Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 3

 

Walker Buehler served up batting practice in the first inning, giving up consecutive homers on two back-to-back pitches. Boston tied the game up in the second, but then Buehler gave up to more runs on two hits and three walks in the fourth, and that was it for today's Exercise in Futility.

The Red Sox lose again. Seven losses in the last ten games after an 8-2 win streak. .500 baseball either way. The Blue Jays leave Fenway two games further ahead of Boston in the standings than when they entered.

Next up is a three-game home series against the Cincinnati Reds (44-40). Starting pitchers tomorrow are, oh, does it matter? We're gonna fuckin' lose.  

 

     

Yeva, Greenlanded

 

The Yeva is currently harbored in the small village of Qaqortoq, located within a system of fjords on the southeastern coast of Greenland. There's three Qs in "Qaqortoq" and not one of them is followed by the letter U. Trails from the town lead through rugged mountains to the old Norse settlement of Igaliku, and to the southeast, hot springs at Uunartoq sit beside a bay dotted with icebergs. The area has had a continuous human presence for roughly 4,300 years, beginning with the Saqqaq culture. DNA evidence suggests that the ancestors of the Saqqaq came from Siberia and that they subsequently remained largely isolated from other populations. It is not known whether they crossed in boats or over ice.

Anyway, on her circumnavigation of the Arctic Circle and needing to find a safe place to repair the Yeva's heater, Ella Hibbert sailed into Qaqortoq's harbor. She reported that she spotted a pod of right whales  before landing in Greenland and that she also had her first visual sighting of an iceberg.  While in port, on top of fixing her heater, she'll probably top off her fuel and water, and get in a good sleep. 

To watch for icebergs at sea, she's had to restrict sleep to 20-minute shifts. However, one of the consequences of waking up too quickly or too early is a phenomenon called sleep inertia, that groggy period between waking and being fully aware. The more abruptly you are awakened, the more severe the sleep inertia. Transitioning between sleep mode and awake mode is a gradual process - our brain-stem arousal systems (the parts of the brain responsible for basic physiological functioning) are activated almost instantly, but our cortical regions, especially the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain involved in decision-making and self-control), take longer to come on board. As a result, instantaneous decision-making is challenging when abruptly awakened, so one can only imagine how Hibbert's mind reacts to a blip on the Yeva's radar indicating an iceberg up ahead after a brief, 20-minutes sleep. 

From Qaqortoq, the Yeva will sail north back up to the Arctic Circle and then pass north of Baffin Island through the Baffin Sea. From there, she'll pick a route through the Northwest Passages depending on the extent of sea ice and head west over the top of the North American continent.

Red Sox 15, Blue Jays 1

 

Well, cool. The Red Sox get in their entire allotment of monthly runs in one game. Save some of those runs for July, boys!

Seriously, nice to finally see a win and an end to that six-game losing streak. For the record, Abreu, Rafaela, and González homered. Nearly every player in the lineup got a least one hit, and Roman Anthony and Romy González got three each. Also, Giolito pitched seven solid innings with only one run, six hits, and five K's over seven innings.

Walker Buehler (5-5, 4.29) pitches tomorrow in the rubber game against Eric Lauer (4-1, 2.21). Let's win this homestand series, guys! 

Blue Jays 9, Red Sox 0

 

No runs. None. Zero. Not one goddamn player in a Red Sox uniform crossed home plate even once the entire goddamn game.  Meanwhile, the pesky Jays scored nine times.

Sixth consecutive loss. It shouldn't feet this bad - I'm used to losing, I've been a Sox fan since 1975 - but to play so listlessly is frustrating and painful to watch. 

We've still got three more months of this shit to go through.  

Yeva, Farewell

Ella Hibbert has rounded Farewell Point and is currently about 35–40 miles off the southern tip of Greenland. 

The Yeva is deep in iceberg territory now, so Capt. Hibbert is keeping her eyes peeled and the sails reefed, but is still getting bashed about by the high winds. To handle the gusts, Hibbert's running smaller sails and the hydrovane is doing the steering. 

Today, the sun finally came out after three gray days at sea, which is a boost for  morale. 

This is now Day 17 of the voyage, and she's covered 1,217 miles so far. Hopefully, conditions will be calmer as she leaves the North Atlantic and sails the Labrador Sea into the Northwest Passage.

Angels 5, Red Sox 2

Richard Let's-Call-Him-Dick Fitts gave up back-to-back homers in the fourth innings, erasing a 2-0 Red Sox lead, as the Angels complete a series sweep of the Red Sox. Boston got only one hit in the game after the first inning.

