Red Sox 5, A's 4

 

The Boston Red Sox let the A's jump out to a 3-0 lead after four innings in last night's game, but then tied it up in the fifth, only to allow the A's to move out to another lead in the sixth. Then Abreu and Contreras rolled up their sleeves and hit back-to-back homers to start the 8th, and the Red Sox leave Sacramento with a 3-1 series win.

During the game, Jarren Duran threw a much publicized temper tantrum in the dugout, but I'm not talking about that here but you can read all about it to your heart's content elsewhere. Knock yourself out.

Sonny Gray went seven full innings, striking out five while giving up all four of the A's runs on seven hits. 

After 108 games, the Red Sox are 57-51. After 108 games last year, they were 57-51, and in 2024, they were 57-51 after 108. In 2023, after 108 games, they were, you guessed it, 57-51. We just arrived there in very different ways each year.

New York lost their second straight to the White Sox last night, so now the third-place Red Sox are only 3½ behind them. The Yankees (61-48) are staying in Chicago for the weekend for four games against the Cubs (62-47), so more losses by the slumping Yankees can be expected. 

Unfortunately, the Sox move on to L.A. (69-40) to visit our old friend Mookie Betts and check in on Shohei Ohtani. Realistically, I'm not expecting much from Boston in this series, and if we win even a single game against the Dodgers, I'll be happy. On the other hand, this Red Sox team has played its best against top-level opponents - they swept both Tampa Bay and the Yankees recently. I'm not predicting another sweep here, but like I said, one out of three isn't inconceivable.

The first game will see Ranger Suarez (4-3, 3.02) making his second start since returning from the IL. Suarez is a career 3-2 against the Dodgers in five starts, with 30 strikeouts and only three runs. Last year, in the playoff division series, he got the Dodgers to strike out four times and gave up only one run in long relief (five innings) for the Phillies.

The Dodgeballs will start Edgardo Henriquez (4-1, 2.79). In three years in the majors, Henriquez has thrown all of one pitch to the Sox, a July 26, 2025 relief appearance where he got Romy Gonzalez to ground out in Fenway. So, other than that, he's pretty much an unknown commodity to the Red Sox.

Red Sox 4, A's 2 (10)

 

This game had everything. Sure, the obvious - an extra inning and a come-from-behind Red Sox win. But the game also had a fifth inning Jahmai Jones homer to tie the game up at one each, only to then have him pulled from the lineup for pinch-hitter Jarren Duran (.197), who went 0-3 in his plate appearances, with a ground out, a fly out, and a line out. It had Nick Sogard, back in the majors for his first game since May 30, tie the game up again in the sixth inning with an RBI single. And it had pitcher Patrick Sandoval hit an A's batter in the wrist with a pitch, two days after an A's pitcher hit the Sox' Curtis Mead with a pitch, fracturing his wrist and putting him on the IL for an estimated six weeks.     

That last part was just a coincidence, I'm sure.

But the best part of all, after Sogard tied the game up and forced an extra inning, Andruw Monasterio hit a two-run homer into deep left center in the tenth inning to win the game.  

Oh, and the Yankees lost last night, 6-5, in 12 innings in Chicago to the White Sox. Since June 25, when the Yankees came to Fenway for a four-game series, the Red Sox have gone 24-5 and are currently 7-3 in their last ten games. At 56-51 (.523) on the season, they are quite literally the best third-place team in baseball.  

The Red Sox wrap up this road series with a fourth and final game in Sacramento tonight. Sonny Gray (12-2, 2.78) starts tonight, although I really wish that his rotation came up tomorrow instead to pitch against the Dodgers, when we could really use him. The A's will start with righty Mason Barnett (1-1, 4.74). In two starts last year, Barnett gave up six runs on 12 hits to Boston, including a Rob Refsnyder home run, and didn't see the fifth inning in either game. 

A's 4, Red Sox 3

 

A Connor Wong two-run homer in the ninth wasn't enough to win the game, or even to force extra innings. Boston takes a 4-3 road loss in Sacramento.

 

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Curtis Mead has a fractured wrist and is on the 10-day injured list, at least for now. If he needs surgery, he'll be out even longer. We traded young Connelly Early for Mead, and got all of one at-bat from him (a strikeout) before he got hit by a pitch. Not his fault, but just our luck. 

A sweep of  the A's would have been nice, but Tampa Bay lost last night, too, so at least there wasn't that much damage to last night's loss, other than a missed opportunity to move up a game in the standings. The Red Sox (55-51) are still in third place and still seven back from the Rays, but now are 5½ back from New York in both the AL East and Wild Card standings.

Tonight, it's Patrick Sandoval (0-0, 3.21) against Jacob Lopez (5.4, 6.12). In 11 games over seven seasons, Sandoval is 4-4 against the A's. Lopez has been in the majors for four years now, but has somehow missed the chance to pitch to the Sox before this evening. 

First pitch is at 9:40. 

North Arctic Run Down

 

Matt Rutherford is now north of Svalbard, all the way up at latitude 80° 58' N. He's going to try and reach 81°, but he needs to advance some 80 miles further east before the polar ice cap allows him that far north. 

After rounding Svalbard, he will head back south across the Barents Sea toward Russia. It's unclear whether he intends to cross over the northern tip of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (or if that's even possible with the ice), or sail closer to the Russian mainland south of the islands.

Tamara Klink has been harbored in Nome for the past week. She hasn't said if she's just enjoying the Alaskan hospitality, or repairing something on her ship, or waiting for the ice to clean on whichever arctic route she intends to take home to Brazil - an eastward passage over Canada through the Northwest passage or a westward passage over Russia through the Northeast Passage.

Ella Hibbert is still counting the days in Saint Paul Island in the Bering Sea before she's cleared to sail in Russian water through the Northeast Passage.        

Red Sox 4, A's 2

 

Trailing by one run, Conner Wong doubled to open up the sixth inning. Yoshida and Seigler both grounded out, advancing Wong to third but, well, two outs. A's starting pitcher Jack Perkins walked Contreras and was replaced by reliever José Suarez, who walked Abreu. Bases loaded, two outs.

Ceddanne Rafaela comes to the plate. He doesn't swing at a changeup or a fastball, 0-2, and then Suarez throws an 82-mph slider right across the plate.

Grand-slam home run, Rafaela's first, 402 feet into deep left center. The game-winning hit and Boston's only score of the game, but the Sox take the lead and win the game, 4-2.

But wait a minute. Did I say Seigler back there? What was he even doing in the game? New-guy Curtis Mead started at second, but in his second at-bat, A's starter Jack Perkins hit Mead in the hand with a pitch. Mead left the game in obvious pain and the extent of his injury is not yet known. Fuck Perkins, fuck the A's, and fuck Sacramento, California. 

