler's 2015 interception of Russell Wilson at the goal line with 0:20 left to play to seal New England's win in Super Bowl XLIX. 

One down, but sixteen more games to go. You can rationalize the loss by saying the Pats led most of the way, and losing to the defending Super Bowl champion by only a field goal isn't so bad. But the Patriots were also in that same Super Bowl, and were playing against Seattle's backup QB. The game revealed the weaknesses New England has to work on, from Maye's rashness in the fourth, to the health of receiver A.J. Brown, to a Romeo Doubs' drop of a pin-point accurate pass, to a poor overall rushing performance, and to the o-line's inability to adjust to the Seahawks' blitzes.

The good news is that since they were in the season's earliest premiere game, the Patriots have 10 days for Brown to recover and work on those identified weaknesses. They play the Pittsburgh Steelers back home in Foxborough on Sunday, September 20. The Steelers will host the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday before visiting New England, and should give the Pats a preview of what Pittsburgh's 42-year-old starting QB Aaron Rogers has left in him, if anything. 

But mostly, they should be looking at themselves, shore up their o-line, work of their ground game, and nurse Brown back to health.     

Angels 6, Red Sox 4

So it goes.

The Red Sox lose a home series, 1-2, to the team with the worst record in the American League. If the team isn't interested in winning, why should I care if they win or lose?

The Sox fall to 80-67 and four back from the Yankees in the Wild Card standings with 15 games left to the season. It's looking increasingly likely that the season will end with two losses in the Bronx in the Wild Card round.  

Meanwhile, this easy, late-season homestand against AL basement dwellers, this scheduling gift from above, resumes tomorrow with three games against Kansas City (65-82). Sonny Grey (17-4, 2.69) is scheduled to start against Seth Lugo (6-8, 5.04). If ever there's a time to seize the moment and win the top Wild Card spot, it's now.

Make it so.        

Angels 6, Red Sox 1

 

By the end of the third inning, Patrick Sandoval had already given up six hits and three runs, but Chad Tracy kept him in the game. Sandy gave up two more hits and another run in the fifth, and still stayed in the game through the sixth inning. Meanwhile, the Red Sox scored all of zero runs during those six innings.

I'll break it down for you: a Sandoval start + recent Red Sox offense = another team loss.

"You can' win 'em all," "shit happens," and all, and I wouldn't be as upset if the loss weren't so indicative of the problems emerging on this team as they head down the final stretch of the season. There's a reason Sandoval is 1-5 and 4.58, and it's not because of bad breaks and unlucky outings. Can we just admit the rehab experiment isn't working out and send him down to the minors to complete his comeback, or give him back to the Angels and let him leave Boston with the team tomorrow? And the Red Sox offense has been dogshit of late, scoring in only seven of the last 45 innings over the past five games. They've been relying on one big play each game and then the bullpen to bail them out in order to win, and if the pitching lets them down or they need a second big play, well . . .    

It gets worse. Shitler and the Yankees beat Colorado because of course they did, so the Sox fall back to three games behind New York in the Wild Card standings.

Game Three of the home stand against the last-place Angels is tonight. Big Jake Bennett (9-6, 3.34) goes up against L.A. loser Ryan Johnson (3-8, 5.17).  

I would like to offer some free strategic advice to Chad Tracy and the Red Sox - WIN THE EASY FUCKING GAMES! This six-game home stand against AL basement dwellers was a gift from the MLB front office, wrapped up with a bow on top, a chance to extend your four-game wining streak and sweep of Baltimore into a ten-win run, and here you go starting it off, 1-1! God damn, wake the fuck up and start playing baseball!

Don't make me come up there . . .  

We're No. 2!

 

Despite the fact that we played a cupcake in Week One (almost everyone did), Georgia moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 in this week's AP poll. Oregon, who struggled to beat their cupcake, Boise State, by a TD, fell from the preseason No. 2 all the way down to No. 6.

Georgia earned 1,532 points in the poll, but didn't get a single first-place vote, even though No. 3 Notre Dame got four, No. 4 Texas got two, and No. 5 Indiana got eight. Even No. 6 Oregon got three first-place votes. But the Dawgs? None. Not one.

Rounding out the Top 10 are No. 7 Miami (one first-place vote), and No. 8 LSU (five votes for first). Ole Miss was No. 9 and Texas A&M, No. 10, both without any first-place votes. Other SEC teams in the Top 25 are No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 12 Alabama, No. 18 Tennessee, and No. 23 Missouri. That's a total of nine SEC teams in the Top 25.

