The Yankees have dominated the Red Sox this season in every facet of baseball: hitting, pitching, baserunning and even coaching. After each series this year, there has been a different rallying cry among the national media explaining why the Red Sox are still right there.
April Sweep (April 16-17)
The Yankees were struggling going into this two game set in the Bronx with a 6-9 record.. They had just lost Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez to injury. Not to mention Luis Severino, Dellin Betances, Miguel Andujar, Aaron Hicks and CC Sabathia were also on the shelf. No matter, the Yankees absolutely pumped Chris Sale and the healthy Red Sox in the opener, winning 8-0. Mike Tauchman, Clint Frazier, and Gleyber Torres all homered as Paxton went eight shutout innings. In the second game, Brett Gardner hit a go ahead grand slam in the seventh in a thrilling 5-3 victory. After the sweep, all we heard from national pundits was that “it’s April.”
June Showdown (May 31-June 2)
The sox limped into the Bronx having lost their last two series, while the Yankees had won eight series in a row. The first game was rained out, which allowed the Yankees to rest their exhausted bullpen. This ended up being a huge break, as the Yankees used Adam Ottavino, Zack Britton, Tommy Kahnle, and Aroldis Chapman in the first two games to win the series. They won 4-1 in the first game on Friday night, and Gary Sanchez hit a go ahead two run bomb in the second game to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead they would never relinquish.
On Sunday night, the Yankees finally lost their first (and only) game to the Red Sox this season. With their top four relievers unavailable in this game, it was an uphill battle from the start. David Price won his first game in the Bronx as a member of the Red Sox as the sox won 8-5. Still, the Yankees won the series and were 4-1 against them. The national media rallying cry was that it was still early, and that all of the games between the two teams had been played in the Bronx. Okay then.
Across the Pond (June 29 -June 30)
Mike just wrote an awesome recap of this series (go check it out) so I won’t go over every detail. We all saw it. The Yankees racked up 29 runs in two games and steamrolled the Red Sox for a two-game sweep. They are 6-1 against Boston and are 11 games up on the Sox. On Saturday, John Smoltz was adamant that Boston was gearing up for a big run. On Sunday, it was Jessica Mendoza who was claiming that this could be a huge turning point for a huge second half push from Boston.
As much as these national announcers try to spin it, the Red Sox just aren’t very good this year. Their bullpen is bottom five in baseball. Chris Sale has not pitched like an ace. Mookie Betts has come back to earth after an insane 2018. Jackie Bradley Jr. is one of the worst hitters in the sport despite being a good defender. Andrew Benintendi is having a decent year but now has a quad injury. In short, everything that went right for Boston last year has gone wrong this year. Every good bounce they got in 2018 is a bad hop in 2019. After the game on Sunday, I saw a bunch of tweets saying that the Yankees haven’t had to play in Fenway yet.
Based on how the first half of the season has gone, I cannot wait for July 26 at Fenway Park.
