FOtF Game 98: Sox Take 3 of 4 and Cruise into the Break at 38 Games Over .500

Did the Red Sox drop a game on Friday? Yes. Does it matter? No, of course not. My apologies for the missing blog on Saturday, I needed an extra day off after a Red Sox loss to process what it feels like. The Sox responded to the dumpster fire of a loss the only way they know how. Saturday's game was played like an NL game. ERod looked great. He there with purpose and he was hitting his spots. Through 5 1/3, he had only thrown 67 pitches. For anyone that has ever watched ERod throw, you know that usually he averages 53.7 pitches per inning. So, seeing him pitch a game where both his control and stuff were there was refreshing. Things were going too well, though, and ERod got tangled up on a play at first base, causing him to exit the game after just those 5 1/3 innings. That really sucked, and seeing ERod get hurt in the midst of what was arguably his best start of the year was really the piss in my coffee. The Sox pen proceeded to seemingly blow the game behind Joe Kelly's late inning debacle, but Bogaerts saved the day. The X-man doubled to open up the ninth inning, and scored the tying run. His true heroics came in the 10th, when he blasted a walk-off grand slam to center. In case the Red Sox didn't pick up a signature moment on Thursday, they made another on Saturday afternoon. Every game, someone seems to put on the big boy pants, and yesterday it was Xander.

As Sunday rolled around, I felt confident with BJ on the mound. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Johnson has spot started four times in the last few weeks, and he's guided the Sox to a win in all four. He's been an efficient to say the least, and with the depth of the Sox's middle inning relief, the Sox are able to perfectly utilize their bullpen days. I also think it's safe to say that, with the way BJ's been tossing, Pomeranz can really take his time in Pawtucket. The rest of the committee pitched a great game. Thorngburg, Brasier, Workman and Kimbrel were effective today, and Heath Hembree almost blew it. I think Hembree's 96 on the corner looks good, and then I watch him load the bases and I'm left sweating bullets. Not ideal, and something that would be solver by just not throwing him.

The pitching won today's game, but the offense piled up enough runs to halt the Jays. Xander ripped a first inning homer over the monster and JBJ added an RBI with a double. Holt continued to contribute, as his slappy single knocked in two. The Sox rack up their 17th win in 20 games and ride an league's best 68-30 record into the break. The highlight of my Sunday was watching Boone refuse to use the rest of his power arms as Chad Green singlehandedly blew the game for the Yankees. The Red Sox now own a 4.5 game lead, and sit 38 games over .500.