This weekend, Georgia plays another unranked team, Conference USA's Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (0-1), who lost to Nevada last weekend, 49-14. The Bulldogs are 40½-point favorites, and will probably still cover the spread. 

But the big game on Saturday will be No. 1 Ohio State against No. 4 Texas. The Longhorns are 1½-point favorites. Arguably, Georgia would benefit from a Buckeye loss, making the No. 1 spot available if the AP voters don't decide to award it to Texas (or Oregon, for that matter). On the other hand, early season AP polls are meaningless, and a loss to an SEC rival could provide more advantages to the Dawgs in the long run. But we here at Sweat Dissolves Water despise both teams, and can only hope that the game goes into triple OT, depletes both benches, and knocks the two starting QBs out of the lineup for the rest of the season.

We're No. 2! Go, Dawgs, and beat them Hilltoppers!

Red Sox 5, Angels 2

 

Jarren Duran got a haircut. The mullet is gone and I doubt anyone misses it. He took his hair all the way down to a buzzcut and then on top of that, dyed it blond. He looks like Eminem now. 

Even more unrecognizably, he hit a solo homer in the second inning to kick off Boston's scoring in the game. Later, he hit a double to go 2-for-4 on the day. 

Adley Rutschman also hit a homer in the second, a three-run blast to deep right field to make the score 4-0. Eli White singled to right center in the third scoring Caleb Durbin from third to make it 5-0.

Brayan Bello didn't get a haircut but he surprised everybody by getting through a first inning without a hit or a run. He went five shutout innings with seven strikeouts and four hits. After 103 pitches with no runs, Wyatt Olds relieved him in the sixth and gave up a homer to the Angels on his very first pitch. But Wyatt settled down and went two innings without any further hits and struck out five. Alec Gamboa gave up another run in the eighth to make the game a tad more interesting, but Garrett Whitlock closed it out in the ninth, and the Red Sox won, 5-2, their fifth straight victory and 80th of the season. . 

Once fourteen games under .500 earlier this season, the Red Sox are now fifteen games over .500 at 80-65. They trail New York, who was idle today, by two games in the Wild Card standings. The Yankees will face the woeful Rockies (55-88) and then the Mets (66-78) this week, so it's imperative that Boston keeps its steak going against the Angels (54-90) and the Royals (64-81) so as not to lose any ground in the Wild Card race. 

Game two of the home series with the Halos is tonight (6:45) with Patrick Sandoval (1-4, 4.41) facing his former team for the very first time. Reid Detmers (4-8, 3.44) will start for the Angels. Back on July 2, Detmers gave up five runs to the Sox, including a home run to Durbin and two RBI sac flies to Duran. 

The Red Sox carried Sandoval on the IL for a year and a half  after acquiring him from the Angels. It's time for Big Sandy to pay back the favor with a big win over L.A. tonight.

Red Sox 3, Orioles 1

 

The Red Sox win their four straight and complete a sweep of the Orioles! 

Another pitching masterpiece by Tolle, who struck out 12 Baltimore batters in six innings and gave up only one run.  Eli White homered in the second to score the only three Boston runs of the game. While it's great that the Red Sox pitchers have held the Orioles  to one or no runs the last three games, we need a more consistent offense than one scoring play a game if we're going to be serious about the playoffs.

The Yankees lost yesterday because they suck, so Boston (79-65) is once again within 2½ games of the top Wild Card spot - so close, they can almost just reach out and grab it. Tampa Bay lost, too, and are now 6½ games ahead of the Sox in first place, but with only 18 games left to the season, Boston should forget about winning the AL East and focus on the Wild Card race instead. The Red Sox' path to the World Series does not run through a division championship but goes from the Wild Card series to the ALCS to the big show.

The Red Sox have two "easy" series left against teams below .500 (both at home, too), and then four "hard" series against teams over .500 with playoff aspirations of their own, and half of those are on the road. Fortunately, considering all of the players currently doing time on the 10-day IL, the next two series are the "easy" ones, starting with the L.A. Angels (54-89) this afternoon (1:35 pm) at Fenway.

Brayan Bello (5-7, 5.07) starts today without the prophylactic luxury of a separate starter for the first inning. Bello has been spectacular as a reliever, even if he comes on as early as the second inning, and a first-inning disaster as a starter. Psychiatrists will spend decades trying to figure out why. Bello is a career 1-2 against the Angels in four starts, and the last time he played them, back on June 3 of last year, he gave up three runs in the third inning in a 4-3 L.A. win.

