Nationals 8, Red Sox 1

 

No trophies tonight, but that's okay. Nothing lasts forever, and we should celebrate that the five-game win streak existed at all, not mourn that it ended.

If we're inclined to mourn, what we should be mourning is that young Connelly Early left the game early after four shutout innings and five K's.  Danny Coulombe started the fifth inning and gave up a run, and he was relieved by Greg Weissert, who gave up two runs. "You gave up a run? Let me show you how to do it - here's two runs."

And so it goes. Slaten gave up a run and then Tommy Kahnle gave up a whopping four. But that's not what people are talking about in this game.

In the top of the fourth, punk Washington pitcher Cade Cavalli struck out Willson Contreras, who had scored Boston's only run, and as Contreras was walking to the dugout, said something to him that Willson apparently didn't like. He looked back at Cavalli as if to say, "You talking to me?" and as the two walked directly toward each other, both dugouts and bullpens cleared.

A skirmish. In parts of Boston, a series without at least one benches-clearing brawl is considered a dull affair.

Pushing and shoving ensued and Carlos Narvaez tried to hold Contreras back. But Contreras broke free and sprinted toward the opposing players. Removing his helmet, he threw it into the swarm of players in Cavalli's direction. Several Boston players eventually pulled him back, but he got ejected. So did pitcher Nate Eaton and manager Chad Tracy. Nationals pitcher Miles Mikolas was also ejected. Cavalli, the loud-mouth little bitch who started it all, was not.

So the homestand series is tied at one each. Payton Tolle (4-5, 2.78) will start the rubber match tomorrow (1:35 p.m.) in his first career start against the Nats. Washington will send Andrew Alvarez (1-1, 3.44) to the mound for his first start against the Sox. I dare, I double dare, Alvarez to say something, anything, to Contreras when he's at the plate. You're a pussy if you don't, Andrew.  

But the brawl and the end of the win streak obscure the real issue in today's game - young Connelly Early joins starting pitchers Garrett Crochet, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, and Tanner Houck, on the Injured List. You could put together a pretty good starting rotation just with the players on Boston's IL. Let's hope it's nothing serious on Early, and that the others return to action sooner rather than later.

Red Sox 6, Nationals 3

 

Another day, another trophy. The Boston Red Sox, fresh off their four-game sweep of the New York Yankees and well into the greatest team turnaround in the history of sports, won their fifth straight game today, the first time this season they've won five straight.  

Washington scored first and in the first, but both Contreras and Durbin homered in the bottom of the inning to give Boston a 4-1 lead. Abreu and Narváez both hit RBI sac flies in the second and third to make it 6-1, Boston, while Suarez struck out eight over six innings before giving up a two-run double. The bullpen held on (no Chapman appearance) and the Red Sox are a perfect 5-0 so far in this home stand.

The team dug themselves into a deep hole this season, so despite the 5-0 run, the Red Sox (37-46) are still in last place, 12 games back from idle Tampa Bay.  And they're still only 17-25 at home. And not that it makes any difference to us, but it's still just so much fun to note, the Yankees lost to Detroit tonight, their fifth straight loss and eighth in their last ten games. Yankees suck.

Tomorrow, young Connelly Early (7-5, 3.59) will take the mound against the Nats' Cade Cavalli (4-4. 4.06). It will be Early's fist time pitching to the Nationals, just as it will be Cavalli's first start against Boston. Anything can happen. No one knows. But the Sox are 1½ run favorites to win the game.

      

Red Sox 5, Yankees 4

 

There are wins and then there are epic wins, and then there was last night's game. Boston, for the first time this season, completed a home sweep. In addition, they won four straight games for the first time this year. The Red Sox earn the First Home Sweep and First Four-Game Win Streak trophy. That it was all against the New York fucking Yankees just makes it all the sweeter. 

And what a game it was! Sonny Gray had a no-hitter going for 7⅓ innings. He struck out nine Yankee batters and walked only one before finally giving up a single in the eighth on his 97th pitch of the night. Caleb Durbin hit a two-run single in the fourth, which was all the scoring the Sox would need until Chapman gave up two runs in the ninth because that's apparently what he does now. With a potential sweep and a win streak on the line, the game went into extra innings, tied 2-2.