The Sox (40-42) are two games below .500 and seven games back in the AL East. We're only five ahead of least-place Baltimore. A playoff berth looks like a distant dream at this point.  Pitchers Kutter Crawford, Hunter Dobbins, Josh Winckowski, Nick Burdi, Justin Slaten, Liam Hendriks, Tanner Houck, and Chris Murphy are all of the IL, as are batters Alex Bregman, Triston Casas, and Masataka Yoshida. Half the team is below .250; five are below .200. The Boston Basin is slowly sinking into the sea.

This !@#% west coast road trip is finally over. The Sox are off today to fly back home for a six-game home stand against the Blue Jays (42-37) and the Reds (42-39). On Friday night, Brayan Bello (3-2, 3.31) will start against Toronto's José Berríos (3-3, 3.51), but does it really matter anymore?

Angels 3, Red Sox 2

 

Dagnabbit! Four straight losses in a row! This west coast road trip has turned into a disaster. 

To make it worse, this loss follows an absolute pitching masterpiece by Garrett Crochet - 10 strike-outs over seven scoreless innings, with only three hits and three walks. By the top of the 8th, the Sox had a 1-0 lead, but then Greg Weissert gave up Christian Moore's first homer of the night in the bottom of the inning. Tied, 1-1, the game went into extra innings.

Marcelo Mayer singled to score Rafaela in the top of the 10th and Boston took a 2-1 lead. But in the bottom of the inning, Justin Wilson gave up Moore's second homer of the night, which also scored the baserunner, and just like that, the Angels won, 3-2. 

The Sox are once again below .500 and once again closer to last place than first. 

Boston will try to avoid the sweep this afternoon (4:00 pm Eastern) with Richard Don't-Call-Him-"Dick" Fitts (0-3, 4.71) against the Angels' Yusei Kikuchi  (2-6, 3.01). Loser versus loser. Can't wait.

  

Yeva, Greenland Adjacent

Ella Hibbert is making some significant progress and figures she's about two days from the southern tip of Greenland. The weather is raining, foggy, and cold, and to top it off the Yeva's heater is down. "It’s getting pretty bloody cold out here," she says. She'll make landfall in Greenland later this week to fix the heater.

In the meantime, visibility is low (rain and fog) and the radar is on. She's officially on iceberg watch, plodding along through the mist, one chilly mile at a time.

Angels 9, Red Sox 5

 

Boston gave up five runs in the first inning and four more in the eighth for their second straight 9-5 loss and third consecutive loss overall. It's back to .500 baseball (40-40). Remember that 8-2 run last week? Yeah, those were the days.

Crochet (7-4, 2.20) pitches tonight. Although he hasn't yet started a game against the Angels in a Red Sox uniform, we've won the last four games that he's started. Let's see if we can make it five as he goes up against the Angels' Tyler Anderson (2-5, 4.56). We lost to the Angels, 7-6, the last time Anderson started against us back on June 2 in Fenway, although he lasted only 4.1 innings and didn't get the win.   

Yeva, Becalmed

We're pleased to learn that Ella Hibbert and the Yeva have managed to push through that low-pressure cell east of Greenland and are now in somewhat calmer waters. She spent two days hand steering through the storm, screaming at the wind, and crying into the waves in what she describes as a total emotional reset moment. 

But now she's managed to get some rest, eat for the first time in two days, and tidy up the cabin. She's still only about halfway from Iceland to Greenland but at least conditions are somewhat more manageable, at least until she encounters the next storm.

Giants 9, Red Sox 5

Raffy didn't homer against us this time, but Mike Yastrzemski, Casey Schmitt, and Willy Adames all homered against us and Boston loses back-to-back games in San Francisco. Raffy did score on a Heliot Ramos double in the seventh, though, so there's that.

The wind must have been blowing out today. Refsnyder and Romy González both homered in the fifth, and Rafaela homered in the sixth to give the Sox a brief 5-4 lead. But the Sox gave up four runs in the seventh, including one on a González fielding error, and Adames' HR in the eighth gave the Giants their four-run, final lead. 

And with that, Boston gives up the last spot in the Wild Card standings to Cleveland.

On to L.A. for a series against the Angels (37-40). Tomorrow (9:38 pm Eastern) Walker Buehler (5-5, 5.95) goes against someone named Jack Kochanowicz (3-8, 5.38) to end this Pac Rim road trip.

Giants 3, Red Sox 2

It was bound to happen: Devers gets his revenge. Bottom of the second, up by one, one on, and Raffy homers to deep (385 ft.) left center and gives the Giants a 3-0 lead. It was his first home run in a Giants uniform. Ironically, the ball was caught by a fan in the stands wearing a Red Sox jersey.

