G78: Rays 4, Red Sox 0

Red Sox - 000 000 000 - 0  5  0
Rays    - 013 000 00x - 4  9  1

The Red Sox were no-hit for the first five innings. Three of their five singles came when they loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez could not come through.

David Price: 6.1-9-4-1-10, 103. ... Glad I missed this one.

David Price / Matt Moore

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Shaw, 3B
Brentz, LF
Vazquez, C

Travis Shaw had his third five-RBI game of the season last night (April 26 and May 10 are the other two). Elias reports that the only other Red Sox players to have at least three five-RBI games before July 1 are Ted Williams (four in 1949 and three in 1950) and Manny Ramirez (four in 2005).

Schadenfreude 193 (A Continuing Series)

New York Post:

Alex Rodriguez Actually Playing Only Makes Things Worse
By Howie Kussoy

How long before Alex Rodriguez is sitting against southpaws, too?

Following back-to-back days on the bench because of consecutive matchups against right-handed starting pitchers, the $20 million part-time designated hitter went 0-for-3 with a meaningless sacrifice fly in his return to the lineup Tuesday night in The Bronx, striking out twice in the Yankees' 7-1 loss to the Rangers.

Rodriguez entered the game batting .275 against lefties this season with a .837 OPS — he is hitting .200 with a .584 OPS against righties — but the soon-to-be 41-year-old watched his average against southpaws slide to .259 after an underwhelming evening against Texas' Cole Hamels. ...

"He's trying," Girardi said. ... "He hasn't complained about anything."

That only makes matters worse.

G77: Red Sox 8, Rays 2

Red Sox - 011 010 302 - 8 11  0
Rays    - 000 100 100 - 2  6  0

Rick Porcello (6-5-1-3-8, 109) gave the Red Sox just what they needed - a solid performance from their starting pitcher - and Travis Shaw drove in five runs with a single, double, and the longest home run of his career.

Porcello's performance was not dominating, however, as he allowed baserunners in each of the first four innings. The only Rays run came during an extended fourth inning in which Porcello threw 39 pitches and walked three men, including one with the bases loaded. It was after that particular walk (to Nick Franklin) that everything could have imploded (yet again) for the Red Sox. Tampa Bay still had three men on base and no outs. But Porcello struck out Hank Conger, got Logan Forsythe to pop to short right, then got Brad Miller looking at strike three.

Porcello then retired the side in order in both the fifth and sixth before turning the ball over to the bullpen. In fact, after Porcello issued that bases-loaded walk in the fourth, the Rays would put only one man on base for the rest of the night (Miller's home run in the seventh). Porcello, Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, and Matt Barnes retired 18 of the last 19 Tampa Bay batters.

In a refreshing change of pace, the Red Sox scored first, as Shaw led off the second inning by crushing a Chris Archer (6.1-7-4-4-9, 109) pitch an estimated 449 feet to right field for a home run. (Why couldn't they have added a foot to that estimate? 450 sounds much farther.) In the third, Mookie Betts doubled and scored on David Ortiz's double, a high fly to right that may or may not have hit a catwalk. Regardless, Rays right fielder "Lee Harvey" Oswaldo Arcia apparently lost the ball in the grey roof and made a late lunge for it by the foul line and came up empty. A walk to Hanley Ramirez (who reached base five times) and a single by Jackie Bradley loaded the bases for Boston with one out, but Shaw fanned and Bryce Brentz grounded back to the mound.

In the fifth, Ramirez walked with two outs and raced around the bases to score on Bradley's double into the right field corner. Boston broke the game open in the seventh. After Archer allowed a one-out single to Dustin Pedroia, Enny Romero came out of the bullpen. Ortiz singled to right and Ramirez singled to right-center, scoring Pedroia. After Bradley forced Ramirez at second, both he and Ortiz scored on Shaw's double to right. Shaw also added a two-run single in the ninth (Pedroia and Bradley each stolen second base in that session).

Ramirez was 2-for-2 with three walks. ... Pedroia and Bradley each scored two runs. ... The bottom third of Boston's order - Brentz, Christian Vazquez, and Marco Hernandez - went 0-for-13, with seven strikeouts. None of them hit the ball out of the infield.

Rick Porcello / Chris Archer

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Shaw, 3B
Brentz, LF
Vazquez, C
Hernandez, SS

Eduardo Rodriguez (6 starts, 8.59 ERA) was sent down to Pawtucket after last night's game. The team have recalled reliever Pat Light.

Dustin Pedroia, on what he said during a mound visit to Rodriguez:

What did I say to Eddie? Do you honestly think I'm going to tell you that? ... I was talking to him about baseball. I talk to all my teammates. Every day. That's about it. ... It's baseball, man. That's why you play 162. I remember the first 40 games when we were outscoring them 760 to zero. So, take it easy. That will change.

The Red Sox have been outscored 22-0 in the first innings of their past 15 games.

Manager John Farrell:

We're capable of more. We need to get better, and we had a chance to share that here after the game tonight. We collectively have to get better. To continue to fall behind as much as we are of late, we're more talented than that. We have the capability of executing pitches at a higher rate. We can't continue to expect our offense to climb out of holes, as we've been. We've got to set the tone and lead the way from the mound more than we are.

G76: Rays 13, Red Sox 7

Red Sox - 000 211 021 -  7 12  2
Rays    - 504 010 21x - 13 18  0

The last-place Rays, losers of 11 consecutive games, came out swinging like world-beaters against Eduardo Rodriguez - and the Red Sox lefty did not make it out of the third inning (2.2-11-9-1-2, 75). Tampa Bay's 18 hits were a season-worst for Red Sox pitchers in a game.

The Rays batted around in the first inning, collecting six hits and five runs (Logan Morrison and Nick Franklin each drove in two). The Rays put two more men on base in the second and might have scored if not for Tim Beckham's stupid attempt to steal third base with two outs. Sandy Leon gunned him down easily.