Red Sox starting pitcher Payton Tolle went 5⅓ innings, striking out seven but giving up two runs on two solo homers. The bullpen was perfect - no runs, no hits, no walks - until Chapman gave up a bullshit little single to start the ninth, but he struck out the next three batters to end the inning and win the game.

Everyone in the AL East won their game today, so the Red Sox (55-50) are still seven games back from Tampa Bay in the division and 4½ back from the Yankees in both the AL East and the Wild Card standings. Three of the six teams currently eligible for the playoffs in the American League are from the AL East, just saying.

Big Jake Bennett (6-3, 2.58) starts for the Sox tonight. The rookie hasn't pitched in Sacramento yet and hasn't faced the A's before, so he should be padding his stats with a win tonight (9:40). The A's will counter a rookie named Gage Jump (if an action movie starred a character named "Gage Jump," it would get changed to something more believable), who's 3-6 and has a 4.42 ERA.  

The Red Sox, 8-2 in the last 10 games and still officially the hottest team in MLB, are on a two-game win streak, with three more games to go against the A's. With the Dodgers on the horizon, I don't see another 15-run streak in the immediate future, but it Mead's injury isn't severe, anything's still possible.

Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 1

 

The Red Sox (8-2 in their last ten starts and still the hottest team in baseball right now) end their historic home stand with a W and win the series against the Toronto Blue Jays, two games to one.

Yesterday, the Sox won, 6-1, without any home runs or grandstanding heroics but with a relentless series of RBI base hits and a solid bullpen. Suarez, coming off the IL, had a deliberately short outing, throwing only 64 pitches over four innings but still racking up six strikeouts and not allowing any runs. 

The third-place Red Sox are 7½ games back from first-place Tampa Bay. The Yankees got blown out, 11-4, by Philly yesterday, so Boston now trails New York by 4½ in both the AL East and the Wild Card standings, where the Sox still hold the second berth.   

The Red Sox begin a West Coast road trip with four games in Sacramento (sure, why not?) against the A's (44-61). Tolle (5-6, 3.31) pitches the first game tonight (9:40). He faced the A's twice last season, starting one and relieving in the other, both without a decision. However, he lasted only two innings in his last start in, um, Sacramento, giving up two homers, but the Boston batters bailed him out and Chapman wound up taking the loss. Hey, it was Tolle's third MLB appearance, gimme a break. The A's will start Jack Perkins (2-5, 6.75). This won't end well for Jack. 

A sweep of the A's would be nice, because next the Sox play three in L.A. against Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and the Dodgers (67-39). A sweep of the A's and winning at least one against the Dodgers would result in a 5-2 road  trip, and I'd be happy with that outcome.

Blue Jays 6, Red Sox 0

 

Toronto's Dylan Cease went all nine innings, gave up only one hit and no runs, and struck out a dozen. The Red Sox didn't stand a chance. The Jays won, 6-0.

Boston (53-50) is still in third place in the AL East and still holds the second Wild Card spot, and can still win the home series against Toronto with a victory today. 

But not with young Connelly Early. Yesterday, the Sox traded the injured lefty (and SDW favorite) to Washington for third baseman Curtis Mead (.254). The Sox had plenty of lefties on their roster but needed more hitting, as yesterday's game showed, so the deal makes sense. Third baseman Caleb Durbin is batting .233, but several of his 10 home runs have been in clutch situations, and I hope Boston's long-term plans are to keep both third basement aboard.  

Ranger Saurez (4-3, 3.15) is finally being reactivated from the IL to start today. He's been out since July 9 with a groin pull. Ranger's a lifetime 2-0 against the Jays, and last year, in his last start against Toronto, went seven complete shutout innings, striking out six.  

The Jays will start Kevin Gausman (4-9, 4.51), who's a career 8-11 against Boston.  He last started against Boston back last September, when the Sox tagged him for four earned runs.  

Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 4

 

Last night, Anthony Seigler went 4-of-5 at bat, including a leadoff home run in the first inning and an RBI double in the eighth. He hit a single in the third and then Rafaela brought him home with a homer to deep left center. A Monasterio sac fly brought Yoshida home from third in the sixth to make the score 4-0 before Toronto even scored their first run. 

Back on February 9, the Red Sox got Seigler, Monasterio, Durbin, and a draft pick from the Milwaukee Brewers for Kyle Harrison, David Hamilton, and Shane Drohan. I think it's now safe to say Boston came out ahead in that deal. Boston is 24-14 since Seigler's June 4 MLB debut in a Red Sox uniform, which along with Durbin and Monasterio's contributions, may account for the Sox' midseason turnaround as much as anything. Also, Seigler is the second Navajo to ever play in MLB, as if there weren't already reasons to cheer for him.

The 15-game streak now in the record books, the Sox are back to winning again. Last night, the Jays challenged Boston's 4-0, sixth-inning lead, scoring three in the seventh and another in the eighth. But rather than give up and collapse like the first-half Red Sox might have, the new, improved team came back in the bottom of the eighth. Gonzalez doubled to left field, scoring Durran, and then Seigler hit his RBI  double to bring Gonzalez home. The Sox won, 6-4.

In only his third start since 2024, Patrick Sandoval went 4⅔ shutout innings, striking out three and giving up five base hits. Weissert and Whitlock gave up the Blue Jay runs in the seventh and eighth, but Guerrero was perfect in the sixth and Chapman gave up a walk in the ninth because of course he did, but also ended the game with a Toronto K.

Boston (53-49) is now 6½ games back from first place Tampa Bay and 4½ back from New York. With last night's win, they move up in the Wild Card standings and now control the second berth, a half game ahead of Cleveland.    

Tonight, both teams will throw their pitching aces onto the mound. The Red Sox will start their 20-win contender, Sonny Gray (12-1, 2.48), and the Jays will start Dylan Cease (6-5, 2.67). In his last start against Toronto, Gray went seven innings and gave up three runs in a 4-3 defeat, although Chapman took the loss, while Cease last went five innings in a 6-1 Jays win, so the Sox have their work cut out for them.

Meanwhile, Down in Philly

 

Life just got a whole lot harder in the NBA's Atlantic Division. 

The Knicks won the NBA Finals in five, and marched undefeated through the playoffs before that single-loss series. They're now officially a power to be reckoned with in the division, the conference, and the whole NBA.