The Angels will start righty Grayson Rodriguez (4-6, 6.03). The last time Rodriguez pitched to Boston (May 28, 2024), he was with Baltimore and Abreu homered off him, Duran hit an RBI double, and good ol' Rafael Devers hit a pair of RBI singles. 

It's essential that Boston wins or even sweeps these next two series to build as much of a cushion as possible for that final "hard" stretch to end the season.

Red Sox 5, Orioles 0

 

For once, Chris Bassett pitched a pretty good game against the Red Sox but it didn't matter - the Orioles lost anyway, 5-0, because Sonny Gray pitched an even better game. Sonny went seven complete innings with no runs and seven strikeouts, and the bullpen of Morán, Weissert, and Olds competed the shutout, 5-0 

Eli White singled in the sixth inning, scoring Sogie and Story, followed by a Connor Wong single that scored Duran. Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled in the seventh, scoring two more (Story and Duran) to make it 5-0 and taking a 3-0 lead in the four-game series. The Sox go for the sweep this afternoon.

Caddanne Rafaela, who's been out of the lineup so far this entire series, was officially placed on the IL with a right quadriceps strain. With Yoshida and Contreras also on the IL, three of the team's top hitters are not available coming down the stretch. It's going to fall on the recently reactivated Story and Anthony to take up that deficit, as well as Sogie, IKF, Gasper, and Jones. Story and Anthony, as well as Gasper and Sogard, are all in today's starting lineup, but Monasterio will be DH'ing for Jones and White will be batting cleanup for Kiner-Falela.

But not to worry - Payton Tolle (8-6, 3.23) takes the mound today. Tolle struck out nine Orioles in his last start against them back on July 20th, and if anything he's gotten even better during the month of August since that game. He'll be opposed by Baltimore's Kyle Bradish (7-12, 4.01), who's a career 2-6 against Boston although he was the starting pitcher in the July 22nd game that ended Boston's 15-game winning streak. 

He'll pay for that today as the Sox complete their sweep of Baltimore.

Georgia 63, Tennessee State 3

 

In its long and storied history, Georgia has had many great, hard-earned victories. This wasn't one of them.

The Tennessee State Tigers were overmatched and clearly out of their league. The Bulldogs scored 28 points in the first quarter alone, while the Tigers managed all of one field goal the entire game. Georgia didn't have to settle for a field goal the whole game, scoring TDs on nine of their eleven possessions. 

After opening their 2022 season against Oregon and 2024 season against Clemson, it felt good to ease into the season this year with a mismatch to let the team find it's groove.

The games was so easy the stats are almost meaningless, but Gunner Stockton passed for three TDs and 202 yards on 15 completions in 16 attempts. Nate Frazier rushed for three more TDs and finished the day with 72 yards. The game was so lopsided so early that coach Kirby Smart was able to bring in his backup QBs in the second quarter and Puglisi threw for 109 yards and one TD. Sophomore Ryan Montgomery, who passed all of one time last year, went 60 yards on two passes, including one for a TD. Freshman Hezekiah Millender passed once but it was a 17-yard bomb, and he also rushed for 22 yards on two carries. Freshman Jae Lamar rushed for 15 yards, including one rushing TD. 

I'm tempted to say Georgia won without breaking a sweat, but they did sweat. Everyone sweated. It was HOT today, 98° at kickoff. The Dawgs sweated, the Tigers sweated, the coaches sweated, the cheerleaders sweated, and even the fans sweated. It cooled off as a front passed through during the game, but it was pretty brutal in the first half.

Tennessee State already suffered one early season loss and are now 0-2, and their next three games are all of the road. You got to feel sorry for them.

The No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs start their season 1-0. The No. 2 Oregon Ducks struggled in their opener today against unranked Boise State, winning 24-27 on a fourth quarter TD. There's never any telling how the AP is going to vote, but they should drop Oregon down in the rankings for their poor performance and Georgia should be the new No. 2 next week. 

Other than that, there were no surprises or upsets in the scores this week (so far). Both No. 1 Ohio State and No. 5 Texas easily won their games, and the two teams play each other next week while Georgia has another easy game (on paper) against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. It's not impossible for the Georgia Bulldogs to be the new No. 1 team by this time next week.

Red Sox 1, Orioles 0

 

I'm still not sure how to consider last night's 1-0 win by Boston over Baltimore. One way is to consider that behind Ranger Suarez' masterful pitching performance, the Red Sox only needed one run, a first-inning Mickey Glasper solo home run, to win the game. Another way is to be concerned that the Sox could only score one run the entire game.