Boston's bats were pretty quiet until the 9th when the Sox scored two runs. Otherwise, this was Raffy's game. 

Bello gets the loss, even though he went six innings and struck out six. 

The rubber game's tomorrow at 4:00 - the rebuilding Lucas Giolito (3-1, 4.73) against Giants ace Robbie Ray (8-2, 2.68).   

 

Yeva, Storm-Battered

 

Ella Hibbert and the Yeva have left Icelandic waters and are now very roughly halfway between Iceland and the east coast of Greenland, heading southward to pass Greenland's Cape Farewell (Favel).  However, she's currently in 35 to 40-knot winds, with waves up to 16 feet. She's had to battle these brutal storm conditions overnight and throughout today as she proceeds south, steering by hand because the hydrovane and autopilot can’t cope with the conditions.

There’s nowhere to hide at sea. The Yeva has to just sail through whatever conditions are thrown at her and when bad weather is forecast, all Hibbert can do is just prepare herself and the boat as much as possible. She’s reportedly well rested and has easy-to-eat food at hand. 

The wind is expected to drop overnight to a more manageable 15-20 knots and to take a more northerly direction, which will make for more comfortable sailing. The swell will also follow suit in the early hours of the morning.

The choice of route from here to the Cape will be critical, not only because of the ice flowing down the eastern coast of Greenland but also the currents which affect the sea state and create the turbulent waves. Yeva is currently sailing along the edge of a west-flowing current which is helping to pull her down towards the Cape. Further south, the currents will eddy in all directions, which will throw up a confused sea with no rhythm to the waves and will throw the ship around like a cork. 

Scary stuff. Best wishes to Captain Hibbert and the Yeva!

Red Sox 7, Giants 5

 

Rafael who? Not to dwell on the unpleasant realities of Devers getting traded to S.F., but Raffy went 0-5 at the plate last night, striking out once and leaving three on base. His batting average is .188. 

Oh, yeah, meanwhile the Red Sox beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-5, coming back from an 0-3, second inning deficit. David Hamilton and Ceddanne Rafaela homered. Starter Hunter Dobbins only lasted four innings but gave up all five of the Giants' runs, and Boston went deep into the bullpen after he left, bringing on a total of six relievers. Brennan Bernardino wound up with the win, his third of the season, although he only pitched one inning, the fifth, and Aroldis Chapman got the save, his 14th.

With the Yankees continuing to collapse - they're 1-7 since getting swept by the Sox - Boston is now only four games back from first, although still 4th overall in the AL East standings. We're 8-2 over the last ten games. It's rare for these ill-fated Red Sox to have a win streak coincide so fortunately with a New York losing streak.

Brayan Bello (3-1, 3.49) takes the mound this afternoon (4:05 Eastern) against Landon Roupp (4-5, 3.99). Let's hope and pray that Devers continues to sleepwalk through this series.

Red Sox 3, Mariners 1

 

I'm not a statistician, but I believe that the Boston Red Sox win games more often when they don't give up grand slam homers and 8 runs in the first four innings like last night, and when we score more than zero runs, like last night.

Today, we salvaged a 2-1 win in the Seattle series with a 2-1 road win. Marcelo Mayer homered deep into right center in the 2nd and Trevor Story shot the ball to deep center in the 4th, scoring baserunner Mayer in the process. Add to that eight strikeouts over six innings by Crochet and three shutout innings of relief by the bullpen, and we've got ourselves a win. We only got three hits the whole game, but it's nice when two of those three are homers, and the pitching keeps us in the game.

The Red Sox are 8-2 in their last ten games (10-3 in their last 13) and two games above .500 (39-37) as they head to San Francisco to play Raffy and the Giants (41-32). They're off tomorrow, but will start Hunter Dobbins (4-1, 3.74) against Hayden Birdsong (3-1, 2.79) on Friday night (10:15 pm).

This will be interesting. 

    

Yeva, Progressing

 

Ella Hibbert and the Yeva are now making some substantial progress and are about to clear the northwestern coast of Iceland.  

The red line above is her planned route and the greenish line is her actual progress. That northward-pointing spike that looks like a shark's fin is where she had to tack north to take on the waves in a storm on the Norwegian Sea. It's also where the Yeva's electronics got corroded when the cockpit filled with seawater, necessitating her stop in Grimley Island, that smaller, south-pointing dimple on the green line just left of the red arrowhead. 

She's now passing the northernmost tip of the Westfjords, and then will turn south in the Denmark Strait to sail around Greenland. 