To further the agony, the Sixers, who last season came back from a 3-1 deficit to eliminate the Celtics from the first round of the playoffs in seven, still have Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe to support their championship hopes. Then to add insult to injury, they acquired Jaylen Brown from Boston, breaking the heart of many a Celtics fan. And today, it was announced that they won the bidding war and will sign LeBron James to a two-year contract.  

Sure, James is now 41 and his best playing days are behind him. But he's still the league’s all-time leading scorer, a four-time NBA champion, and four-time MVP. His basketball knowledge, combined with Embiid's shooting, Brown's athleticism, and Maxey and Edgecombe's skills, are going to be a challenge for the Celtics, the Knicks, and any other NBA team playing them. 

But at least we picked up Paul George, lol.

Meanwhile, Up In the Arctic

 

With the Red Sox off last night, our attention naturally turns once again to the Arctic Ocean. 

Elle Hibbert is still on St. Paul Island (57° N) in the Bering Sea. She took her ship, the Yeva, on its first test run and everything checked out fine. Now it's just a waiting game for the weather and the Russian authorities to align so she can make her trip through the Northeast Passage over Asia and Europe and complete her clockwise Arctic Ocean circumnavigation.

Mike Rutherford is currently at sea working on his counter-clockwise, single-season Arctic circumnavigation. He's currently west of the Svalbard Islands at latitude 78.7°, and is hoping to reach the 80th parallel, the northernmost point of his voyage. There's currently a storm brewing northeast of Svalbard, so he has to decide whether to try to pass north over the islands or to cross the 80th and turn back south and pass below the islands. It's all up to the weather.

Tamara Kling is in Nome, Alaska (64.5° N), where she's been in harbor for the past couple of days. Still no word on whether she's planning to bring her ship, the Sardinha 2, home to Brazil by way of the Northeast or the Northwest Passage - either route would be epic and record setting.

Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources announced that three research icebreakers, the Xuelong, Xuelong 2, and Jidi, set sail from the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian to conduct an Arctic  mission. Another research vessel, the Tansuo 3, is expected to join the expedition later. 

As the research ships pass through the Bering Sea, the U.S. Coast Guard is carefully monitoring their activities. Per international law, countries enjoy sovereign rights over natural resources and economic activities within their exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf, which extends up to 200 nautical miles from shore, but they do not possess full authority over the space. The Coast Guard said that while the foreign vessels were permitted to operate within the zone and shelf, they remain vigilant to ensure thar activities comply with international law.

As climate change has opened new shipping routes, exposed untapped resources, and raised the Arctic's strategic value, China’s interest in the region has grown, as has the U.S.'s and others'. China lacks an Arctic coastline, but described itself as a “near-Arctic state” in a 2018 policy paper. It's northernmost point is at latitude 53.5° N, roughly the same latitude as Unalaska Island in the Aleutians, but also as Dublin and Hamburg, although it's recognized that with its subarctic climate, Mohe, the northernmost city in China, has more in common with Siberia than Liverpool. 

Orioles 5, Red Sox 1

 

The streak is over at 15 games. Northing lasts forever and impermanence is swift. Even Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio, and Bobby Doerr couldn't win sixteen in a row.   

Last night, in the second half of a double header, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, who hadn't tasted defeat since July 1. Like the first game of the DH, there was little question of the outcome, but in the opposite direction - this time, it was the Orioles who scored four runs in the first inning. Rookie starter Eduardo Rivera, making only his fourth MLB appearance, didn't even last a full inning. 

Brayan Bello came on with two outs and the score, 4-0, and quickly forced a ground out to end the painful opening inning. Bello pitched pretty well thereafter, with five K's over 5⅓ innings and no runs on four hits. But the problem was the old, familiar lack of offense - the Sox didn't get a base hit until a Monasterio single in the third inning, and their lone run came in the fourth when a Yoshida single brought Contreras home from second. 

I can't speak for Red Sox Nation as a whole, but at least this fan kept thinking a miracle, some supernatural event, was going to descend upon Fenway Park any inning now. Just as the Sox had been able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in previous games during this streak, it felt like something was going to happen to get win number sixteen. But it wasn't to be and Boston is now the proud owner of a shiny, spanking-new 15-game win streak.

Before the streak started, the Red Sox were 37-48, last place in the AL East, and 14½ back from first. Now, they're 52-49, in third place, and seven games back from first. Even more importantly, they now hold the third and final Wild Card berth, two games up on the nearest contender. Boston's path to the World Series - and we're still going to the World Series, baby! - doesn't run through an AL East championship but runs through the Wild Card. 

The Red Sox have played 101 games this season and have 61 left to play. Already, this back half of the season has a distinctly different flavor than the horrendous first half. Instead of trying to claw up from behind in the standings, their mission for the next two months is simply to defend their Wild Card spot, continue to improve on offense, and keep the pitching healthy (young Connelly Early, Garrett Crochet, Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, and Tanner Houck are all on the IL, and Ranger Suarez is still a question mark). 

Boston's off today. Take a breath and relax, the pressure's off. Friday, they start a three-game homestand against the Blue Jays (46-56), and then start another West Coast road trip where they'll face the A's (43-59) for four and the Dodgers (65-38) for three. Sweep the pesky Jays and the woeful A's, and try to salvage at least one win in L.A., and if they can go 8-2 or even 7-3 over the next ten, it should be clear sailing for the rest of the season.

Go, Red Sox! Love you guys!

Red Sox 6, Orioles 3

They did it! Those magnificent bastards actually did it! Today, in the first half of a double-header (last night's game got rained out) those amazing, never-say-die Boston Red Sox have won their 15th consecutive game, tying a franchise record that goes all the way back to 1946, when Harry S. Truman was President. The 2026 Red Sox tied a team record that was set by the legendary players Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Dom DiMaggio, and Bobby Doerr.  

Just one month ago, Boston was one of the worst teams in major-league baseball. Now they're the hottest team in either league. The last five wins were in Fenway Park, but prior to this streak, they were a dismal 17-27 at home. How things have changed! 

I'm going to keep posting these trophy pictures as long as they keep winning. It's not superstitious if it works. 

Since July 3, the Sox have swept the Angels, the White Sox, the Mets, and the Rays, and now they're one very significant win away from sweeping the Orioles, too. 

There was never any doubt about this win. The Sox jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning on a two-RBI Caleb Durbin single and a two-RBI triple by Jarren Duran. Duran added another RBI with a sac fly in the third, and Ceddanne Rafaela hit a solo home run in the fourth. Big Jake Bennet went 5⅔ innings with four K's and three earned runs, and the bullpen of Slaten, Whitlock and Chapman shut out the O's for 3⅓ innings.