Ranger did indeed pitch a fine game - seven shutout innings with only one walk, three K's, and five hits, all singles. Both relievers went three up/three down with Whitlock allowing a runner on base in the eighth, but getting the next batter to hit into a double play, and Chapman ending the game with a K and two quick outs at first.

Gasper's HR was his eighth of the season, and his batting average (.283) is the best on the team among players with more than 40 plate appearances (Jahmai Jones is batting .471 in 34 at bats). He trails only slightly behind the injured Willson Contreras (left hamstring) in on-base percentage (.379 vs .384), slugging (.513 vs .516), and the two combined (.892 OPS vs .900). 

Outside of Gasper, who in addition to his homer also hit a single in the sixth, the Red Sox batters went 3-for-33 (.091) at the plate. Those three hits were singles by Duran, Story, and White. Nothing from Roman, nothing from Rutschman, nothing from Abreu, Sogard, or Durbin. We can't count on Ranger masterpieces every game.

The Yankees lost last night because they suck, and now, with 20 games remaining, Boston is once again 2½ games back from the top Wild Card spot and home field in the first round of the postseason. 

Sonny Gray (16-4, 2.82) pitches tonight, hopefully well rested after the Jedixson Paez debacle.  The Orioles haven't faced Sonny before in a Red Sox uniform, but he's a career 6-4 against them in a dozen starts for other teams, with 65 K's and only 58 hits in 65 innings. Gray's victim tonight will be the Oriole's 37-year-old, veteran pitcher, Chris Bassitt (6-4, 4.97). Bassitt has struggled against Boston, and the Sox rocked him for three runs on six hits, including an Abreu homer, back on June 3, and knocked him out of the game after three innings in an 8-1 win.

A win today would clinch the series for the Sox, and possibly make up a little more ground on New York in the Wild Card chase. Let's do it!

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

 

In his first game back in Camden Yards since being traded to the Red Sox, former Baltimore Oriole Adley Rutschman hit a home run. Twice. Once in the first inning in his first at-bat and again in the sixth. He hit what should have been a single in the eighth but took second on a bad throw, and then Nick Sogard brought him home with a long ball into the stands of his own. Roman Anthony thought those home runs looked kind of fun and hit one of his own in the ninth. Five of Boston's six runs came on homers, with an RBI single in the seventh by Isiah Kiner-Falefa the lone exception.

Big Jake Bennett went six innings with seven K's and three earned runs. Aroldis Chapman uncharacteristically gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth before getting the third out and ending the game with a 6-5 Red Sox victory and breaking a two-game losing streak.

The Yankees didn't play last night so the Sox (76-65) picked up a half-game on New York in the standings and now trail by 4½. Cleveland lost to those pesky Jays last night so Boston leads them by 5½ in the Wild Card race.

Ranger Suarez (5-4, 3.64) starts tonight for the Red Sox in the second of this four-game series. Ranger hasn't yet faced the O's as a Red Sox pitcher, but is a career 0-2 against them in four starts. Last year, he gave up five earned runs to Baltimore over 6⅓ innings, including a home run to Orioles third-baseman Coby Mayo, who's now in the DH spot.

The Orioles will go with Shane Baz (5-14, 4.01) tonight. On July 20, the Sox won the 14th of their historic 15-game winning streak against Baz, getting four runs (one earned) off him in six innings while he recorded six K's. 

The Yankees start a weekend series in San Diego tonight against the Padres (73-67). Let's hope sleep deprivation and jet lag work against them on the West Coast while the Red Sox earn some more AL East wins in Baltimore. 

 

Mariners 8, Red Sox 3

 

See? The Red Sox don't need no Jedixson Paez to give up eight runs in a game. They can do that just fine with Patrick Sandoval and Brayan Bello, who gave up four runs each. Together, Sandy and Bello walked five, while Seattle pitchers only walked one. 

Offensively, the Red Sox got hits, twelve of them, just as many as the Mariners. Both teams left eight players on base. Baseball mathematics: for Boston, twelve hits plus one walk minus eight left on equals three runs; for Seattle, twelve hits plus five walks minus eight left on equals eight runs.  

Fucking Yankees won last night, so the Red Sox (75-65) fall to five back from New York in the Wild Card standings with 22 games left to the season. 

Tonight, the Sox play in Baltimore, that Jewel of the Chesapeake, in a four-game series against the Orioles (69-71, last in the AL East). Big Jake Bennett (9-6, 3.27) starts the first game against the O's Brandon Young (9-3, 3.38). 