Mariners 8, Red Sox 0

 

Roman Anthony goes 0-4 with three strikeouts, Walker Buehler gives up a grand-slam home run in the second, and the Sox lose to Seattle, 8-0.

The only saving grace is that the Yankees are currently on an 0-5 slump, including last weekend's sweep by the Sox, so Boston is still only 5½ back in the AL East. However, we've fallen behind Seattle in the Wild Card standings and are now a half game back, tied with Cleveland. 

This afternoon (4:10 pm), we'll take out best shot at winning the series, putting Garrett Crochet (6-4, 2.24) on the mound against Luis Castillo (4-4, 3.29), and then pop down to San Francisco to see how Raffy's doing with the Giants. 

Yeva, Restarted

 

After two days on land (Grimsey Island), Ella Hibbert and the Yeva are back at sea once again. Hibbet spent one additional day ashore just to further inspect the electronics that fried out last weekend and to wait out a particularly nasty storm forming south of Greenland, the next transit point on her solo circumnavigational trip around the Arctic. 

She'll resume her trip at the bearing she took as she crossed south of the Arctic Circle before landing in Grimsey. She didn't go all that far south of the Circle, however - it actually runs through Grimsey Island, and on her day off Sunday, Hibbert was able to cross north of the Circle on land during a walk she took that day.

She will sail past the northwest corner of Iceland and then turn south to pass beneath Greenland's Cape Favel. She will keep an eye on the forecast and monitor a low-pressure system with 40-50+ knot winds and huge seas building up and moving around Southern Greenland. Cape Favel is not an area to take lightly even in the best of conditions, with strong currents and icebergs to contend with. The Yeva will have to stay well over 100 miles offshore to avoid the ice, but that will mean there will be nowhere to hide from heavy winds and high seas should those conditions arise. She's timing her trip over Iceland right now with an eye on the forecast to reduce the chance of encountering monster seas off Favel.

      

   

Red Sox 2, Seattle 0

 

Back-to-back shutouts wins for Boston, both by 2-0 scores, and 6th straight win overall. The Sox are 8-2 in their last 10 games, finally closer to first place (back by 5½ games) than to last (6½ ahead of Baltimore), and are now officially in the Wild Card standings, a half game ahead of Minnesota and Seattle.

But after the Raffy trade, it all feel so. . . empty.

Rookie Roman Anthony got his first major-league home run last night, a 414-foot shot to deep right center. Giolito struck out 10 batters over six innings, and the bullpen gave up only one hit over three shut-out innings.  

Yes, but Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts both had RBI base hits in last night's L.A.-San Diego game. You can make yourself crazy by constant "what-if" comparisons, especially after Devers starts with the Giants.

With Triston Casas, Chris Murphy, Masataka Yoshida, Kutter Crawford, Josh Winckowski, and Patrick Sandoval all on the long-term DL, and Wilyer Abreu, Nick Burdi, Jordan Hicks, Justin Slaten, Liam Hendriks, Alex Bregman, and Tanner Houck out for at least the near term, it appears that, without Raffy, we have to put our faith in the hands of rookies like Anthony and the comebacks of grizzled veterans like Giolito.

Tonight, the Sox will start Walker Buehler (5-4, 5.01) against Bryan Woo (5-4, 3.39). Buehler got seven strikeouts over seven innings against Tampa Bay in his last start; Woo struck out eight over six innings the last time he faced the Red Sox (April 24). Game starts 9:40 pm Eastern time.

75 More Days Until College Football!!

 

Red Sox Trade Raffy to Giants

Like, W the literal F? Just after completing a sweep of the New York Yankees and getting back into playoff contention, and just as the pitchers are finally starting to come into form, the Red Sox implode the team by trading away probably their best hitter and certainly a fan favorite, Raphael Devers.

Just as the team was turning the corner and starting to get at least interesting, the Red Sox dial the team back to 2022.

Devers is going to the San Francisco Giants for left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison (1-1, 4.86), right-hander Jordan Hicks (1-5, 6.47, and currently on the 15-day IL with an inflamed right toe), outfield prospect James Tibbs III, and rookie-ball right-hander Jose Bello.

This is worse than the Mookie trade. This is worse than the Bogaerts or Sale trades. Hell, this is right up there with the Mavericks trading Luka Dončić.

To make things even more interesting, the Sox will play Devers and the Giants for three games in San Francisco, June 20-22. 

I've been a Sox fan since the 1975 World Series against the Reds. I can't see myself cheering for some other team, but damn if the front office isn't taking any possible enjoyment away from being a Boston fan.   