To add an almost cinematic drama to the final innings, storm clouds were creeping up on Fenway in the last two innings, threatening to cut off the game after last night's rainout. The storm held off just long enough to finish, but the rain started before the post-game interviews were over. The front is forecast to pass over before the start of tonight's second game of the DH. 

And if you needed any more proof of the existence of God, the Yankees lost the first game of their double header today. Both teams play again tonight, but right now the Red Sox trail the Yankees by only 3½ games. Yankees suck.

Tonight, Boston plays for destiny. The Sox were thinking about starting Ranger Suarez, fresh off the IL, in this DH but announced that instead rookie Eduardo Rivera (0-0, 2.89) will start tonight. Rivera has only played in three MLB games, but two of those games were during this current 15-game streak. 

Baltimore will start Kyle Bradish (6-9, 3.61). In Brandish's last start against Boston, Contreras hit a two-run homer and the Sox combined for three runs on four hits before knocking him out of the game after five innings in a 5-3 Boston win and Chad Tracy's debut as interim manager.  

Fifteen consecutive wins. Fifteen (15!). Tonight, the Sox have their eyes on history, and will try to go from a Taylor Swiftian Fifteen to Sweet Sixteen. Whatever the outcome, tonight will be historic. 

Red Sox 6, Orioles 5

 

Those amazing Boston Red Sox, just one month ago one of the worst teams in major-league baseball, have now won an astonishing 14 consecutive games, one short of their all-time franchise record. Coming into the second half of the season, the Sox were a disappointing 17-27 at home, but the 14-game streak now includes five consecutive wins in Fenway. The last time the Sox won this many in a row, Ted Williams was their star slugger and your grandparents were a pair of young hotties sitting in the stands. 

I'm going to keep posting these trophies as long as they keep winning. It's not superstitious if it works. 

Since July 3, the Sox have swept the Angels, the White Sox, the Mets, and the Rays, and last night, the Orioles came into Fenway with a seven-game win streak of their own. Spoiler alert: their streak ended last night, but not without drama.

Those tough, gutsy, never-say-die Red Sox had to come back from behind three times to win the game, and finally needed a two-out, runners-on-second-and-third, end-of-season highlight-reel catch of a line drive by shortstop Tsung-Che Cheng to seal the win. 

The O's scored first with an RBI double in the top of the first, but Jarren Duran tied up the game with an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning (comeback number one). Abreu and Contreras made it 3-1, Boston, in the third with a pair of base hits, but Baltimore earned a 4-3 lead in the sixth. Contreras brought Abreu home from second in the bottom of that inning for comeback number two, but those pesky Orioles jumped back out to a 5-4 lead in the seventh. In the bottom of that inning, Rafaela brough Cheng home with a single to tie the game back up (comeback number three) and then Caleb Durbin lined a homer 403 feet into left center for the game-winning run. But even then, we needed Cheng's spectacular catch in the ninth to preserve the lead. 

No one ever said winning fourteen consecutive games was easy. 

Tolle struck out nine and walked only one over six innings, but also gave up four earned runs. Guererro and Whitlock did what they had to do in relief, striking out four more but giving up one more run on two hits. Chapman once again made the ninth more interesting than necessary with a walk and a hit, putting runners on second and third. That ninth-inning line drive off Chapman that Cheng ultimately caught could have cost Boston the game if it had got past him, and the streak survived only by the millimeters and split-second timing involved in that leaping catch. 

The Rays beat the Jays last night, so the Sox are still six back from first-place Tampa. Meanwhile, Boston is putting some distance between themselves and the other teams in the Wild Card standings, and are now 1½ ahead of Texas and three up on Minnesota and Baltimore. 

Ranger Suarez (4-3, 3.15) will start for the Sox tonight (7:10 pm). Suarez last started back on July 5, the third win of this streak, when he was forced out of the game in the third inning with lower body pain. Testing revealed a minor adductor strain, and he wound up on the 15-day IL. But his recovery went fine, and that's great news for the Sox as the good times just keep right on rolling. Ranger's had his struggles with Baltimore over his career and in four starts is 0-2 against the O's, but by the logic of this suddenly kind season, he's due for a win over them.

Baltimore will start Kyle Bradish (6-9, 3.61). In Boston's last start against Brandish, Contreras hit a two-run homer and the Sox combined for three runs on four hits before knocking him out of the game after five innings in a 5-3 Red Sox win and Chad Tracy's debut as interim manager.  

Fourteen consecutive wins. Fourteen. A fortnight of winning. Since 1916, only thirteen teams, including the 1946 Red Sox, have had win streaks of 15 or more games. One more win ties our franchise record.

Arctic News

 

Tamara Klink is currently sailing straight north, about to cross the western edge of Norton Sound. She's currently west of the Yukon delta in the Bering Sea and heading in the direction of Nome. She hasn't said anything about Russian visas or Siberian sea-ice charts, so it seems most likely that she'll be sailing eastward through the Northwest Passage, reversing the course she sailed last summer. 

To date, the Northwest Passage has only been traversed by women in solo sailboats three times. Last summer, Klink and Ella Hibbert separately completed the passage, and in 2017 German sailor Susanne Huber-Curphey navigated the route, becoming the first solo woman to complete the trip. If Klink completes the trip again this year, she'll be only the fourth to ever have made the passage and the first woman to have done it twice.

Last weekend, Hibbert finally broke weeks of radio silence to announce that she's been given August 10 as her entry date to the Northeast Passage north of Russia. She's still at St. Paul Island, 450 miles south of Klink's current position, and will give her boat, the Yeva, a final test run this week before heading north herself to enter Russian waters and complete her Arctic Ocean circumnavigation. 

And lastly, we have a new entrant! American Matt Rutherford is attempting what could be the first non-stop Arctic circumnavigation. He'll be sailing counter-clockwise, the opposite of Hibbert's route, and left Aasiaat, on Greenland's western coast, on June 25. He's already sailed around the southern tip of Greenland and over the northern side of Iceland, and is currently heading north through the Norwegian Sea toward Svalbard for what will be the northernmost point of his trip (latitude: ~80° N, he's currently at 74°). Rutherford, no stranger to long-distance sailing, has previously (2011) completed the first solo, nonstop circumnavigation of North and South America.

It's not impossible that Matt and Ella will meet as they cross the Northeast Passage in opposite directions. After all, Ella ran into Tamara last summer up in the Northwest Passage. However, unless Tamara puts down anchor and decides to spend some significant time harbored somewhere up in the Canadian archipelago, it's unlikely she'll encounter Matt (should he make it that far).  