It seemed like it was all over when Slaten gave up two runs in the top of the tenth. It was a good run, Boston, you came this close to sweeping the Yanks. But then, surprisingly, the Red Sox showed some determination for once and scored some clutch runs. The first batter, Anthony Seigler, singled and brought home ghost runner Durbin. Then pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida doubled, advancing the runner from first to third. Tsung-Che Cheng hit a sac fly, bringing the runner home from third and tying the game, 4-4. And finally, Jarren Duran hit the game-winning, walk-off single, which brought Yoshida home from third.

Boston wins, 5-4, and sweeps New York in four. Extra bonus points (as if all this weren't already good enough): New York entered the series with a two-game lead over Tampa Bay for first place in the AL East. After last night, they lost first place and are one game behind the Rays. They're 3-7 in their last ten and are currently on a four-game losing skid. The Red Sox now hold a 5-4 season record against New York.   

Sure, the Sox (36-46) are still in last place and 12½ back in the standings. But at this point, I'd rather see New York lose than Boston win. Yankees suck.

Will Fenway stay friendly for this week's series against the Washington Nats (43-43)? Tonight, Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.83) will start for Boston. Over his career, Suarez has owned the Nats, and he has more wins against them (8) than any other team in MLB. Last year, the last time he faced Washington, he struck out 11 batters in seven shut-out innings on August 24. He'll be up against Miles Mikolas, a 2-6 pitcher with a 5.24 ERA.

Last June, the Red Sox swept the Yankees in Fenway and then went on a disastrous 3-6 West Coast road trip, culminating in five straight losses followed by a home loss to the Jays. But once they got that bad juju out of their system, the team's fortunes really reversed, and included a 10-game win streak in early July. Let's hope this year's June sweep of the Yankees avoids the immediate aftermath of last year, but jump starts a season turnaround like in 2025.

Red Sox 4, Yankees 1

 

Things I didn't have on my June 2026 bingo card include the Red Sox winning three straight games against the Yankees in Fenway Park. And yet that's exactly what just happened today, with Boston beating New York, 4-1.

Yoshida homered in the first inning to get things going. Seigler followed suit with a homer of his own in the second. Contreras doubled the score in the third with a two-run double. Meanwhile, Bennett cruised for 6⅓ innings, giving up only three hits - unfortunately, one of them was a solo home run. The bullpen held the Yankees hitless the rest of the game, and Boston has now improbably clinched the win in the four-game home series.

Two things the Red Sox haven't done yet this year -  win four in a row, and sweep a team at home. They could accomplish both feats with a win tomorrow (7:20 pm).

Sonny Gray (9-1, 2.95), our winningest pitcher, takes the mound tomorrow. Gray was the winning pitcher in his last start against the Yankees, going 6⅓ innings in a 5-3 Boston win in the Bronx. He'll be opposed tomorrow by the Yanks' Carlos Rodón (4-2. 3.70), who hasn't yet faced the Sox this year, but is a career 5-6 versus Boston. Fun fact: Rodón had given up more home runs (13) to the Red Sox than any other MLB team he's faced.

Let's complete the sweep and show the world that the Yankees really and truly do suck. 

Red Sox 6, Yankees 1

 

The Yankees suck. Their pitcher, Will Warren, who gave up five runs on seven hits - including one HR - and no (zero) strikeouts, sucks. Paul Goldschmidt, who went 0-4 yesterday, sucks. Cody Bellinger also went 0-4, and also sucks. In fact, the whole fucking team went 3-for-30, and the whole fucking team sucks. And if the whole fucking team sucks, their manger, Aaron Boone, must suck as well.

Seriously, I hate those overrated, egomaniacal, pinstriped motherfuckers.

The Red Sox beat the Yankees, 6-1, yesterday. Payton Tolle, a real pitcher, went seven, one-hit innings, striking out seven. Willson Contreras homered in the third and hit an RBI single in the first, Connor Wong RBI'd twice, Mickey Gasper had an RBI, and even Tsung-Che Cheng, in his Red Sox debut, hit an RBI.

Can the Red Sox make it three straight? This afternoon (1:10 pm), they're putting rookie Jake Bennett (1-3, 3.71) on the mound to face the Yankees for the first time in his career. The Yankees will be starting veteran Gerrit Cole (2-2, 3.62), who hasn't pitched to the Sox since a 7-1 Boston blowout back on September 14, 2024. All seven runs were earned by Cole, who only got two Ks all game. Gerrit Cole sucks.