Yeva, Harbored

Last night, just as the Yeva was finally enjoying a nice downwind sail with the right amount of breeze, Ella Hibbert heard a crackling noise coming from beneath the floorboards where the batteries lie. Lifting the floorboards, she found a USB socket starting to smoke, and realized that an electrical fire was breaking out. She managed to pull the fuse and disconnect it and its wiring before the fire spread. 

Fire is one of the biggest fears of sailors alone at sea. She was lucky to have caught it before it got any worse.

Ella and the Yeva have stopped for a day to investigate the entire electrical system. She suspects the culprit was salt water from when the cockpit got swamped by the Norwegian Sea the other day, and decided to check out everything else, too. 

So she's now at port on Grímsey Island, a small island off the north coast of Iceland. She had to cross south of the Arctic Circle for Grimsey, but was careful to take a bearing before she did, and once back at sea will return to that point and resume her voyage from the point of departure. 

Unfortunately, this means that the circumnavigation will no longer be a non-stop voyage. To be frank, the reality of doing it non-stop was probably impossible anyway. In addition to inspecting the electrical system, she'll also top off the fuel and water tanks while at Grimsey. When she next needs fuel or supplies of any kind, she most likely will have to anchor and row ashore for them. 

Anyway, it's far better to complete the trip in a single season, albeit with necessary stops, than what could have happened if the fire broke out uncontrolled while she was at sea.  

Red Sox Shut Out Yankees, 2-0, to Complete Three-Game Sweep

I didn't dare say it yesterday, but Boston did it anyway - swept the Yankees in Fenway Park. Today it was a seven-inning effort by Brayan Bello with no runs, only three hits, and  eight strikeouts. Story got an RBI single in the first inning to start the scoring, and Raffy hit a solo homer in the fifth, his 15th home run of the season. The Yankees Aaron Judge went 0-4, striking out three times and leaving four men on base.

The Red Sox (37-36) are now 6½ out of first, still in fourth and closer to last than first, but they're making progress. As for the Wild Card standings, they're now tied with three other teams (Cleveland, Seattle, and Minnesota) for the last qualifying spot.

Can you believe it? This team that looked all but dead just a little over a week ago, has won five straight games and is 5-1 against New York so far this season. All this with Alex Bregman still on the DL.

Yankees suck.

The Sox are probably on a plane right now flying up to Cascadia to play three in Seattle starting tomorrow night. The Mariners are 35-34 and will start pitcher Logan Gilbert (1-1, 2.37) against Boston's Giolito (2-1, 5.45). 

  

 

Red Sox 4, Yankees 3

 

After taking a 4-0 lead after six innings, the Boston Red Sox could hear the fat Yankees footsteps creeping up from behind. Two New York runs in the seventh, another one in the ninth. Then, a runner on second with two outs, the winning run at the plate, and when that batter connected, the ball went deep into center. . . and Rafaela caught it for the third out to end the game, 4-3, Boston.

Fourth straight win over the Yankees. Who knew beating them would be this easy? Aaron Judge, the announcers' dream child, went 0-4 with three strikeouts. I've bee saying it for years, but my god, these Yankees really do suck. 

Hunter Dobbins went six shutout innings and got the win, his fourth. 

The Sox return to .500 (36-36) and are 7½ out of first place - still closer to last than first - but now are only one game out in the Wild Card standings. 

Game 3 is tomorrow (1:35). I'm not going to jinx it and say anything more, other than the pitching matchup has Brayan Bello (2-1, 3.96) going up against Max Fried (9-1, 1.84). We had managed to avoid Fried in our series down in the Bronx last weekend, and Bello didn't get to face New York in that series either.

Yeva, Progressing

 

Landlubber that I am, I had to look up AIS to learn that it stands for Automatic Identification System. AIS and radar are vital tools for navigation and collision avoidance at sea, but AIS primarily relies on communication between vessels to share information like position, speed, and heading, while radar uses radio waves to detect and track objects, including those not equipped with AIS. So Hibbert's saying that her AIS picked up the first vessel in six days, but she didn't make visual contact. 

Red Sox 2, Yankees 1

 

Third straight win, and third win in a row over the Yankees going back to last weekend. 

Night of the two Garretts: Garrett Crochet went 8.1 innings, almost a full Maddox, giving up only one run on four hits and fanning seven batters. After the Yankees scored a run in the top of the ninth, Garrett Whitlock shut out New York in the tenth and got the win. He's now 5-0 on the season because Narváez singled to deep left center in the bottom of the tenth, scoring ghost runner David Hamilton. 