   

Red Sox 6, Rays 1

 

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Un-freaking-believable. The Boston Red Sox, a month ago one of the worst teams in major-league baseball seemingly all but incapable of winning at home, have completed a four-game sweep of the first-place Tampa Bay Rays in Fenway, after sweeping the second-place Yankees in four at home late last month. They've won 13 straight games, a feat Boston hasn't achieved since 1948, back in the days of Ted Williams. 

I'm going to keep posting these trophies as long as they keep winning. It's not superstitious if it works. 

At the start of the All-Star break, back when this streak was at nine consecutive wins, I was worried about Boston collapsing in the second half of the season. My best hope was that the Sox could get a 2-2 split in this series with Tampa Bay - a sweep seemed like too much to even wish for. But despite my Calvinistic clouds of self-doubt, the Red Sox kept winning, taking the first game of the series. And winning, taking the second game of the opening double header. And winning, coming from behind yesterday. And then winning again today, completing the sweep.            

And none of those were easy wins. Once again, the Rays scored first, this time on a solo home run in the second inning off of starter Sonny Gray. As it turned out, that would be the only Tampa Bay score of the game. Gray went six innings with five K's, five hits, and only that one run. 

The Sox answered in the bottom of the second, tying the game on an Andruw Monasterio RBI double. New guy Jahmai Jones walked to start the third, and then advanced to second when yesterday's hero, Wilyer Abreu, got hit by a pitch. Tampa Bay starter Shane McClanahan (wasn't Shane McClanahan the singer for The Pogues?) walked Willson Contreras, loading the bases, and then Jones came home from third on a Rays' fielding error. Abreu came home when Caleb Durbin hit into a fielder's choice, and Contreras came home on a Romy Gonzalez ground out. 4-1, Boston, after three. 

To put an exclamation point on the game, Contreras hit a two-run homer in the fifth for the final score of 6-1. 

The Red Sox are now six back from the Rays. The Yankees lost the first game of a doubleheader against the Dodgers - a second loss today would put them a mere three games ahead of Boston.  In the Wild Card standings, they're two games ahead of Minnesota, who lost today. As I write, Seattle, currently 1½ back from Boston in the Wild Card race, are tied with San Francisco, 2-2, after four innings. 

Thirteen back-to-back consecutive wins. It's still hard to fathom. Is this the real life? 

The fourth-place Baltimore Orioles (48-51) come to Fenway next to challenge the streak. Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.11) will start the first of the three-game home series. Tolle faced the Birds on June 3, back when we still sucked, and struck out five over six shutout innings. The O's will start Shane Boz (4-9, 4.19), who struck out six over seven innings on June 2 (back when we still sucked), but gave up two runs. 

For those of you wondering and so that you don't have to ask, the all-time Red Sox record is 15 straight wins back in 1946 (the Fightin' Forties!). Not to jinx the team or anything, but a sweep of Baltimore in this series would set a new franchise record.

Red Sox 7, Rays 6

 

Twelve in a row! The Red Sox haven't won a dozen straight since June 2006. Twenty years ago, back when Alex Cora (RIP) was a player and not a manager, and they had Big Papi, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia, with Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling on the mound. 

We're in historic territory right now. Turnaround of the Century! We're going to the World Series, baaaaaaby! I never doubted it (don't read any of my posts from last June, however). 

Yesterday was another come-from-behind win. Down 6-3 in the seventh,  Yoshida hit an RBI sac fly, followed by a Rafaela RBI base hit, and then Abreu hit his second homer of the game - 15th of the season - bringing Rafaela home with him and giving the Sox the 7-6 lead that won the game. It was the second straight day that Abreu had two home runs, something the Red Sox haven't done since Mookie Betts in 2018.

Bonus points: Jahmai Jones, recently acquired from the Tigers, hit a first-inning, two-run homer in only his second plate appearance in a Red Sox uniform.

Boston improves to 49-48 (over .500!) and now trail the first-place Rays by seven games and the Yankees by five. They also now hold the last Wild Card berth, one game ahead of contenders Minnesota and Seattle.

I've seen a lot of wild shit in my years watching sports, but this turnaround, from a dismal 29-43 back on June 18 to winning 12 straight and improving to 49-48, is virtually unprecedented. What a great time to be alive and to be a Red Sox fan!

Will the Sox sweep the Rays? Today, Sonny Gray (11-1, 2.54) starts for Boston against Tampa Bay's Shane McClanahan (8-5, 2.83). The game's already started, so I'm not breaking it down here any further than that.

Go. Boston! Sweep the Rays and make it a lucky 13!

Red Sox 5, Rays 3

Another day, another trophy, but on this day there are even more rewards than usual. After the Boston Red Sox swept their Friday doubleheader against the Tampa Ray Rays last night, their first doubleheader of the season, they improved to 48-48, the first time they've been at .500 this season. Hooray! We're mediocre now! Which is a whole lot better than being below .500 and officially "bad."

The win was the 11th straight victory, a feat Boston hasn't accomplished since 2016, back when they had Big Papi, Mookie, Xander, and Pedroia, and pitchers Price, Porcello, Kimbrell, and Fighting Joe Kelly.    

But wait, there's more! The third-place Red Sox are now eight games back from first-place Tampa Bay and 5½ back from the Yankees, who lost last night. In the Wild Card standings, they're now tied with Minnesota for the third and final slot, but because of their head-to-head record (5-1 for the Twins), the berth goes to Minnesota. For now. 

I'm going to keep posting trophy pictures as long as they keep winning. It's not superstitious if it works. 

After soundly thumping the Twins, 10-0, in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader, the Sox fell behind, 2-0, in the first inning of the second game. Game over, right? End of the streak and all that. But no, those gutsy Boston players struck right back in the bottom of the first with back-to-back homers by Abreu and Contreras (back from his suspension) to take a 3-2 lead. 

The Rays tied it up with a homer of their own in the third, but Abreu reclaimed the lead with his second homer of the night. 4-3, Boston. 

The Red Sox starting pitcher, Eduardo Rivera, only lasted 2⅓ innings (3 runs, 3 hits, 3 strikeouts), but the bullpen carried the game and not only shut out the Rays the rest of the game, but gave up only two hits over the last six innings. Siegler added an insurance run with a double in the 4th, and that was all the Red Sox needed to win their 11th straight.

With the win, the Sox secured at least a tie in the weekend series against the Rays, and a tie was all that I had asked for. Anything more (12 straight?) is pure gravy. 

This afternoon (4:10 pm), Patrick Sandoval (0-0, 2.08) will make his second start of the season. On July 9, in his first start since coming off a years-long stretch on the IL, he struck out five and gave up only one run in 4⅓ innings against the White Sox for the sixth win of this current hot streak.