Desmond Jennings homered on Rodriguez's first pitch in the third inning. A double and a single brought home another run before Logan Forsythe hit a two-run moon shot to left to make it 9-0. That, mercifully, ended Rodriguez's night.

Boston made some rustling noises here and there about coming back, but nothing much happened. Bryce Brentz (3-for-4) doubled in two runs with two outs in the fourth - and then made an absolutely boneheaded play by trying for a triple; he was thrown out by 15 feet. David Ortiz walked with the bases loaded in the fifth, making it 9-3. Hanley Ramirez had a chance to close the gap to 9-7, but he was called out on an 0-2 off-speed pitch, and the inning was over.

Marco Hernandez (3-for-4) drove in Boston's fourth run in the sixth. Leon (2-for-4) hit a two-run dong in the eighth. Travis Shaw had a sac fly in the ninth.

And as if what was going on on the field wasn't bad enough, NESN had terrible, bush-league camera work all night long on flies to the outfield. On Ortiz's routine flyout to right in the top of the seventh, NESN panned way up to the back of the bleachers as if they expected the drive to travel 650 feet. Is the pool of available camera operators (and the people who give them instructions) so limited that this is truly the best NESN can do?

Eduardo Rodriguez / Blake Snell

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Brentz, LF
Leon, C
Hernandez, 3B

The Red Sox, losers of 5 of their last 7 games, and 7 of their last 11, have slipped to 4 GB the Orioles in the AL East. Maybe they can get back on track while facing the last-place Rays (who just got swept by Baltimore in a four-game series).

Baltimore will finish June with a home record of 14-3, their best mark in a single month since they went 15-3 in June 1979, on their way to winning the pennant.

David Ortiz still leads the entire planet in OPS, though, at 1.112.

G75: Rangers 6, Red Sox 2

Red Sox - 000 001 010 - 2  8  1
Rangers - 300 002 10x - 6 10  0

Clay Buchholz's first six batters: single, single, single, single, walk, single.

He then got a double play and, after an intentional walk, the third out. So allowing only three runs seemed almost like a positive thing. Buchholz (5.1-7-5-5-3, 97) managed to stick around until the sixth, when he surrendered a two-run dong to Prince Fielder, a home run that ruined Clay's chances of a Quality Start (!) and effectively sealed the Red Sox's fate.

Note: Buchholz threw a first-pitch strike to each of the first seven Texas hitters in that horrific first inning. While batters certainly fare better proceeding from a 1-0 count than from 0-1, sometimes that factoid, so often tossed out by broadcasters to illustrate a pitcher's success, is little more than bullshit.

Bryce Brentz (2-for-3) hit his first career home run in the sixth inning. David Ortiz drove in an eighth-inning run with a pinch-hit single.

The Orioles beat the Rays 12-5, so the Red Sox, while still in second place, dropped to 4 GB in the East.

Clay Buchholz / Martin Perez

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Brentz, DH
Shaw, 3B
Leon, C
LaMarre, LF

Because the Orioles won two games yesterday, the Red Sox are now 3 GB. The Blue Jays are 4 GB.

G74: Rangers 10, Red Sox 3

Red Sox - 010 011 000 -  3  7  2
Rangers - 000 350 20x - 10 11  0

Steven Wright / A.J. Griffin

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Shaw, 3B
Brentz, LF
Vazquez, C

Elias:

The Red Sox rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to complete an 8-7 comeback victory over the Rangers. Boston, which trailed 6-0 at the end of the third inning, had lost its last 120 road games in which it trailed by six or more runs. The Red Sox' last comeback win of that kind on the road was on June 7, 2003 - Boston trailed in Milwaukee by six runs before rallying for an 11-10 victory.

The Red Sox trailed by three runs with two outs in the ninth inning before a RBI-double by Sandy Leon and a two-run homer by Mookie Betts tied up the score. No other team in the majors has won a game this season in which it trailed by three or more runs in the ninth inning or later and had recorded two outs. The last win of that kind for the Red Sox was on September 23, 2003, against the Orioles at Fenway Park. Todd Walker hit a game-tying three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning, and David Ortiz hit a walkoff shot to lead off the bottom of the 10th.

G73: Red Sox 8, Rangers 7

Red Sox - 000 202 004 - 8  9  0
Rangers - 312 100 000 - 7 16  0

David Price had one of the worst starts of his career (2.1-12-6-0-1, 59), but somehow the Red Sox came back and won.

Top of the 9th, Boston down 7-4:

Diekman relieved Barnette.
Bradley (ccbbbff) walked.
Brentz (cf) struck out swinging.
Shaw (cbbff) popped out to shortstop.
León hit for Vázquez.
León (c - Bradley to second on indifference - bbffffbff) doubled to left, Bradley scored.
Bush relieved Diekman.
Betts (bc) homered to center, León and Betts scored.
Pedroia (sbbbf) walked.
Bogaerts (bfbbc) singled to right, Pedroia to third.
Ortiz (fsbb - wild pitch, Pedroia scored, Bogaerts to second - f) flied out to left.

Koji Uehara struck out the side, all three swinging, in the bottom of the ninth.

Earlier in the game, Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Jackie Bradley belted a two-run dong in the sixth.

David Price / Nick Martinez

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Brentz, LF
Shaw, 3B
Vazquez, C

Another Boston left fielder has been hurt. After losing the services of Brock Holt and Blake Swihart, Boston placed Chris Young on the disabled list (right hamstring) and called up Bryce Brentz from Pawtucket.

G72: Red Sox 8, White Sox 7 (10)

White Sox - 200 101 300 0 - 7 15  2
Red Sox   - 000 014 110 1 - 8 12  1

The Red Sox trailed 4-1 in the sixth inning and 7-5 in the seventh, but rallied to tie the game. Xander Bogaerts got the game-winning hit in the tenth, knocking in Mookie Betts as Boston avoided a four-game sweep by the White Sox. Craig Kimbrel pitched two innings of relief, escaping a bases-loaded/no-outs jam in the top of the tenth.