These low-scoring, extra-inning games are exactly the type Boston kept on losing so far this season. It's nice to be on the winning end of one of these games.

We're still 8½ games behind New York in the AL East, but the good news is we're now only 2 games back in the Wild Card race. It's all about baby steps right now - there's a lot of season still ahead.

Game 2 of this weekend home series is tomorrow night - Hunter Dobbins (3-1, 4.20) versus the formidable Carlos Rodón (8-4, 2.87).

       

Yeva, Beseiged

Day 3 of the Yeva's voyage around the Arctic Ocean was rough today. After days of tedious, slow, windless drifting, there was wind today and lots of it. 

"35-40 knots, but the wind's not the issue, it's the sea state," pilot Ella Hibbert said. "Massive waves, breaking crests and spray." 

She had to turn the Yeva north to take the waves on the stern as it was getting too dangerous to sail with them coming over the beam. "Having the weight of the Norwegian Sea dumped on me in the cockpit was pretty miserable," Hibbert said. "The cockpit literally filled like a bathtub with me in it." However, despite the challenges, the Yeva is apparently taking the weather in stride. 

The wind, and the swell with it, is due to drop off around midnight tonight. But before she can enjoy rolling downwind in 15 knots of breeze, Hibbert will have to beat into a north-westerly as she approaches Iceland.

Red Sox 4, Rays 3

 

Two in a row, and Boston wins the three-game home series against Tampa Bay.  Roman Anthony went 0-for-4, but rookie Marcelo Mayer hit two home runs; Duran and Toro hit homers, too. All of Boston's scoring tonight was on solo home runs. Starter Walker Buehler picked up his fifth win, pitching seven complete innings, giving the bullpen a rest, and striking out seven. 

The Sox will get a day off tomorrow, and then start the all-important three-game weekend series against the Yankees on Friday. 

Red Sox 3, Rays 1

 

That's more like it! Today, Roman Anthony got his first MLB hit, a two-run double in the bottom of the first inning, in what turned out to be the game-winning hit.  Trevor Story got a HR in the sixth, sure to boost his confidence. Lucas Giolito got his second win of the season, another confidence builder, going six innings with three hits, one run, and four Ks. And Whitlock and Weissert were perfect in relief.

And just like that, the Sox are only three games back from Minnesota in the Wild Card standings. Still, a whole lot closer to last place in the AL East than first.

But it feels good to be a Sox fan again today. Let's see if we can keep this warm, fuzzy feeling going in Game 3 (rubber match) tomorrow (7:00 pm). Walker Buehler (4-4, 5.18) versus Zack Littell (6-5, 3.68).

Yeva, Begun

Elle Hibbert and the Yeva have made it to the Arctic Circle and have officially begun the 10,000-mile solo trip around the Arctic Ocean. Her current position at latitude 66°34’N will mark the start and the end of her circumnavigation.  From this starting point, roughly halfway between Norway and Iceland, she will sail eastward, passing north of Iceland before dipping south to pass around Greenland.

Sluggish winds slowed her 850-mile sail from Portsmouth, and she reluctantly had to start the Yeva's engine to get up north. The reluctance was that any fuel used just to teach the starting point would be fuel she wouldn't have if needed on the Arctic, but days lost just getting to the Arctic Circle cut into the short summer season in which the seas may be passable. 

There's no wind today and she's gliding along very slowly, but at least the voyage has finally started.

Rays 10, Red Sox 8

 

It's not just that we're back to losing (although - and I gotta be honest with you - I like it more when we win), it's the way we lost. The Red Sox finally called up top minor-league prospect Roman Anthony today, and in his MLB debut he went 0-4. To be fair, he did get an RBI in the ninth on a ground out, although to be fair, the Sox did have to pinch-hit for him in the 11th.

Yes, the 11th. That's the other reason this loss sucks so bad. The Sox tied it up in the bottom of the ninth, and then again in the bottom of the 10th. But then it was Zack Kelly time. Kelly loaded the bases with walks, and then walked in the winning run. The then gave up a grounder for another run. The Boston bats didn't have two more runs left in them to tie the game up a third time, and we lost after 11 (both after 11 innings and after 11 p.m.).

Okay, home loss. Seen that before and I'm getting used to it. Game 2 is tomorrow - lets see if we can salvage something from this series.      

Red Sox 11, Yankees 7

 

More than anyone could dare have hoped for - the embattled Boston Red Sox take two of three from the first-place Yankees in New York.

Kristian Campbell homered. Carlos Narvaez homered. Abraham Toro homered. Trevor Story homered. Rafael Devers homered. But all ESPN wanted to talk about for the last half hour of the broadcast was that Aaron Judge homered in the 1st and 9th. 

