Cue the Duckboats! The Red Sox sweep the A’s

October here we come! The Red Sox completed their 3-0 sweep of the Oakland Athletics this afternoon after their 7-4 comeback victory. The Sox now stand 4 games below .500 (27-31) and remain 5.5 games back behind 1st place New York. the team travels to Baltimore to take on the last place Orioles Monday through Wednesday before coming back to fenway for a 3-game series with Toronto. the Sox are 5-2 in their last 7 and are definitely beginning to heat up offensively. Let’s cover the weekend:

6/5: BOS 4-2 OAK

WP: W. Miley (5-5) LP: S. Kazmir (2-4) SV: K. Uehara (12)

The Sox got 11 hits, 3 of which coming from Pedroia, and capitalized on the 3 errors by the A’s to win 4-2.

6/6: BOS 4-2 OAK

WP: J. Kelly (2-4) LP: J. Chavez (2-6) SV: K. Uehara (13)

Hanley Ramirez catches fire going 3 for 5 with a 2-run HR to lift the Sox over Oakland in Game 2. The Red Sox oddly scored 4 runs off 11 hits two days in a row.

6/7: BOS 7-4 OAK

WP: S. Wright (3-2) LP: T. Clippard (0-3) SV: T. Layne (1)

Down by 4 in the bottom of the 8th, the Red Sox rallied behind a solo HR by Rusney Castillo to lead things off in the inning. Hanley drove in Pedroia with a single to left and moved Holt to 3rd. Holt would score on a sac fly by ortiz to bring the game to  4-3. Sandoval would hit a single to advance Hanley and Betts came in as a pinch runner for Sandoval. Xander Bogaerts would be the day’s hero as his 2-run double would be the game winning hit for the Sox. Newly acquired de Aza would drive in Xander and Castillo would drive in de Aza to complete the 7 run 8th inning for the Sox.

And so, the Red Sox complete their FIRST sweep of a team in 2015. Best said by Tommy Largey, “This is the type of game that turns a season around.” and boy is he right. This is the type of game we’ve been waiting to see all season. Prior to today the Sox hadn’t comeback from a deficit greater than 3 runs. It seemed like when the lead got too much that this team just packed it in. Now, I am not saying that this team has turned it around. The A’s suck and with our roster we absolutely should have won the series. What is going to convince me is sustaining this success in the next 6 games. I cannot stress how important these games will be this week. Although we are 3rd in the AL East and are playing the last place (BAL) and 4th place (TOR) teams, we don’t have any separation from them in the standings. This division is the tightest in baseball this year, the difference between 1st and 5th being 5.5 games as of this afternoon. With the Yankees climbing out of their slump, it is important that the Red Sox sustain this recent success of their and take advantage of the slumping Rays and gain some ground in the division before the All-Star break.

P.S. Xander Bogaerts leads all AL shortstops in BA (.297), OBP (.340), and is 3rd in OPS (.742). This kid has turned it around since last year, he’s completely figured out his place in the game. I believe he should be right up there in All-Star voting.

The Daily Buzz – May 19

Hometown Highlights:

1. The Red Sox traveled back to Boston today to prep for their series with the Rangers and Angels.
2. The Red Sox outright OF Allen Craig to Triple-A Pawtucket, a week after optioning him to the same club.
   • Craig passed waivers and now is likely to remain with Pawtucket until he is traded.
3. The Patriots announced the signing of LB Brandon Spikes.
   • The deal is for 1-year.
   • Patriots also released CB Chimdi Chekwa, LB Cameron Gordon, and QB Devin Gardner.
4. Celtics G Marcus Smart was named to the All-Rookie second team.

Around the Nation: 

1. Tampa Bay levels the series with New York, winning Game 2 of the ECF 6-2.
2. The Miami Marlins hire their GM Dan Jennings as their new manager.

Today’s Buzz:

1. Wade Miley (2-4, 5.60 ERA) faces off with Yovani Gallardo (3-5, 3.95 ERA) as the Sox and Rangers open up their 3-game series.
2. Anaheim looks to take a crucial 2 game lead over Chicago tonight in Game 2 of the WCF at 9 PM.
3. The #1 Warriors host the #2 Rockets in the NBA Western Conference finals for Game 1 at 9PM.

***All times EST

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The Red Sox are back and the MLB should just give up right now

The Red Sox may only be 2-7 in their last 9 but after yesterday’s performance the rest of the league should just not show up to a game for the rest of the season. Take a step into the spinzone and find out why:

1. Clay Buchholz finally led this team to victory. 

Clay may have gotten only his 2nd win on the year but we’ll take it. He only let up 3 runs and struck out 3 batters in 6.1 IP which basically is the Red Sox equivalent to a no-hitter. Hey if we can get a win when Clay pitches like this then I’m all-in on a World Series run. We just have to make sure Clay’s hair stays like this all year:

Love that pouty Macklemore look he’s going for, pure intimidation.

2. Our offense is actually playing offense.

Panda and Nap both hit HRs yesterday and Mookie hit a triple. The bats finally realized that you can’t leave 60 men on base and expect to win games. (No I did not make that stat up, they’ve actually left 60+ men on in May alone.) Not to mention Hanley Ramirez is back which means our offense just improved by a factor of a million. You don’t sign a man whose initials are HR for the t-shirt. This man is about to go off on our west coast tour and bring this team out of the gutter. King Felix should just call in sick now.

 3. Allen Craig is gone! Hurray!

Allen Craig got sent to Pawtucket because he sucks. I could write about how Allen Craig couldn’t hit a nail with a sledgehammer, or how he couldn’t catch a cold, or how he couldn’t throw a ball farther than a kid playing tee-ball but I won’t. Today we celebrate.

4. Carl Willis will make each of our starters eligible for the Cy Young.

Well I guess if we aren’t going to bring in any pitchers, we might as well bring in a guy to make the guys we got better. Carl Willis is a proven pitching genius and he’ll definitely whip our rotation into form. Who needs an Ace anyways? By the time Willis is done with our starting 5, each one will be eligible for the Cy Young.

So yeah, watch out MLB because Boston’s back, and this time for sure we aren’t going anywhere. World Series here we come baby!