I don't care for the New York Yankees. I don't know what's going to happen to the Red Sox this season or in the future, but all I hope for is that they beat New York today in Fenway. 

Red Sox 6, Yankees 3

 

WHAT?!? Did NOT see that one coming! Last night, the disappointing Red Sox, playing on their accursed home field, beat the New York Yankees, 6-3.

The greatest comeback in sports history began last evening. We're going to the World Series, baby!

Young Connelly Early pitched well, striking out nine and giving up only one walk, but New Yor managed to get two runs off of him, an RBI single in the first and, after he settled in, a solo home run in the fourth.

But then in the fifth, that beautiful, beautiful fifth, it all came apart on little Shitler. With two on, Contreras brought Yoshida home with a single, Jarren Duran brought Rafaela home with a sac fly, and then Caleb Durbin hit a two-run homer that brought Contreras home. 4-2, Boston.  

The Yankees started going through relievers like my friend here popping antacids all day, but they still managed to load up the bases in the eighth and then brought home Boston's fifth run by hitting Nick Eaton, pinch hitting for Yoshida, with a pitch. With the bases still loaded, Rafaela brought home the Sox' sixth run with a single. 

Chapman once again made the ninth inning far more interesting than it needed to be, loading up the bases and allowing the potential game-tying batter to come to the plate before finally scoring the third and game-winning out.

The Sox wound up with four runs off little Shitler, and before Yankee apologists point out that none of them were earned, I'll concede your point - you're right, it's not so much that little Shitler sucks, it's that your whole motherfucking team sucks. Who the fuck commits four errors in one inning? And one of those errors was by little Shitler himself, so yeah, he sucks, too. 

And thus our comeback begins. The Sox (33-46) are still 14½ games back from the Yankees, and are still a miserable 13-25 at home, but we have three more games this weekend against those pinstriped sons of bitches. 

Tonight, Payton Tolle (3-5, 3.08) will face off against Will Warren (7-2, 3.45). Back on April 23rd, Tolle struck out 11 Yankee batters in six innings, walking only one and giving up one run on three hits. The Sox lost that game, partly because of Coulombe's four-run disaster in relief in the seventh and the Sox' pathetic batting (only four hits all game). The Sox haven't faced Warren this season, but over 14⅓ career innings, they've scored 15 runs off him in 20 hits, including three homers.

World Series, man, we're going to the World Series.

Rockies 8, Red Sox 6

 

The Sox just lost a series to the team with the worst won-loss record in baseball, but you know what?  Yesterday, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck Venezuela 39 seconds after a 7.2-magnitude foreshock, killing at least 164 people and injuring 971 more. Boston's Ranger Suarez, Willson Contreras, Andruw Montaserio, Carlos Narvaez, and Wilyer Abreu are all from Venezuela. 

I'm gonna step back and take a break from ranting about the team's lack of success today. Contreras hit an RBI double in the second inning and Monteserio homered in the fifth. Suarez pitched six innings with nine K's before the bullpen blew up the game with five earned runs. 

I'm giving the team a pass today. There's bigger things in the world than grown men playing a game out in a field on summer days. 

I don't know whether any of the Red Sox players are personally affect by the tragedy in Venezuela or not, but I'm sure it's on all of the players' minds. Best wishes and consolations.  

Bring on the Yankees. What have we got to lose (other than four straight games)?

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!

Rays 7, Red Sox 5

 

The Red Sox hit two home runs in the eighth and went through three Tampa Bay pitchers, and Celeb Durban, one of the home run hitters in the 8th, hit another in the ninth, but it didn't matter - Boston lost again, because that's what losers do. They lose.

The got swept by the Rays in Florida and are 13½ back from first, but by giving the otherwise sagging Rays some wins, at least they kept the Yankees from taking sole possession of first place. New York fans are going to be bad enough when the Knicks win the NBA Finals - we don't need a first-place Yankee team adding to their boasting.

Boston's off today (ah, no gut-wrenching losses to suffer through!) to travel back to Fenway for a three-game series with the Texas Rangers (33-34). The Rangers will probably open with Jack Leiter (3-5, 4.69). The Sox might as well put in some panhandler from Kenmore Square and save some money, because they'll probably lose again anyway. 

God, I hate this year!

Rays 4, Red Sox 3

 

Jarren Duran hit an RBI single in the third. Marcelo Mayer brought two home in the eighth with a double. That's three runs. But Tolle gave up four and the Red Sox lose again, the 38th time this season.