The Rays will put Ian Seymour (6-2, 4.59) on the mound.  In his last start against Boston back on June 9, he had the exact same record as Sandoval's against Chicago - 5 K's and one run - in a 3-1 Red Sox loss. That loss sunk Boston to a dismal 27-38, eleven games below .500, and they would sink even lower after a loss in Tampa Bay the next day. Our darkest hour. 

But here we are, just a little over a month later, at .500 and holding a 2-0 lead in a four-game weekend series against the first-place Rays. Isn't life grand?  

Red Sox 10, Rays 0

 

Are you fucking kidding me? Ten in a row! And with today's win coming at home, where the Sox were a dismal 17-27, and after four days off for the All-Start break, and against the Rays, the first-place team in the AL East, at that. And not just a "win." but a dominating 10-0 shutout of Tampa Bay. 

Holy smokes! We really are going to the World Series, baby!

Yoshida homered in the fourth and Narvaez homered in the seventh. Narvaez also hit RBI singles in the first and sixth, and Duran in the first and sixth. And in the sixth, in addition to Narvaez and Duran, Cheng, Rafaela, and Durbin also had RBIs. Eight out of the nine batters had at least one base hit today.

Big Jake Bennett allowed only one hit in six innings and struck out three. Gamboa kept the shoutout going for the next three innings, and Boston started the second half of the season - and today's doubleheader - with a  win. Tenth straight, the longest streak of this season and tying their longest streak of last year. With their tenth win, the Sox earned the coveted X-Wins Award. 

Rookie Eduardo Rivera (0-0) will start tonight's game against the Rays. Rivera's only pitched seven innings this year in two games, both against New York teams (Yankees and Mets) and has yet to give up his first run, so his ERA is a perfect 0.00. He'll be opposite Tampa's Mason Englert (0-2, 3.82), who pitched 3⅓ innings of relief in the Rays' 2-0 loss to Boston back on May 8.   

A win tonight would put the Sox (47-48) at .500 for the first time this season. They were 14 games underwater as recently as June 18 of this year, not even a full month ago. Will they make it 11 straight tonight? Will they clinch at least a series tie with the Rays? It's a high-stakes game with two unlikely starting pitchers, so anything could happen.      

Klink in the Bering

 

It looks like she's actually going to do it. After spending several days in King Cove on the Aleutian Peninsula, sailor Tamara Klink has passed through False Pass and is now heading north across the Bering Sea. 

Her stated mission is to retrieve her sailboat, the Sardinha 2, from its winter storage in Homer, Alaska and take it back to her native Brazil. The problem is that Alaska is north of the Pacific Ocean, and Brazil fronts on the Atlantic. To get to Brazil, she could sail south to the tip of South America, cross the Southern Ocean around Tierra del Fuego, and then head north in the Atlantic and home to Brazil. 

It appears she's not doing that. She's heading north.

She could sail back the way she came - around Alaska, through the Northwest Passage, around Labrador and Newfoundland, the thence south through the Atlantic to Brazil. Or she could sail over Russia and Scandinavia through the so-called Northwest Passage, Elle Hibbert's planned route for this summer, and then down and across the Atlantic from there. There's been no indication yet which way she intends to go.

Speaking of Hibbert, she's gone strangely radio-silent, not posting any updates in over two weeks. Presumably, she's got her sailboat, the Yeva, up and running and is waiting for the ice to clear in the Siberian Sea, which typically is about this time of year.  I hope in these politically fraught times she's not having visa or other entry issues, or somehow lost her enthusiasm for completing her Arctic circumnavigation.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater

 

Baseball's on hold for the All-Star break and it's still 53 days until the start of the Georgia Bulldogs football season. Let's talk e-sports.

For most of the year, at least since February 7, I've been playing Assassin's Creed: Shadows. I kind of burned out on it, but kept going back for reasons I don't fully understand. But on June 27, I finally switched things up and started playing Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a remake of the classic video game Metal Gear Solid 3.

I never played 3. I wasn't much of a gamer when it first came out in 2004, and I've never owned a PlayStation. However, I have played MGS 5 (2015) on PC but to be honest, I had no idea what the story was all about or who the characters were. I still had fun stealthing my way through Afghanistan and Angola in the game, but I haven't touched it since September 2019. While I was burning out on AC: Shadows, I thought about revisiting the game, and when I saw Delta on a Steam sale, I thought that would be a good way to reenter the MGS universe.

I'm not reviewing or critiquing the game here: this is a sports blog, not a review site. Suffice it to say that after my first playthrough, I immediately started a New Game + and finished my second playthrough last night.

My motives for restarting weren't purely enthusiasm, though. It took me a while to get the hang of the game the first time through, and I realize that I missed a lot of things at first. That first playthrough took me 26 hours and 48 minutes as I kept getting killed by bosses over and over again before I figured out how to beat them (each one requires a different technique).

I played a second time to see what I missed on my first playthrough and to test some of the late-game lessons learned on early-game adversaries. I completed the second playthrough in 16:07, and it would have been even quicker if I hadn't spent so much time searching around for "collectible" frogs and ducks.

Hidden throughout the game are 64 toy frogs (called Kerotans) and an equal number of rubber ducks (GA-KOs). They're not easy to find, and I can easily imagine playing the whole game through and not even noticing they're there. If you found all 128 without referring to one of the many online guides, I'm pretty impressed. I only bagged 49 of each after two complete playthroughs, even with access to online guides. 

Also, I wonder what the hell some of you were doing in those obscure nooks and crannies where they had hid the toys, or why, when you're racing down a runway on a motorcycle with the game's penultimate boss chasing you in a nuclear-powered death machine, while motorcycles guards are shooting at you and trying to run you off the road, you were scanning signs along the road in front of you through the scope of your sniper rifle for three-inch-tall toy frogs and rubber duckies. Who does that? On my second pass, even knowing exactly where they were based on the game guides and YouTube videos, I still couldn't hit them all as you have mere seconds to find them in your scope, aim, and fire as you're speeding past on a bumpy ride.

I ended up "killing" 156 NPCs on my first playthrough, but that's bad - it's a stealth game, and you're supposed to kill as few as possible. That number was reduced to 65 on my second pass, but that's still far from bragging levels.   

The game is a faithful remake of the Hideo Kojima original, and like any Kojima game (Metal Gear, Death Stranding) there's plenty of eccentricities and weirdness, like the toy frogs and rubber duckies, and long, long cut scenes. My total playing time based on the in-game statistics (42:55) doesn't match the total number of hours on my Steam statistics (65.9 hours) and I don't know why. Does the game not count the minutes in cut scenes as "play time" and if not, that implies a total of 23 minutes in cut scenes, which actually would be on the lower side of my guess.  