James Shields / Rick Porcello

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Young, LF
Bradley, CF
Ramirez, 1B
Vazquez, C
Hernandez, 3B

Since being traded from the Padres to Chicago, "Big ERA James" has allowed 22 runs in 8.2 innings.

G71: White Sox 8, Red Sox 6

White Sox - 101 002 031 - 8 10  0
Red Sox   - 004 002 000 - 6 13  1

For my money, this was a worse loss than Monday's extra-inning defeat (which NESN's Dave O'Brien was still moaning about, calling it "wrenching". At one point, he estimated that the Red Sox had a 94% of scoring in that ninth inning, though how he came up with that number was not explained. (Looking at actual data from 2010-15, the chance of a run scoring in that situation was 86%.))

Anyway, Xander Bogaerts was robbed of a home run with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, a blast that would have tied the game at 7-7. Bogaerts drilled a pitch to left center and it appeared as though a fan touched the ball above the top of the wall. However, the hit was ruled a double. After David Ortiz was walked intentionally, Chris Young nearly drilled a three-run dong down the left field line, but that one sailed foul. Young struck out on the next pitch.

After the White Sox added another run in the top of the ninth, Jackie Bradley started the bottom half with a single, bringing the potential tying run to the plate three times. Hanley Ramirez struck out looking, Deven Marrero struck out swinging, and Sandy Leon grounded to shortstop.

Eduardo Rodriguez (6-4-4-2-7, 102) looked much better with his old mechanics. He allowed a first-inning run when Adam Eaton drew a one-out walk and scored on Melky Cabrera's double. (Cabrera went 4-for-5, with 4 RBI.) Jason Coats's first major league hit - a ground-rule double to right - began the top of the third, and Coats later scored on an infield error.

Boston's offense woke up in the bottom of the third. Leon walked (for the first of three times). Betts was credited with an infield single when Brett Lawrie tried a behind-the-back flip force play at second after diving for his ground ball (a regular flip might have recorded the out). Dustin Pedroia singled to right, and the bases were loaded. Bogaerts lined a single off the Wall for two runs. (O'Brien must have marked his scorecard incorrectly, because for the rest of the night, he referred to this hit as a double. NESN's graphics had it right when Bogaerts batted in the fourth, sixth, and eighth innings, but O'Brien called it wrong over and over and over.) Ortiz gave the Red Sox a 3-2 lead with a single to right. Bradley then drilled the ball off the pitcher's foot and into center field, and the fourth run of the inning scored.

Todd Frazier hit a two-run homer in the sixth, tying the game at 4-4. But the Red Sox attacked immediately. Ramirez lined a bullet into the Red Sox bullpen for his 6th home run of the season, giving Boston a 5-4 lead. Leon walked with one out, went to third on Pedroia's hit, and scored on Bogaerts's infield single, a dribbler down the third base line.

Koji Uehara came in for the eighth with a two-run cushion - and allowed three runs. Eaton singled and Cabrera homered with one out. Then, with two outs, Lawrie crushed a ball over the Monster Seats and Chicago led 7-6. That set up Bogaerts's blast in the eighth, which was clearly a blown call, in my opinion. (Also, home plate umpire Mike Estabrook was horrible inconsistent, blowing well over a dozen ball/strike calls from the first to the ninth.)

Jose Quintana / Eduardo Rodriguez

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Young, LF
Bradley, CF
Ramirez, 1B
Shaw, 3B
Leon, C

Rodriguez is going to go back to the delivery he was using last year. He had altered his mechanics in response to the knee injury he suffered in spring training.

Pitching coach Carl Willis:

He'd gone with a different delivery, which from the outset it was like, "You were really good," but you have to take into consideration the physical side, him returning from an injury. He's more comfortable with the old delivery, he feels like now there is no issue there and both he and we feel his delivery last year is a better delivery for him, so we started working on that ...

Rodriguez:

I feel like all my life I've been pitching like I pitched last year, and this year I changed a little bit, because I was scared with the knee. But now it's normal, so now I go back to my normal mechanics. ... Just working to get back to the mechanics I had last year from the windup and keep throwing strikes. Throw the ball where I want it, and that's it.

NESN: O'Brien's Exaggerations More Annoying Than Red Sox Losses

NESN's Dave O'Brien has an extremely bad habit of creating drama where none exists, of exaggerating (and sometimes fabricating) events in an attempt to make Red Sox broadcasts more compelling. It is utterly unnecessary and damages his reputation as a straight-shooting announcer.

During Tuesday's broadcast, O'Brien obsessed over the previous night's extra-inning loss to the White Sox. He called the defeat "brutal" and "heartbreaking". The fact that the Red Sox loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game and failed to score "boggles the mind" (1). Indeed, Red Sox fans were "shocked" the game hadn't ended with a walk-off win.

I'm not saying that watching the last two innings of Monday's loss was fun, but it was not heartbreaking - and if O'Brien had been a lifelong Red Sox fan like he claims (2), he should know a thing or two about heartbreaking baseball games.

Monday's loss was annoying, frustrating, exasperating ... but it was not a loss fans are going to agonize over for months and years. And it did not make Tuesday's game some kind of a must-win to save the 2016 season. It was a disappointing defeat to a mediocre team in mid-June. O'Brien was coming dangerously close to making it sound like Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

(1) During game threads years ago, having the Red Sox fail to score after loading the bases with no outs was happening so often, the frequent squander became known as "a Red Sox Special". So it obviously should not boggle any Boston fan's mind that it happens from time to time.

(2) I maintain that I heard O'Brien say (during a radio broadcast) that his favourite moment of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry was Bucky Dent's home run. That is a peculiar choice, to say the least, for a Red Sox fan to make.

G70: White Sox 3, Red Sox 1

White Sox - 200 100 000 - 3  6  0
Red Sox   - 001 000 000 - 1  6  0

Clay Buchholz (5-4-3-1-5, 78) made his first start since May 26 and was drawing boos from the Fenway crowd after throwing only two pitches.