The Sox are 12½ back from the Rays and 11 games below .500. And they're going to lose again today, swept in Tampa Bay, with rookie Jake Bennett (1-1, 4.35) starting against the Rays' Drew Rasmussen (5-2, 3.00).  

Despair all ye who heed these words. Your Red Sox aren't going anywhere, except maybe down in history as one of the worst Boston squads of all time.  

Tampa Bay 3, Red Sox 1

 

What can you even say anymore? The Red Sox lost. They lost. Again. Because that's what they do. Lose again and again and again. Thirty-seven times already this season and we're not even halfway through.

It was bad enough when young Connelly Early, despite striking out six, gave up a go-ahead RBI single in the fifth. But then the Sox brought in someone named Alec Gamboa to pitch in the 8th in only his second-ever MLB appearance and he gives up a sacrifice fly to give the Rays an insurance run and the final score of 3-1.

The Sox got the tying run on base in the top of the ninth, and Marcelo Mayer hit a solo home run in the third, but that was about it for Boston offense. They even had to put in Andruw Monasterio to pick-hit for Mayer in the eighth, and he struck out looking.

The Sox fall to 11½ games back and the Rays maintain their tenuous .003-percent lead over New York. 

At this point, I'm supposed to say something like "but hope springs eternal" or some other jack-assey thing, but it doesn't. Tonight, the Sox will put in their best starter, Payton Tolle (3-2, 2.28), but they'll still lose. Tolle gave up three runs, including a first-inning solo homer, in his last start against Tampa Bay back on May 10. He'll be opposed by the Rays' Nick Martinez (5-2, 2.29), his opponent in that same May 10th game, who gave up seven hits but only one run to the Sox over 5⅔ innings. 

It says something about the Sox that today's two pitchers have near-identical ERAs, the same number of walks, and Tolle even leads in K's (51-42), but Martinez has more wins. Boston has no offense - it was what lost the game on May 10 and it hasn't been fixed so it will lose the game for us tonight, too.  

New York 6, Boston 1

 

The Red Sox might have one of the best bullpen ERAs in baseball, but yesterday that bullpen lost the game for Boston. 

After 6⅓ masterful innings by Ranger Suarez (one run and six K's), the game was tied at 1-1. Justin Slaten entered the game in the eighth inning and gave up a solo homer after two outs and then, after walking the next batter, allowed an RBI single. Joe La Sorsa (who?) took the mound next in his first Red Sox appearance and gave up a two-run homer to the Yankees' Jazz Jism Junior. Five runs in the inning, all coming on two outs.   

New York's Shittler lasted only 5⅔ innings, fewer than Suarez, got five K's to Ranger's six, and gave up one walk (Suarez had none), but the press called Shit Hitler's pitching performance "dominant" and barely mentioned Suarez. It doesn't matter, other than pointing out the big-market bias of the press, but it reminds us once again why the Yankees suck.

The Sox escape the Bronx with one win, one loss, and one rainout. They're still in last place, 10½ back from the lead, and headed toward first-place Tampa Bay.

The Rays have been on a rocky road as of late, losing seven of their last 10 and their last three home games. Tonight, they'll start pitcher Ian Seymour (3-0, 5.23). The Sox have faced Seymour twice before, both times in relief, and got only one hit, one run (and not on the lone hit), and three strikeouts over four innings. 

The Sox will answer with young Connelly Early (5-3, 3.26). Early was "dominant" against the Rays in a pitching masterpiece back on May 8, striking out eight over seven shutout innings in a 2-0 Fenway victory. I think he's still got it in him to do it again, this time in Tropicana Field.

Unfortunately, a Tampa Bay loss probably won't be as helpful for the Sox as for the Yankees, who trail the Rays by less than half a game. But even I don't advocate tanking a series in a lost season just to screw over New York . . . but why not? What have we got to lose? We're not winning the division (spoiler alert) anyway -  we're not going anywhere. Why not just be little stinkers and fuck things up for the goddamn Yankees and give Tampa Bay three easy wins while New York struggles with Cleveland?

It's a plan at least.

The Last of AC Shadows

 

The Red Sox were rained out last night in Yankee Stadium, so here instead is my last post for the video game Assassins Creed: Shadows (games are esports, right?).