Fuck ESPN and fuck the Yankees. They couldn't even win a three-game home series against a fourth-place, sub-.500 team.

This is not going to be an all-star year for the Red Sox. This isn't going to be one of those seasons that families talk about over New England winters in the coming years. But moments like these, beating the damn Yankees on their own field, are what makes staying tuned in this sorry-ass season worthwhile.

Next up: three games against Tampa Bay at Fenway, followed by a three-game series in Fenway against these same Yankees. 

Red Sox 10, Yankees 7

 

Just when you've given up hope, a miracle. The Red Sox win a game in the Bronx.

Things looked a little shaky and all too familiar in the 2nd inning, when Garrett Crochet gave up a three-run homer. But he settled down and went a total of six innings with nine strikeouts, the the Boston bullpen got six more Ks in the next three innings. Meanwhile, the Sox erupted for four runs in the third followed by a two-run homer by Romy González in the fourth for an 8-3 lead.

But no lead is safe for this year's Red Sox, and this was in Yankee Stadium, the Mordor of MLB. The damn Yankees started chipping away at the lead, an RBI single here, a double there, and soon the score was a scary 8-7.

And then the embattled Trevor Story (.222), who had earlier cleared the bases with a three-RBI double in the second, singled to center with bases loaded in the 9th, scoring all three runners, and the Sox won the game 10-7.

Sorry, Yankees, but we won't get swept in the Bronx. Not this weekend.

Game three, the rubber match, is at 7:10.

Yankees 9, Red Sox 6

 

Personally, I was cheering for the rain that delayed the start of the game to postpone it altogether - preferably to about 2027.

Buehler gave up five runs on two homers in the first, and then two more runs in the second. It's hard for any team to dig themselves out from a hole like that. Boston attempted a comeback with a few HRs of our own (Mayer and Devers) and a smattering of RBIs, but this game was basically over before the third out in the bottom of the first.   

No point in looking at where Boston stands in the rankings relative to first place. The Sox are three games up from last place and five below .500. Oh, the summer of our discontent.

Yankees suck.

 

Yeva, Seaward

They're off! The seas have calmed a little and Ella Hibbert and the Yeva have left the port of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands and are off to the Arctic Circle, where they will attempt the first solo circumnavigation of the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic is still a good ways off, about a four day voyage. For reference, here's a map showing Lerwick in relation to Glasgow (Scotland), the Arctic Circle, Bergen (Norway), and the Faroe Islands.    

Red Sox 11, Angels 9

All day yesterday, a little girl in Boston was so excited to spend the next day with her Daddy. Her heart beat with pride as she took the note to her teacher excusing her from school the next day so that her father could take her to Fenway Park. "Daddy's taking me to the Red Sox game," she told her teacher, her classmates, and anyone else she could find to listen. 

This morning, they drove in Daddy's car to the train station, and then took the T to Kenmore. She held Daddy's hand as they walked through the crowds in the Square and she saw all the other fans, the other little girls and boys with their Mommies and Daddies, the BU students milling about, and the drunks, addicts, and vagrants sitting on the streets, asking for change. Daddy pointed out the famous Citgo sign to her, and then her heart leaped when they crossed the David Ortiz Bridge over the Mass Pike, turned onto Lansdowne  Street, and she saw Fenway Park in its own self for her very first time. 

They ate hot dogs and peanuts, she leafed through the program, and they watched the game. The L.A. Angels scored four runs in the first inning, and the mood in the stadium (and Daddy's mood) turned sour. But then the Sox scored five runs that same inning and everything suddenly seemed joyful and fun again. 

It was a see-saw after that. The Angels scored three more runs in the second inning, but the Sox tied it back up with two runs in the fourth. The Angels took another lead with a run in the top of the eighth, but the Sox came right back and tied in back up with a run in the bottom of that inning. 

Then, in the bottom of the ninth, the score tied 9-9, one on and one out, Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run, walk-off  homer 329 feet into right field, and the Sox won the game. She and Daddy and all the other fans in the ballpark were very, very happy and it was a very, very good day.

She forgot her souvenir program - it was left under the seat with all the stale beer and week-old popcorn - but on the entire trip back home on the T to the station and then in the car to the house, she could still hear the crack of Ceddanne's bat and the roar of the crowd as the ball left the field.

She loves her Daddy and her Daddy loves her so, so much and they both love their Red Sox, the greatest baseball team ever.  

Yankees suck.