His first offering of the night was hit over the Monster Seats and onto Lansdowne Street by Tim Anderson. It was Anderson's first major league home run. Buchholz's second pitch was drilled off the left field wall by Adam Eaton for a double. Eaton eventually scored and that was all Chris Sale (7-4-1-1-9, 111) and the White Sox needed.

Boston got one run back in the third while squandering a chance to score more. Travis Shaw and Sandy Leon set the table with singles to right field. Shaw moved to third on Deven Marrero's fly to center and scored on Mookie Betts fly to left. Dustin Pedroia singled to left and Xander Bogaerts walked. With the bases loaded, Hanley Ramirez struck out swinging.

The White Sox made it 3-1 when Todd Frazier lined a home run to left (#20). It was the 14th home run allowed by Buchholz this season, tops on the Red Sox staff.

The Red Sox did not mount much of a threat until the eighth inning, against reliever Nate Jones. With out out, Pedroia and Bogaerts both singled to right. Ramirez struck out looking and Chicago closer David Robertson came in to get Jack Bradley on a first-pitch grounder to second. In the ninth, pinch-hitter David Ortiz walked with two outs, but Marco Hernandez, hitting for Marrero, struck out swinging.

The Red Sox are 7-11 in June.

Chris Sale / Clay Buchholz

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ramirez, DH
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Shaw, 1B
Leon, C
Marrero, 3B

G69: White Sox 3, Red Sox 1 (10)

White Sox - 010 000 000 2 - 3  7  1
Red Sox   - 000 000 100 0 - 1  5  2

Steven Wright - the AL leader in ERA - pitched another gem (9-5-1-3-6, 112; the run was unearned, and Wright's ERA dropped to 2.01), but the Red Sox squandered a bases-loaded/no-out situation in the bottom of the ninth. Then Craig Kimbrel allowed a two-run double to Jose Abreu in the tenth.

Facing Zach Putnam, Hanley Ramirez walked. And Jackie Bradley walked. And Chris Young walked. Zach Duke came in to pitch and manager John Farrell sent Dustin Pedroia up to hit for Travis Shaw. Pedroia, after hitting a few loud, deep foul balls, struck out. The White Sox then played a five-man infield, and Christian Vazquez grounded into a force play at the plate. Then, because Pedroia would be playing second base if the game went into extra innings, Farrell was forced to hit for starting second baseman Marco Hernandez. Ryan LaMarre grabbed a stick and was overmatched, striking out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the tenth, trailing by two against David Robertson, Mookie Betts grounded to shortstop and Xander Bogaerts struck out swinging. David Ortiz's pop-up to left fell in for a single, but Hanley Ramirez fanned.

Miguel Gonzalez / Steven Wright

Betts, RF
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Shaw, 3B
Vazquez, C
Hernandez, 2B

The Red Sox placed outfielder Rusney Castillo on outright waivers this weekend. Castillo is owed more than $50 million on the 7/72.5 deal he signed in 2014 and if any team claims him, they will take over that contract. If Castillo passes through waivers (which seems likely), he will be sent to Pawtucket and will be off the 40-man roster. In 99 major league games, Castillo, who turns 29 in July, has hit only .262 with a .679 OPS. He has made only eight plate appearances this season. [UPDATE: Castillo cleared waivers, will report to Pawtucket.]

Yoan Moncada has been promoted from Salem (High A) to Portland (AA). Moncada hit .307/.427/.496 with 36 stolen bases (in 44 attempts) for Salem.

David Ortiz stole his second base of the season yesterday - without a throw! He received a standing ovation from the fans at Fenway. Ortiz is 2-for-2 in steal attempts in 2016.

G68: Red Sox 2, Mariners 1

Mariners - 000 100 000 - 1  8  0
Red Sox  - 000 001 10x - 2 11  0

Mookie Betts (3-for-5) broke a 1-1 tie with a long home run to left field in the seventh inning. David Price (8-8-1-0-7, 110) turned in another great start, and Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth.

Franklin Gutierrez gave Seattle a 1-0 lead with a solo homer in the fourth. The Red Sox tied it in the sixth when Xander Bogaerts singled, took third on David Ortiz's single, and scored on Hanley Ramirez's force out. Betts led off the seventh with his 15th home run of the season, a blast that was measured at 414 feet.

Taijuan Walker / David Price

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Shaw, 3B
Vazquez, C

G67: Red Sox 6, Mariners 2

Mariners - 110 000 000 - 2  9  1
Red Sox  - 000 131 01x - 6 12  0

Just like last night, a Red Sox starter got off to a rocky start. Rick Porcello (6-8-2-0-6, 93) allowed two hits on his first three pitches and was soon working with the bases loaded and none out. A double play scored a run for Seattle and Porcello allowed a home run to Adam Lind in the second. But after that, the Mariners were kept off the scoreboard.

The Red Sox rallied in the middle innings. Jackie Bradley homered in the fourth. Chris Young, Christian Vazquez, and Mookie Betts began the fifth with singles, with Betts's hit tying the game. Dustin Pedroia grounded into a double play and the go-ahead run scored. Xander Bogaerts hit a solo home run to give Boston a 4-2 lead.

Vazquez doubled home Ramirez in the sixth and Ramirez doubled and scored on an error in the eighth.

As was the case on Friday night, every Red Sox starter except Pedroia hit safely. ... The bullpen allowed only one hit over the final three innings.

Adrian Sampson / Rick Porcello

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Shaw, 3B
Young, LF
Vazquez, C

The Red Sox sent Roenis Elias and Rusney Castillo to Pawtucket and recalled outfielder Ryan LaMarre and infielder Deven Marrero.

Boston is now tied for second with the Blue Jays, who have won seven of their last eight games. Both teams are 1 GB the Orioles. Toronto has 39 wins, the most of any team in the East.

Adrian Sampson is making his major league debut.

David Ortiz's home run last night was the 521st of his career, tying him with Ted Williams for 19th place all-time. It was also his 2,380th hit, tying him with Boston hitting coach Chili Davis for 126th on the all-time list.