In a post last week, I said that Claws of Awaji, the DLC for the game which is supposed to add 10 hours of gameplay, would probably take me about 25 hours to complete. It turns out I was exactly right - I finished it late last night after exactly 25 more hours of playtime. That brings my total in-game hours after two complete playthroughs of the main game and one of the DLC to 433, the fourth-highest of any game I've played. It's even passed Horizon: Forbidden West (426 hours), a frankly far better game that I enjoyed much more.

I finished the game with my characters at Level 91 and right on the cusp of reaching 92. Naoe, one of the two characters you play as, had five available adrenaline slots, 22,168 health points, and an average 19,348 damage points. The other character, Yasuke, also had five adrenaline slots but 44,982 health points and dealt an average 13,380 damage points. I reached Knowledge Rank 10 (apparently only 1.3% of players reach that level) and completed 61 of 72 achievements on Steam, the rarest of which, after Knowledge Rank, was "kill 5 enemies with one single Wind Slash strike" (1.5% of players).   

To be honest, I didn't care much for the Awaji DLC and it kind of tainted my opinion of the game as a whole. The DLC throws four bosses at you, one of which (Yasuhira) is actually pretty easy, and another of which (Nowaki) doesn't put up much of a fight when finally confronted, but getting to her requires a long frustrating stealth mission during which she repeatedly teleports to other locations whenever you get close or get a hit in on her. However, the other two bosses, Tomeji and the final antagonist, Yukari, are near impossible to beat. Tomeji is a damage sponge who simply doesn't wear down, although he can one-hit you and end the bout. Yukari is impossibly fast so you can't parry or dodge, and her hits force a "stunned" reaction from your character from which it takes a second to recover (and split seconds count in this fight).  

Those two fights were frustrating and after multiple (more than 10) attempts at each, I finally switched the gameplay to "easy" mode just to get through the scenes and finish the goddamn game, a tactic I don't like to use. But I like getting killed repeatedly by a boss I can't beat even less, and my options were to either rage quit the game or switch difficulty modes.  

But despite the bad taste the DLC left in my mouth, the game is incredibly beautiful and running through its version of 16th Century Japan is fun and rewarding. I'd give the game an "A" for exploration and a "B" for combat and characters, but a "D-" for story. The plot is fubar and I've been playing this game since February 13. It's past time to move on.

Red Sox 5, Yankees 3

 

Oh. My. God. They actually did it, those crazy bastards! The last-place Boston Red Sox crawled into the belly of the beast, deep into the darkest recesses of the urban hellhole that is the Bronx, and won the first game game, 5-3, of the weekend series against the Yankees. 

Willson Contreras did a lot of the heavy lifting, hitting an RBI single in the third that brought Duran home, but not before Wilyer Abreu's ground out with the bases loaded that same inning scored Wong. Contreras later put an exclamation mark on the game with a two-run homer in the fifth. Monasterio also hit a homer, a solo blast in the fourth.

Starting pitcher Sonny Gray gave up three runs on eight hits, including two homers, over 6⅓ innings. He only got three K's, but generally kept the Yankees from scoring. The bullpen was perfect - no runs and no hits - although Chapman walked two, putting the potentially tying run on base, because he likes to make his ninth inning appearances needlessly interesting. 

Tampa Bay won last night so the Sox are still 11 games out of first place, but Toronto lost so at least we picked up a game on the fucking Jays.

Tonight, Ranger Suarez (2-3, 3.38) will start for Boston. Back in April, Suarez gave up five hits to the Yankees in Fenway, including a three-run homer in the first. However, he struck out four batters over 4⅔ innings before getting pulled. He'll be opposed by the Yankees' Will Warren (7-1, 3.22), who missed a start in April's Fenway series.  However, he's a  career 1-2 against Boston, and in his last start against the Sox last September, gave up six first-inning runs, including a solo homer to Carlos Narváez. However, Connor Wong (.264) is expected to catch today for Suarez instead of the struggling Narváez (.214). 

       

Orioles 8, Red Sox 2

 

Of course, this year's Red Sox team can't win a home series against the fourth-place Orioles. Of course, Brayan Bello, after finally being allowed to start a first inning again, gives up six runs in that first. Of course, the Boston batters get only seven hits all game and go scoreless until Contreras finally wakes the fuck up and scores an RBI in the sixth and hits a meaningless solo homer in the 9th.