Whatever the exact number, I'm satisfied with my hours and don't feel a burning desire for a third playthrough. But rather that starting MGS 5 now like intended, I see that a PC remake of MGS 4 will be released on August 27, and it seems logical to wait for that and then to play 5 after completing 4. I probably still won't fully understand the story (I'm not sure I'll ever follow all the twists and turns of any Kojima game) but that seems like as good a plan as any.

Red Sox 3, Mets 2

Another day, another trophy. I'm gonna keep awarding these trophies for as long as the Red Sox keep winning. 

Today, Boston won their ninth straight game, a first for this season and a feat they haven't achieved since July 12, 2025. More significantly, they swept three series in a row, winning every game of this road trip. The last time the Sox swept three in a row was September 2019, and the last time they swept three in a row all on the road was way back in 1977. They're 14-2 since June 25 of this year and the start of a home stand against the Yankees. 

But, my God, the way that they won this game today. The Sox had starter Tolle on a strict pitch count today for some reason and pulled him after 66 pitches and 3⅔ innings. They brought in Brayan Bello, freshly returned from a minor-league reassignment, for long relief. A bold move, but Bello got the job done, striking out five and giving up one run on only two hits over 4⅓ innings. 

But the Sox hitting was off today and they hadn't scored a run for the first eight innings of the game. In fact, they only had two hits to show for themselves all game, and went into the ninth trailing, 2-0. I was already rationalizing the loss, thinking "all things eventually end" and "still a helluva run," but then Rafaella singled, Gonzalez advanced him to second, and Durbin loaded the bases with a walk. The Mets walked in Boston's first run of the day, and then a Duran single tied the game, 2-2.

Chapman closed out the ninth inning with only one hit and no runs, and in the top of the tenth, a Seigler fly ball brought Yoshida home from third. Whitlock made three quick outs in the bottom of the inning, and the Red Sox left the field with their ninth straight road win. Bet you didn't have that on your bingo card, did you? 

We're going to the World Series, baby! 

Boston enters the All Star break at 46-48 and in third place in the AL East. Tampa Bay lost today, so the Sox are now ten games back from first. But their path to the World Series doesn't run through a Division championship but a Wild Card berth. Seattle and Minnesota both won their games today, so Boston remains a tantalizing half game back from qualifying for a Wild Card spot. 

The Sox are off until Friday for the MLB All-Star break. They'll return to action at Fenway, where they're still only 17-27, for a four-game series against first-place Tampa Bay (56-38), starting with a Friday double-header. But after that, their odds will improve as they host Baltimore (45-51) and Toronto (45-50).

Not to throw a hex on our mojo, but as a long-suffering Red Sox fan (I was in the stands at Fenway for many of the games in that historic 1977 season) I can't help but think of disappointments in both the distant and recent past. Last season, we went into the All-Star break on a 10-game winning streak, only to go a disappointing 4-6 in the first ten games of the second half. 

However, this year, if we can at least split the series with the Rays and then sweep the birds (both Orioles and Blue Jays), then we're 8-2 to start the second half and all will be right with the world.

Red Sox 4, Mets 0

Another day, another trophy. Today, the Boston Red Sox won their eighth straight game, a first for this season and a feat they haven't achieved since July 11, 2025. They're 13-2 since June 25 of this year and the start of a home stand against the Yankees, while New York's gone 5-11 in that time.

Monasterio hit a homer 390 feet into deep left center in the fourth inning, scoring Durbin, and Yoshida hit a homer 371 feet into deep right in the eighth, also scoring Durbin. Rivera lasted only 3⅔ innings in his first MLB start, but didn't allow any runs and only one hit. Coulombe gave up three walks in the last two innings, but no hits and no runs.

The Mets stink - there's no kinder way to express it - and while the Red Sox are on a tear right now, they still have a ways to go before . . . oh, who am I kidding?  We're going to the World Series, baby! 

The Rays won again today, so Boston (45-48) still trails by 11 games, but we're now only a half-game back from qualifying for a Wild Card spot. Right now, Seattle, who lost their fifth straight game today, has the last Wild Card berth, while Minnesota, who won today, now has an identical 47-49 record. It's not impossible that we enter the All Star break holding that last Wild Card spot.

But first, we have one more game against those Mets. Payton Tolle (5-6, 3.14) will start the last game of the first half of the season. In his last start, Tolle, who's never faced the Mets, struck out six and gave up only two hits in six shut-out innings against the White Sox.

The Mets haven't yet announced their pitcher for tomorrow. You doing anything?

Meanwhile, in Alaska

 

I can honestly say I don't know what the hell Tamara Klink is doing.

She arrived back in Homer, Alaska last June and spent a month getting her ship, the Sardinha 2, out of dry dock, repainted, re-primed, and ready to make the long return trip back to Brazil. She took it for a few test trips around Kachemak Bay, and then on July 1, began her return odyssey.

Or did she? Any logical route from Homer, on the southern coast of Alaska, to Atlantic-facing Brazil, either goes south around Tierra del Fuego and then north up the eastern side of South America, or south and through the Panama Canal. Since Klink is an experienced Antarctic sailor, if even an Antarctic enthusiast, it seems unlikely she would go the Canal route. In fact, she most likely will take the Sardinha to Tierra del Fuego and establish a base in either a Chilean or Argentinian harbor for future Antarctic adventures.  

But either way, the logical course is south, hugging the west coast of North America, and then, after Baja California, further out to sea and straight for Cape Horn.

But that isn't what she's doing. She's actually sailed west along the Aleutian Peninsula and is presently harbored in King Cove, tantalizingly close to False Pass, the gateway to the Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, through which she passed last year on her way to Homer. I don't see any advantage in starting her voyage south to Tierra del Fuego from further west in the Aleutians. She posted that the fickle winds made her change course several times a day, but it seems unlikely that she's just letting the wind take her willy-nilly some 550 miles off course. 

Could she be planning the audacious and sailing the Northeast Passage over Russian and Scandinavia, like fellow Arctic adventurer Ella Hibbert, and into the Atlantic, and then south to Brazil for the most insane route from Point A (Homer) to Point B (Brazil) imaginable? 

Or is she just poking around the Alaska coast during the summer season before heading south to the tropics, and then on to South America during the antipodal summer?          

So far, she hasn't said.

Red Sox 6, Mets 2

 

Another day, another trophy. The Boston Red Sox have won their seventh straight game, a first for this season and a feat they haven't achieved since August 5, 2025. They're 12-2 since the start of the home stand against the Yankees, while New York's gone 4-11 since that series. 