G66: Mariners 8, Red Sox 4

Mariners - 201 400 100 - 8 10  1
Red Sox  - 000 200 200 - 4 11  0

Roenis Elias (4-7-7-3-2, 68) got off to a bad start. Ketel Marte singled to left on his first pitch of the night. Franklin Gutierrez looked at a ball and then homered to center. After only three pitches, the Red Sox trailed 2-0. Elias also walked two men in the inning, and threw a total of 30 pitches.

Gutierrez homered again in the third and hit a bases-loaded double that brought three more runs home in the fourth. The Seattle right fielder finished the night 3-for-5, with six RBI.

For the Red Sox, David Ortiz hit a two-run homer (#18) in the fourth. ... Sandy Leon had three hits, including a double (he's batting .692 this season (9-for-13)) and Travis Shaw had two hits. ... Everyone in the Red Sox lineup had a hit, except Dustin Pedroia.

The Blue Jays routed the Orioles 13-3 (Michael Saunders hit three home runs and drove in eight) so the Red Sox remain 1 GB.

Hisashi Iwakuma / Roenis Elias

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Shaw, 3B
Leon, C

Roenis Elias makes his second appearance of the season for the Red Sox, and his first start. The 27-year-old lefty allowed three runs in 1.2 innings to Houston on April 23. For Pawtucket, he has a 3.54 ERA this season (10 games, nine starts). Elias pitched for the Mariners in 2014 and 2015.

Manager John Farrell:

We looked at Seattle and the matchups and felt like a left-handed starter has proven to maybe negate some of their left-handed power, [Robinson] Cano, [Kyle] Seager particularly. This is as much matchup as the guys available to us. Roenis' last four or five starts have been very good. Much more consistent. Felt like it's time to take a look at him ...

G65: Orioles 5, Red Sox 1

Orioles - 002 120 000 - 5 11  0
Red Sox - 000 000 001 - 1  4  0

Eduardo Rodriguez failed to last five innings (4.1-8-5-2-5, 83; ERA now 6.97) for the second straight start. In his last three outings, he has allowed 14 runs in 14.1 innings.

The Red Sox were completely shut down by Tyler Wilson (8-3-0-1-6, 100). They managed only two baserunners in the first six innings: Sandy Leon's single and Mookie Betts's walk, both of which came with two outs in the third.

For Baltimore, Adam Jones hit a two-run homer in the third and added a run-scoring double in the fourth.

David Ortiz doubled with one out in the seventh and was stranded at third. In the eighth, Travis Shaw singled with one out, but Wilson struck out both Leon and Betts. Ortiz homered off Brad Brach with two outs in the ninth.

Clay Buchholz pitched the last three innings, allowing only two hits and striking out four.

Tyler Wilson / Eduardo Rodriguez

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Castillo, LF
Shaw, 3B
Leon, C

G64: Red Sox 6, Orioles 4

Orioles - 000 000 220 - 4  8  0
Red Sox - 015 000 00x - 6 13  1

Hanley Ramirez slugged a three-run home run - his first dong since May 10 - and scored twice to lead the offense. Steven Wright (7.1-6-3-1-4, 106) turned in yet another strong start.

The first five hitters in the Red Sox lineup - Mookie Betts, Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts, David Ortiz, and Ramirez - each had two hits. FY and XB also walked.

The victory moved the Red Sox back into a tie for first place.

Kevin Gausman / Steven Wright

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Shaw, 3B
Vazquez, C

Fun With Linescores: The Ramones Edition

Elias:

The Tigers scored one run in the first inning, two runs in the second inning, three runs in the third inning and four runs in the fourth inning in their win over the White Sox. It's only the third time in the post-World War II era that a major-league team has scored one in the first, two in the second, three in the third and four in the fourth, and each time, it's the Tigers who have done it. They went 1-2-3-4 in the first four innings at Fenway Park on September 23, 2001, and did the same thing against the Orioles on September 7, 1977. And if you are interested, no major-league team has ever gone 1-2-3-4-5.

September 7, 1977

Orioles   - 000 010 400 -  5 12  1
Tigers    - 123 401 10x - 12 16  3

September 23, 2001

Tigers    - 123 410 001 - 12 13  2
Red Sox   - 100 002 003 -  6  9  1

June 14, 2016

Tigers    - 123 400 001 - 11 16  3
White Sox - 200 310 002 -  8 11  0

G63: Orioles 3, Red Sox 2

Orioles - 200 000 010 - 3  5  0
Red Sox - 000 000 110 - 2  7  0

In his previous start, last Wednesday in San Francisco, David Price pitched eight excellent innings, but allowed two solo home runs and lost 2-1. Facing the Orioles at Fenway Park, Price (8-5-3-0-11, 105) again was on his game, but allowed two home runs in a losing effort.

Manny Machado gave Baltimore two early runs when he sliced the ball down the right field line and inside Pesky's Pole. After that, Price retired the next 19 batters. Jonathan Schoop homered in the eighth.

The Red Sox had their chances against Chris Tillman (7-5-1-2-7, 120). David Ortiz doubled to start the second inning and Hanley Ramirez walked. With two on, Jackie Bradley struck out looking and Chris Young struck out swinging. Travis Shaw walked, loading the bases, but Christian Vazquez grounded into a force play.

Dustin Pedroia doubled with one out in the third, but was stranded at third base as Bogaerts grounded to second and Ortiz struck out.

Boston finally scored when Jackie Bradley homered to center in the seventh. Mookie Betts began the eighth with a double off Mychal Givens. He took third on Pedroia's fly out to right. After Xander Bogaerts walked, Baltimore manager Buck Showalter called on his closer, Zach Britton. The lefty reliever struck out Ortiz on three pitches, but then allowed a single to Ramirez, which cut the score to 3-2. With the potential tying run at second, Bradley grounded back to the mound.

Britton struck out the side - Young, Josh Rutledge and Rusney Castillo - in the ninth.