Of course. of course, of course. The 2026 Boston Red Sox really do suck. After the game, Bello was sent down to Triple A until he remembers how to throw strikes.

The Red Sox are .426 (26-35) but still not as bad as the Tigers, Royals, and Angels, or the Giants and Rockies over in the National League, and are 11 games out of first place and about to start one of the toughest weeks in their schedule, starting tonight in the Bronx.

Sonny Gray (6-1, 3.06) will start for the Sox. Gray missed his start in the last series against the Yankees, but is a career 2-2 against New York. Last August, as a Cardinal, he gave up six runs while striking out seven in a game against New York in Sr. Louis. He'll be pitching against the Yanks' Ryan Weathers (3-2, 3.52), who in 6½ years in MLB has faced virtually every team in MLB at least once before except for Boston. This will be his first time facing the Sox, as a starter or in relief.

Doesn't matter. The Sox will lose and will get swept in New York, and then fly down to Tampa Bay to get swept by the Rays. Only 92 more days until the start of the Georgia Bulldogs football schedule.  

Red Sox 8, Orioles 1

 

Bassitt does it again! Just like last year, when he gave up eight earned runs in two innings in a 15-1 Boston rout, last night he gave up three runs in as many innings, including a two-run Abreu homer in the second inning, his seventh home run of the year. The Sox won, 8-1, and the cumulative score in their last two games against Bassitt is 23-2.  

Duran scored in the first inning, like he always does, this time on an Abreu single. Gasper tripled in the fifth, scoring two runs, Kiner-Falefa and Durbin both had fifth-inning RBI doubles, and Rafaela brought Durbin home with a single that inning.

Meanwhile, Tolle went six shutout innings, striking out five. Ryan Watson gave up an RBI triple in the seventh, but after that it was smooth sailing for him the rest of the game.

The home series is tied at one each. The rubber game is this afternoon at 1:35.

Toronto lost last night, so the Sox are now two games back from the Orioles and the Blue Jays. They're still 3½ back from Wild Card eligibility, with five teams ahead of them. 

The Red Sox will actually give the ball to Brayan Bello (2-5, 5.63) in the first inning today, instead of that stupid, one-inning opener strategy they were using last month.  Back on April 24, Bello gave up four first-inning runs to the Orioles and earned a total of eight runs in 3⅓ innings in a 10-3 loss. Bello's been improving since then, lowering his ERA from 9.00 to 5.63, his WHIP from 2.27 to 1.64, and his BAA from .374 to .307. Still, the City of Boston collectively holds its breath every time he's on the mound. 

Fortunately, he'll be up against Baltimore's Trevor Rogers (2-6, 6.84), who lasted just 1⅔ innings after giving up three runs on four hits in a Red Sox 17-1 home-run derby in Baltimore (remember that game? They fired Cora after it was over). The key thing to watch today is which starting pitcher melts down first. Or the fastest. Or the worst. It won't be pretty, but welcome to Red Sox baseball, 2027!  

      

Orioles 4, Red Sox 2

 

The Boston Red Sox are playing three-dimensional, possibly four-dimensional, chess. The front office has apparently made a business decision that Fenway Park at this point is just a tourist attraction and a luxury perk for corporate managers, and will make money no matter the quality of the team they put on the field. The luxury suites are already sold out for years in advance, and college students, the Fenway faithful, and tourists will still buy tickets regardless of the quality of the team, so why pay more money for superstar players or big-salary pitchers? That just eats into the profit margin.

But the players - and here's the 3-D chess move - recognize the owners' gambit and are countering by winning as few games as possible in Fenway. The team can go 2-1 against the first-place Guardians in Cleveland and are 16-14 on the road this season, but haven't even won 10 games at home all season. Their 9-20 home record is the worst in all of baseball. They're deliberately sabotaging the attraction of attending  Fenway, tanking the home games, while still maintaining a barely competitive overall win-loss record. Eventually, the front office will be forced to spend some money to shore up their investment in the Fenway cash cow. Genius!

Case in point: last night, the Red Sox, fresh off winning their road series in Cleveland, fell, 4-2, to the Orioles in Fenway. Both Boston runs were off sac flies, and the promising young Connelly Early gave up six hits and four runs in 5⅓ innings. Orioles pitcher Shane Paz entered the game with a 3-5 record and a 4.29 ERA, but went seven full innings with only two runs on four hits and got the win.