The Sox arrived in New York late for this weekend's series against the Mets (plane problems) and without Willson Contreras (suspension due to the June 30th altercation with the Nat's race-baiting bigot, Cade Cavalli). They were expecting the Mets to open the series with starter Clay Holmes, but the sneaky Mets put Nolan McLean on the mound instead. No problem. They scored two runs off McLean in the first inning on a Yoshida single and never looked back from there. 

Major-league disappointment Juan Soto eked out an RBI off Boston starter Sonny Gray in the third innings with a sac fly, but that was the only run Gray allowed over six innings. Seigler hit a two-run homer in the seventh, and Abreu hit another two-run homer in the top of the ninth. Weissert gave up the  memorial Aroldis Chapman ninth-inning homer, but the Sox still finished with a 6-2 road win, and Gray earned his 11th win of the season.   

Every other team in the AL East also won their game last night, so Boston remains 11 back from Tampa Bay in the standings. However, they're now a mere 1½ games back in the Wild Card standings, tied with Toronto and Houston and a half-game back from Minnesota. The Red Sox' road to the World Series doesn't go through an AL East title, but by qualifying for the Wild Card and advancing through the playoffs to the World Series championship.   

With most of the Red Sox rotation out on the IL, Boston will start rookie Eduardo Rivera today (4:10 pm). Rivera's only other major-league appearance was a three-run stint in relief in a 4-1 loss to the Yankees on April 22, back when this team still sucked.  However, he got three K's in those three innings and gave up only one hit, a José Caballero single to center. Whether he's got the right stuff for a starter or not we'll know after today's game.

The Mets, if you can believe them, say they will start former Brewer Freddy Peralta (5-7, 4.68). Peralta is 0-1 against Boston in two starts, most recently a May 28, 2025 game when he gave up a home run to Rafaela and the Sox burned him out through 108 pitches in five innings, even as they eventually lost the game in extra innings. 

Will the Sox make it eight straight? Nine? Will they complete a third consecutive sweep? Either way, as we approach the All-Star break, it's been a helluva run down the final stretch of the first half of the season.

Red Sox 2, White Sox 1

 

Ladies and gentlemen, the 2026 Boston Red Sox are back!

For the first time this season, the team has won six straight games and has completed back-to-back, consecutive sweeps. First, the Angels, and now, the AL Central-leading White Sox (although after three straight losses to Boston, Chicago is now tied for first with Cleveland). 

With this notable achievement, we present the team with the coveted, two-sweep, six-win trophy. We're going to the World Series, baby! 

Yesterday, the Red Sox won what turned out to be a pitching duel, and with a starter returning from a two-year stint on the Injured List at that. Patrick Sandoval, in his first game since June 21, 2024, pitched 4⅓  innings, the first three hitless, striking out five, and walking only one. He finally gave up a single in the fourth, and then got himself into some trouble in the fifth. After Sandoval was relieved, our old friend Andrew Benintendi (Boston, 2016-2020) took advantage of the two-on, one-out situation with a one-run RBI single, but that was all the scoring the Red Sox allowed yesterday.

In the fourth inning, Caleb Durbin hit his ninth homer of the season, a two-run shot into deep left center, and that was all the scoring the White Sox allowed, but it was enough for the win, Boston's sixth straight. And for a sweep in Chicago, a second straight sweep. I know I already point those two things out, but it just feels so good to say it.

The Red Sox are 11-2 since starting a home stand against the Yankees back on June 25. Speaking of Yankees, they beat Tampa Bay last night, so Boston (43-48) picks up a game in the standings and is now eleven back from first place, and 1½ ahead of last-place Baltimore.  

And speaking of New York, the Red Sox are heading there now for a weekend series against the woeful Mets (40-54). Sonny Gray (10-1, 2.61), a legitimate 20-win contender, will start. Gray's last start against the Mets, back on May 2 of last year, didn't go so well - he struck out six, but gave up four earned runs on nine hits, including a two-run homer to Pete Alonso, who's now with the Orioles (serves him right). I sense some payback ass-whipping coming up.  

The Mets will start Clay Holmes (4-4, 2.39). His last start against Boston also didn't go so well - he lasted six innings and struck out five, but gave up home runs to Narváez and the now departed Devers (not departed as in "dead," but as in traded to San Francisco, which is probably just as bad). He might have his own payback fantasies, which is just so adorable, but the Mets don't stand a chance - these Red Sox are unstoppable.

Red Sox 5, White Sox 0

 

Last night, the Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-0,  for their fifth consecutive win. It's only the second time this season that Boston's won five straight, and they haven't yet won six straight, so today's game should be interesting. 

Last night, rookie Jake Bennett pitched seven solid innings, giving up no runs, only four hits, and four K's. The bullpen (Weissert and Morán) was perfect - no hits, no runs, and two Morán strikeouts.

Meanwhile, all the scoring occurred in the third and fourth innings. Cheng and Rafaela had RBI base hits in the third, and then Seigler scored on a wild pitch. Cheng had another RBI in the fourth and Narvaez brought Yoshida home with a single that inning. With Bennett's pitching and the bullpen, those five runs were more than enough for the Red Sox to win the game.

Contreras and Seigler both left the game with apparent foot contusions. A loss of Contreras would be devastating, especially at this resurgent point in the season, but if it's "only" a contusion and with the All-Star break coming up, the impact may be muted.

The Red Sox (42-48) are now twelve games back from first-place Tampa Bay, who beat the Yankees -  again - last night. Winning the AL East isn't a realistic goal, despite the enthusiasm we may be feeling right now on this 10-2 run we're on, but Boston is once again only three games back in the Wild Card race, with four teams, all below .500, ahead of them. 

We're going to the World Series, baby!  

But first we need to wrap up this series in Chicago. Patrick Sandoval returns from a years-long stint on the IL and will make his first Red Sox appearance today, as well as his first time on the mound since June 21 back in 2024.  He's a career 0-3 against the White Sox, but that's based on three starts for the Angels, which has to be taken into consideration. 

The Pale Hose will start veteran Anthony Kay (6-3, 4.29), who's never started against the Red Sox and has only faced Boston in relief appearances, none since July 2023 when he was pitching for the other Chicago team.

A win today (2:10 pm) would be huge for Boston. It would be both the first consecutive sweep of two teams this season as well as the first six-game win streak of the year. And with three games against the woeful Mets (39-54) next, it sets us up to potentially sweep three in a row, and complete a 9-0 run before the break.

World Series. We're going to the World Series, baby!