(Home plate umpire Marty Foster cut short a promising inning for the Red Sox in the bottom of the first. Pedroia singled with one out. Bogaerts took an inside 3-1 pitch that Foster wrongly called a strike. (Tillman's first pitch to Bogaerts had been in the exact same spot and Foster called that one a ball.) So instead of having runners at first and second with one out, Bogaerts grounded into a double play on the next pitch.)

Chris Tillman / David Price

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Shaw, 3B
Vazquez, C

The Orioles and Red Sox are both 36-26, tied for first place in the AL East.

Price is no Steven Wright on The Ace Scale, but he has a 2.55 ERA over his last six starts. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts.

G62: Twins 7, Red Sox 4 (10)

Red Sox - 000 010 030 0 - 4  7  2
Twins   - 110 002 000 3 - 7  7  2

John Farrell picked Matt Barnes to pitch the bottom of the 10th inning because the manager was presumably saving his closer, Craig Kimbrel, for a Very Important Save Situation. When that scenario next arises, Kimbrel should be quite well-rested, since the earliest it can happen is fucking Tuesday night.

Barnes allowed a walk, a single, and Max Kepler's three-run home run to dead center field - and the Red Sox lost a game in frustrating fashion while a much better reliever pitcher sat on his ass in the bullpen.

This slavish devotion to the idea that a closer MUST be used when the team has a lead on the road is pure stupidity. And I thought it was contrary to the philosophy of the organization, which is to use your best available relief pitcher when the game is on the line in the late or extra innings.

Chris Young cut Minnesota's early lead in half with a solo home run (#6) in the fifth.

Boston tied the game in the eighth when two runs scored on a throwing error and another run came across on David Ortiz's double play grounder. The Red Sox stranded the potential go-ahead run at third base when Jackie Bradley struck out.

Young opened the ninth with a single, but pinch-hitter Travis Shaw bunted into a double play and Sandy Leon flied out to left.

Junichi Tazawa (in because Kimbrel was being "saved") retired the first two Twins in the bottom of the ninth, but Eduardo Nunez fouled off six pitches while working an 11-pitch walk. He stole second on the first pitch to Robbie Grossman - who eventually fouled out to third.

Xander Bogaerts (he went 10-for-15 in the series) singled with two outs in the 10th inning - and stole second base - but Ortiz struck out.

Then Farrell brought in Barnes - and the game went straight down the shitter.

Porcello: 7-5-4-2-5, 112; only one of the four runs was earned.

The Red Sox are off tomorrow - their third day off in the past eight days - before beginning a homestand against the Orioles (3 games), Mariners (3), and White Sox (4). Toronto beat Baltimore 10-9, so the Red Sox and Orioles are tied for first, at 36-26.

Rick Porcello / Pat Dean

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Rutledge, 3B
Vazquez, C

Game Notes:

Xander Bogaerts leads MLB with 92 hits this season, while his .358 AVG ranks #2 behind Washington's Daniel Murphy (.374).

In 47 games since 4/20, Bogaerts has posted a .399/.446/.581 batting line (81-for-203, 16 doubles, 7 home runs).

Bogaerts is the first Red Sox ever to record at least four hits and a home run in consecutive games.

He is also one of only three shortstops ever to record 4+ hits and 3+ RBI in consecutive games, joining CLE's Lou Boudreau in 1948 and TEX's Alex Rodriguez in 2003.

Bogaerts is only the second Red Sox SS in 100 years to record 4+ hits in consecutive games (also Johnny Pesky, 5/4-6/46).

No Red Sox in the last 100 years has had three consecutive 4+ hit games at any position.

Sandy Leon is the first player in Red Sox history to record a hit in each of his first five plate appearances of a season.

G61: Red Sox 15, Twins 4

Red Sox - 400 001 055 - 15 15  0
Twins   - 000 310 000 -  4  7  2

Xander Bogaerts had his second straight four-hit day (4-for-5, double, home run, three RBI, four runs scored).

Sandy Leon went 4-for-4. ... David Ortiz had three hits and Jackie Bradley drove in three runs.

Eduardo Rodriguez / Kyle Gibson

G60: Red Sox 8, Twins 1

Red Sox - 000 033 002 - 8 16  1
Twins   - 000 000 010 - 1  8  1

Xander Bogaerts went 4-for-5, with four RBI; he is now batting .349. Bogaerts cracked a three-run homer in the fifth inning.

Dustin Pedroia went 3-for-5, with two doubles and an RBI. ... Jackie Bradley doubled and tripled and drove in two runs. ... David Ortiz went 2-for-5, with a single and double. ... Christian Vazquez went 2-for-4 and drove in one run. ... Eight different players scored for the Red Sox.

Steven Wright: 7.1-7-1-2-6, 105. Minnesota's run was unearned, so Wright's ERA dropped to 2.09, the lowest in the AL.

Toronto beat Baltimore 4-3 in 10 innings, so the Red Sox are 1 GB the Orioles.

Steven Wright / Tyler Duffey

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Shaw, 3B
Young, LF
Vazquez, C

David Ortiz is absolutely sure he will not be playing baseball after 2016:

[M]y mind is made up. Physically, I could do it, but mentally, I'm exhausted. Hopefully, everything keeps going well this year, because right now, everything is going perfect. I'm having so much fun, bro. I'm having as much fun as I've ever had in my life. I'm having so much fun that I actually can't believe I'm retiring this year, either.

Ortiz leads the majors in slugging (.728), OPS (1.153), and extra-base hits (43), while leading the American League in on-base percentage (.425), doubles (26), and RBI (55). Among all MLB players, Ortiz is fourth in batting average, second in total bases, and sixth in home runs. His OPS+ of 200 (which is the best of any MLB hitter) would be easily the best of his long career.

"Call Me Lucky": Hilarious, Heartbreaking, Inspiring

Call Me Lucky, a documentary about the life of comedian/satirist Barry Crimmins, produced by Bobcat Goldthwait, is a film you must see.

(Trailer.)