Entering this series, Boston (25-34) had a chance of moving out of last place in the AL East. Now, the best they can hope for is to finish the home stand at one game back from Baltimore and Toronto. And as far as first place?  Fuhgeddaboudit.

Today's starter for Baltimore, Chris Bassett (4-3, 5.06), is a career 2-3 against the Sox in nine starts. The last time he pitched at Fenway (June 28, 2025), he was with the Jays and lasted only two innings, giving up eight earned runs in a 15-1 Boston beatdown of Toronto.

Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.61) makes his first career start against Baltimore tonight. Tolle not only has Boston's best ERA for a starter, he also owns the best WHIP (0.90) and the lowest BAA (.176) of any pitcher on the team with more than three starts. Statistically, he's our best hope for a win - even at home - and if Bassett would be kind enough to repeat last year's performance, we might have a chance.

AC Shadows

 

The last time I posted about video games (e-sports), the Red Sox season was just starting, both the Celtics and the Bruins were starting their ill-fated and short playoff runs, and I had completed my first playthrough of Assassins Creed: Shadows after about 250 hours of playtime. 

Today, the Sox are off and may or may not be at a turning point of their as-of-now historically awful season. The Celtics and Bruins seasons are now but memories and the teams subject to rumors about trades and management changes. And last night, I completed my second run through Shadows after another 150 hours. According to my Steam statistics, my official total is at 408.5 hours, the fifth most time spent in any game. 

My all time leader is Fallout 4 (1,094 hours) and nothing's likely to ever break that record. The only game that even comes close is No. 2 Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (934 hours). No. 3 is Cyberpunk 2077 at 563 hours, and No. 4 is Horizon: Forbidden West (426 hours).  

I must be a fan of the Assassins Creed franchise, because Origins (351) is in my Top 10 at No. 7, behind No. 5 Shadows and No. 6 Far Cry 6 (396 hours). I've also got 99 hours in on Assassins Creed: Valhalla and 66 hours on AC: Mirage.        

It took me 100 less hours to complete my second playthrough of Shadows because I played it as a New Game +, so my character was at full strength throughout (I started the second run at Level 66 and finished at Level 88). Also, I had finally figured out the game mechanisms and fighting styles, so I didn't have to repeat each boss fight a half dozen times before I finally won.

Before you ask, no, I'm not about to start a third playthrough. However, I haven't played the game's one official DLC yet, Claws of Awaji, so that will be my next move. Shadows has received many criticisms, many of them justified, and one is that the story "ends" on a very tentative, unresolved note. In fact, the final missions bring up more new questions than answers to the plot up to that point. Awaji reportedly provides a proper ending to the story, or to put it another way, Ubisoft, the game developer, put the end of the story behind a paywall after you've already purchased the game.

The DLC supposedly adds another 10 hours of gameplay, so it will probably take me about another 25. Then after that, on to something new, finally. I've been playing Shadows since February 13 (three and a half months!) and it's more than time to finally move on to something else!

Red Sox 9, Guardians 4

 

Two straight, back-to-back wins! A series win in Cleveland! Eighteen runs in the last two games! The mighty Boston Red Sox are the best 25-33 team in all of baseball!

Jarren Duran didn't get a ninth-inning home run in this game but that's okay - he homered in the first, during the first at-bat in the game. Connor Wong didn't hit a homer off Bibee again, but he still scored twice. In fact, no one homered after Duran's first-inning blast, but the Sox still scored nine runs and Caleb Durban hit a two-run, seventh-inning triple, which is arguably more of an accomplishment than a home run.  In all, the Sox scored six runs in the seventh on RBIs from Abreu, Yoshida, Kiner-Falefa, and Durban's triple. 

The win and the runs total are all the more impressive considering that both Contreras and Rafaela were out of the lineup, and the Sox started three catchers - Gasper (who played first base), Wong (DH), and Narváez (who actually caught). Contreras covered first for Gasper in the bottom of the 9th inning for defensive purposes, but never batted.

Ranger Suarez gave up four runs, but struck out 10 over five complete innings. The bullpen added five more K's, including two by Chapman in the bottom of the ninth.

The Sox are still in last place in the AL East, but are now only three back in the Wild Card race.

The Red Sox are off today, and then have three at home against the Orioles (28-32) at Fenway.  Boston is two back from Baltimore in the standings, and the three-game series is a chance to pull out of last place before a nightmare road trip to New York and Tampa Bay.