Yeva, Beset

 

With 18-foot waves and 45 mph winds still blowing through the north coast of the Shetland Islands, Ella Hibbert decided to spend one more day harbored in Lerwick, Scotland before embarking for the Arctic Ocean. Also, she bruised her foot while installing a grab rail next to her captain’s chair aboard the Yeva and will give herself a day to let the swelling subside. 

Once finally at sea, it will take her a few days sail to reach the starting line at the Arctic Circle for her solo trip around the Arctic Ocean. 

Angels 4, Red Sox 3

 

"Kenley Jansen gets the win" . . . that has to be the cruelest part of this loss - our former star reliever returns to beat us on our home field.

Ceddanne Rafaela hit a two-run homer to tie it in the 6th, but the Sox had no offense after that and the game went into extra innings. L.A. got a go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, and the Sox continued to have no offense - Carlos Narváez struck out swinging, Trevor Story struck out swinging, and then Rafaela popped out. Game over, another Red Sox loss.

Ten games back, five under .500. A mere four games up from last place. These are the times that try men's souls. 

The Sox will attempt to avoid being swept at home Wednesday afternoon (1:35). Giolito (1-1, 4.78) vs. Jose Soriano (4-5, 3.41). Somewhere in Boston, a Dad has arranged to take the day off from work to take his daughter to the ballpark and cheer for the Red Sox. Somewhere in Boston, a daughter may stop trusting her father and could lose her faith in God.

Arctic Epic

Ella Hibbert, a 28-year-old sailor, has set out on a solo voyage around the Arctic Ocean, a trip made possible only by the climate-induced melting of sea ice. The voyage will be the first-ever attempt to circumnavigate the Arctic Circle solo, completing both the northwest and northeast passages in a single trip.

Hibbert set sail from England on Saturday, travelling towards Iceland and Norway, where she will officially begin the 10,000-mile journey alone in her boat, the Yeva. The route, expected to take five months, passes over the north of Iceland, down around southern Greenland, up through Canada, and across the north of Alaska before a long leg through Russian waters back to Norway.

During the voyage, she will likely face severe sleep deprivation and will only be able to sleep for 20 minutes at a time once she hits the Arctic Circle. Other challenges include hostile wildlife such as polar bears, unpredictable conditions, huge waves, wind chills down to minus 30° C, snow build-up on the deck, icebergs, and fast-moving sea ice.

Born in Germany, Hibbert grew up in a military family and was raised mainly in England and France. Leaving home at 18, she briefly lived in Australia before working for four years as a divemaster on superyachts, which gave her the chance to sail and dive all over the world. She spent three years getting ready for the Arctic, campaigning, training, finding sponsors, and reaching out for advice, as well as finding, crowdfunding, and buying and fitting out the Yeva. 

As of last evening, she was in the Shetland Islands, about four days sailing from her starting line for the Arctic circumnavigation. Sailors at the port are huddled down, hiding out from tomorrow’s forecast windy weather, so she's tending to some tasks to keep herself busy until she can set back out again.

Angels 7, Red Sox 6

Richard ("Don't Call Me Dick") Fitts gives up six runs in the first inning. 

That's all that needs to be said about this game. End of conversation. Fitts only lasted one inning in this, his second game since coming off the DL, but it was enough to tank the game. And then Boston's valiant six-run comeback was thwarted by an Angels' homer in the sixth, so I guess there's that, too.

Four games below .500. Fourth place and nine back from first.  Alex Bregman, Triston Casas, Masataka Yoshida, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Justin Slaten, Liam Hendriks, and Chris Murphy all on the DL. 

When does the 2026 season start?

Boston Bounces Back!

 

Red Sox 3, Braves 1! The Sox win the road series in Atlanta as Trevor Story hits a three-run double in the first inning. After Trevor's hit - nearly a grand slam home run, but the ball hit the top of the wall - it was pretty quiet and the game settled down to a pitcher's duel, the kind of game that Boston usually loses as of late. But Garrett Crochet struck out 12 over seven innings and relievers Weissert and Chapman added two more Ks over two shutout innings, and Boston wins the game.

The Dodgers are working on a sweep of New York this weekend (they won the first two games), so Boston could make up a little bit of the distance in the standings between the team and first place, but it's still a mighty long road ahead.

Boston's next series is against Los Angeles too, but fortunately for us not the Dodgers. Starting tomorrow, the Sox host the LA Angels (26-32) for three games at Fenway, and then, uh oh, it's off to the Bronx for the first series of the season against the Yankees. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Tomorrow, Richard Fitts (0-2, 2.70) will face the Angels' Tyler Anderson (2-2, 3.39). Let's just take it one game at a time.