I will echo my partner Laura's description of the movie as "hilarious, heartbreaking, and inspiring":

Call Me Lucky is a tribute to Crimmins, and a revelation of his personal journey, a glimpse at where his anger comes from, and how he has used his righteous anger to help others. For many people, Crimmins may seem like a paradox, raging at injustice - raging at almost anything! - but simultaneously overflowing with empathy and compassion.

Mike D'Angelo, AV Club:

If it accomplishes nothing else, the new documentary Call Me Lucky should bring some welcome attention to a man who's been under the radar for the past few decades, mostly by his own design. The film's subject is Barry Crimmins, a stand-up comic who made a minor name for himself back in the '80s, when he almost singlehandedly created the Boston comedy scene. ... Crimmins was notorious for being outspoken, in the tradition of comics like Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce. Most of his material was political in nature, tackling hot-button issues like gun control and Reaganomics; he was blithely unconcerned about who his cutting, unabashedly left-wing jokes might offend.

Dennis Harvey, Variety:

"Call Me Lucky" immediately establishes its subject as a simultaneously nurturing, courageous, intimidating and angry figure who walked away from a degree of national success more than two decades ago. The reasons for that prove very complex. ... Without wanting to spoil what the pic deftly plays out as a series of shocking narrative twists, suffice it to say that 'Call Me Lucky' winds up being among the most devastating of numerous 2015 Sundance titles touching on underage sexual exploitation.

Odie Henderson, RogerEbert.com:

The first 45 minutes or so focus on what one would expect from a documentary about an influential comedian and satirist. ... The second hour of "Call Me Lucky" is full of hauntingly powerful moments that are overwhelmingly moving and never exploitative.

Men's Journal:

Call Me Lucky is flawless in its ability to have you in stitches with laughter immediately after filling you with white-hot rage at the social injustices that plagued, and in some instances still plague, our society.

Adam C. Better, The Stndrd:

Crimmins made a name for himself with his piercing political satire. His provocative act often took on social issues in a raw and candid way. Years ago during one of his performances an angry audience member yelled out, "If you don't love America why don't you get out?" Crimmins then responded from stage—"Because I don't want to be a victim of its foreign policy!" That comedic retort from Crimmins tells you everything you need to know about the style of one of the more respected stand-ups ever.

Also: Louis CK recently announced that he will produce a one-hour comedy special from Crimmins's current tour. The special was filmed in Lawrence, Kansas, on June 4 and the finished product will be offered download/streaming on CK's website.

G59: Giants 2, Red Sox 1

Red Sox - 000 100 000 - 1  5  0
Giants  - 000 100 01x - 2  3  1

Mac Williamson began the night hitting .167/.211/.222. He became the hero of the game when he hit David Price's first pitch of the eighth inning over the left field wall for his first major league home run.

Williamson then also nearly became the goat. Hanley Ramirez began the top of the ninth by hitting a high fly ball to left. The wind blew the ball towards left center and Williamson, calling for it all the way, had it hit off the side of his glove for a two-base error. The Red Sox had the potential tying run at second with none out.

Home plate umpire Tim Timmons took the bat out of Jackie Bradley's hands, calling strikes on two outside pitches, including strike three. David Ortiz was announced as a pinch-hitter for Chris Young, and the Giants called on Javier Lopez. Ortiz fell behind 0-2, then refused to bite at a few low outside pitches before working a walk. Travis Shaw whiffed for the second out. Marco Hernandez, facing Hunter Strickland, grounded the first pitch to shortstop. Rusney Castillo (running for Ortiz) was forced, and the game was over.

Price (8-3-2-2-7, 107) allowed only three hits in his complete game, but two of them left the yard. They were the only Giants runners he allowed past first base.

Mookie Betts singled to start the game and stole second with one out. But Boston could not get him in as Xander Bogaerts popped to short and Hanley Ramirez grounded back to the pitcher. Betts singled and stole second again in the third, but was again left on base (along with Dustin Pedroia at first).

Young hit his fifth homer of the season with two outs in the fourth off Madison Bumgarner (6-4-1-1-5, 101), but the Giants answered in the bottom half, as Brandon Belt crushed a pitch into the bay beyond right field.

David Price / Madison Bumgarner

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Rutledge, 3B
Vazquez, C
Price, P

Nicholas Frazier, WEEI:

Despite the 7-2 record, Price, a former Cy Young winner, has been somewhat underperforming this season, as shown by his 4.88 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. He is, however, third in the American League in strikeouts (84).

Strikeouts are nice, but come on. "Somewhat underperforming"? He's 36th in the AL in ERA and 23rd in WHIP. He's definitely underperforming! However, looking at his last five starts, Price does have a 2.52 ERA.

Meanwhile, MadBum has a season ERA of 1.91 and an 0.73 mark over in his last five starts. And he's slugging .375 (Hanley Ramirez is at .390, by the way) with a 53 OPS+ (Christian Vazquez: 57).

#KillTheWin

During last night's Red Sox-Giants game, NESN's Dave O'Brien touted tonight's pitching match-up of David Price and San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner as a dandy because ... (here it comes) ... both pitchers are 7-2 this season.

I have mentioned O'Brien's eagerness to tout a pitcher's won-loss record as the most important gauge of his success and effectiveness too many times this season. But it's maddening - and it makes him sound so ignorant. (Not long ago, he noted that Joe Kelly was "undefeated" even as Kelly's ERA was climbing to 8.46.) You'd think that someone with O'Brien's vast experience would know better - would see evidence in the box scores every single day that a pitcher's record is all but useless - but perhaps he's too insulated and does not venture outside of his broadcasting bubble. O'Brien will sometimes admit that, in the case of someone like Price, yes, the ERA is a bit higher than you'd like to see, but still ... 7-2!

Note: Among qualifying MLB pitchers, Bumgarner's ERA of 1.91 is tied for third. Price's mark of 4.88 ranks 84th.

Brian Kenny, Sports On Earth, May 31, 2016:

You think pitcher wins make sense. They don't. ...