Way back in April, when the Red Sox sucked, Young and the Orioles beat the Red Sox, 10-3, although Young gave up all three Boston runs on seven hits, including an Abreu homer, over 5⅔ innings. Bennett posted neat identical numbers (three runs on nine hits, including one home run, over 5⅔ innings) back on July 22, a game which turned out to be the 15th win in Boston's historic 15-game winning streak. 

While tonight's pitching might be pretty evenly matched, Boston comes into the game with a team batting average of .250, seventh in MLB, while Baltimore has a .235 BA, fifth worse in baseball.  

The Red Sox need to win this series, if not sweep, to make up the lost ground in the Wild Card standings. New York will be San Diego for a three-game series this weekend against the Padres (73-67) and will surely pick up at least a couple of losses, so this is our opportunity to make a move toward the top Wild Card spot.

Mariners 9, Red Sox 6

 

Let's start with the obvious: pitcher Jedixson Paez wasn't yet ready to be called up to the major league. Sure, Sonny Gray needed a day's rest and there were no long relievers available in the bullpen, but those conditions don't make Paez ready to move up. The Chicago White Sox used him for a few innings of relief in the very earliest days of this season, so that wasn't his first big-league rodeo, but other than that, he's been down in the minor leagues working on his craft. Last night, he made his first starting appearance in the majors, and the Red Sox left him in the game for 3⅔ excruciating innings as he gave up eight runs on ten hits, including two homers. His ERA has ballooned to 18.90 and I believe he's already been returned to the minors. Sorry, Jedixson - the Sox used you to meet their strategic needs and hopefully you're not too traumatized or discouraged to continue your development.

(Just imagine for a minute being Jedixson having to take the mound at the top of the fourth, knowing you've already given up seven runs, you're obviously out of your element, the fans are booing, and your prospects as a future major-leaguer are evaporating with each pitch. But you still go out there, take the mound, and throw your pitches. It's not only your job, but the only out of the predicament is to go through it. How much of a relief it must have been when Tracy finally came out of the dugout to take away the ball after you finally made a second out that inning.)    

Now let's look at the positive side - if you take Paez's runs out of the equation, the Red Sox actually played a pretty good game last night. The Mariners homered in the first, the only run in the opening inning, and Mickey Gasper came right back and homered in the bottom of the first to tie up the game. After Paez finally left the game with the score 8-1, the Mariners only scored once more, while the Red Sox scored five runs. Even if you included the one run in the first inning, if you remove the other runs that Paez gave up in the second, third, and fourth, the score would be Red Sox 6, Mariners 2. 

I'm not saying that the Red Sox somehow "really" won the game, I'm just saying the only weakness on the team was a minor-league pitcher who obviously shouldn't even have been in Fenway last night. And extra kudos should go to the team for continuing to hustle even in the face of an 8-1 deficit. Wilyer Abreu ran all the way home from second base on a Seattle throwing error in the sixth inning to make the score 9-2. Eli White hit a two-RBI double in the seventh to make it 9-4. Jahmai Jones hit a two-run homer in the ninth to make it 9-6, and for a minute there, you'd be excused for thinking the Sox were going to make an incredible, probably record-setting comeback and actually win the game.

The Sox fall four back from New York in the Wild Card standings but still have a 4½-game cushion above Cleveland for the number two spot. The way the Wild Card playoff games are structured, it would arguably be easier on the Sox if they were the number three Wild Card instead of the number two. As the standings are now, the number three team would have to play three games in either Chicago or Houston, while the number two team would have to play three in Yankee Stadium. I like our chances in Chicago or Houston more than in the Bronx, especially after last weekend, but no team would deliberately tank games for a lower spot and risk missing the playoffs entirely. I'm just saying that it would be far from a disaster to end the season holding the number-three card. 

The Sox can win this home series with a win this afternoon (4:10 pm). Patrick Sandoval (1-3, 4.20) will start for Boston against Seattle's Bryce Miller (4-8, 4.12). Sandoval had a good outing in Boston's 0-1 loss to the Yankees last Friday, giving up one home run but only two other, scoreless hits over 5⅓ innings with seven strikeouts. He's a career 0-5 against Seattle in nine starts but also has more K's (57) against the Mariners than any other team in the majors.  

Bryce Miller is a career 0-4 against the Sox, so that evens it up a little bit. Last June, shortly before the midseason turnaround, Miller gave up a homer to Caleb Durbin in a 6-2 Red Sox victory. Durbin will be the sixth batter in today's starting lineup.