There have been 17 outings this year where a pitcher has thrown at least seven innings of shutout ball and not gotten the win. There have been 48 outings where a pitcher has gone at least seven, and given up one run, or no runs. 48. We're only two months into the season! We think these things don't happen often, but they do. ...

Let's widen the lens. I wrote this up for the #KillTheWin chapter in my book, "Ahead of the Curve," which comes out in July. In that chapter I choke out the win from every conceivable angle. For now, let's use one example.

I picked the type of game where we can all agree on it being good enough to get a win most all of the time: eight innings, two runs. That's a 2.25 ERA. That ERA would be good enough to be among the Top 10 most years throughout baseball history. Yet from 1920 to 2014, a pitcher throwing such a game, got the win -- brace yourself -- just 33.6% of the time.

Soak that in. A pitcher leaves after eight innings, giving up just two runs and receive big applause from the crowd, along with pats on the back in the dugout. Yet two-thirds of the time, throughout live-ball history, that guy doesn't get a win. That number may be a bit skewed from the old days when pitchers threw complete games and eight innings is the full distance for a road loss. But two-thirds of the time?

We cite statistics because we believe they have value. That there is correlation to the physical activity we have just witnessed. The win, after all, is early sabermetrics, an 1800's attempt to isolate performance, once teams began using multiple pitchers. But the correlation to the performance is too loose and haphazard to be bothered with.

(Bold = my emphasis.) I must check out Kenny's book - which will be published in July.

G58: Red Sox 5, Giants 3 (10)

Red Sox - 011 000 100 2 - 5  9  0
Giants  - 001 200 000 0 - 3  7  1

Xander Bogaerts's soft single to center scored two runs in the top of the tenth inning. Bogaerts finished the night with two hits and three RBI.

The Red Sox had loaded the bases with none out on a double by Sandy Leon, Josh Rutledge's walk, and a bunt single from Mookie Betts. Dustin Pedroia grounded to third and the Giants forced Leon at the plate - and a potential squander suddenly seemed possible. But Bogaerts blooped a 2-2 pitch from Santiago Casilla into shallow center, giving the Red Sox the lead. Boston had a chance to get some more when Josh Osich intentionally walked Hanley Ramirez (0-for-4), reloading the bases for Jackie Bradley. It was a curious move, but Bradley flied out to left.

In the bottom of the tenth, Craig Kimbrel allowed a leadoff single to Jarrett Parker, but retired the next three batters. The game ended on Denard Span's routine fly to Bradley on the warning track in left center.

The Red Sox took a lead with two outs in the second inning on back-to-back doubles from Bradley and Chris Young. In the third, Betts doubled and Bogaerts's infield single brought him in. (Bogaerts once again slid head-first into the bag, slowing his momentum and risking being the third out of the inning, and nullifying the run. There is a reason why world-class sprinters don't dive head-first on the track at the finish line - IT SLOWS YOU DOWN! Could someone please explain this simple fact to Xander?)

The Giants got one run on Parker's homer in the third and they tied the game at 2-2 when Rick Porcello (6-5-3-1-6, 93) loaded the bases by allowing three singles and then walked in a run. A double play grounder brought in San Francisco's go-ahead run.

Boston tied the game in the seventh without a hit. Bradley walked with one out. Reliever George Kontos came in and walked Chris Young. David Ortiz pinch-hit for Christian Vazquez and the Giants brought in lefty Javier Lopez. Ortiz grounded the first pitch into the shift. Shortstop Brandon Crawford was where the second baseman usually plays and he grabbed the ball and tried to tag Young. But Young stopped running and ducked down, avoiding the tag. Crawford threw to first and the return throw down to second was too late to get Young. So instead of an inning-ending double play, the game was tied 3-3. Josh Rutledge was announced as a pinch-hitter for Porcello, so the Giants called on Hunter Strickland, who promptly fanned Rutledge.

Manager John Farrell has already said that Ortiz - who began the night #3 in batting average, #1 in OBP, #1 in slugging, #1 in OPS, #1 in doubles, #1 in extra base hits, #1 in total bases, #1 in RBI, and #1 in runs created - will not start tomorrow. Farrell: "There's some maintenance that's required with his lower legs and his heels. ... I don't want to risk losing him. David's been great as far as days where he's not felt 100 percent, but he's pushed it."

Rick Porcello / Albert Suarez

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Shaw, 3B
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Vazquez, C
Porcello, P

The Red Sox will play two games in San Francisco (tonight and Wednesday) before heading to Minnesota for a Friday/weekend series against the Twins. Then it's back to Fenway for a 10-game homestand against Baltimore, Seattle, and the White Sox.

The Giants are 35-24 and lead the NL West by four games over the Dodgers. Suarez, a 26-year-old right-hander, made his debut one month ago and has appeared in six games. In his only start, on June 1 in Atlanta, he allowed three runs in five innings.

Blake Swihart has "a severe ankle sprain" and will have his left foot immobilized for two weeks. It is possible that he could be out for the rest of the season.

After 2016, What Will David Ortiz Do?

No Need To Cherry-Pick Data To Show Kershaw's Greatness

At The Ace of MLB Stats Twitter page - which is always interesting and entertaining - I found this neat tidbit:

ERA leaders with at least 1,000 innings pitched since 1915:

Mariano Rivera 2.21
Babe Ruth 2.25
Eddie Cicotte 2.34
Clayton Kershaw 2.39

— Ace of MLB Stats (@theaceofspaeder) June 5, 2016

However, this list - which I'm assuming was posted to show how great Kershaw is - is somewhat deceptive.

Cicotte pitched from 1905 to 1920, so the above list includes only his final six seasons. (The two games Ruth pitched in 1914 are also not included, which raise his career ERA to 2.28.)

I wondered if someone like Walter Johnson, who began pitching in 1907 and had a career ERA of 2.17 in 5914.1 innings, got slighted by this arbitrary cutoff of 1915. Yes. He sure did. From 1915-27, Johnson's ERA was 2.55 (3472.1 IP) Running the same search with Baseball Reference's super-awesome Play Index, I learned that Johnson finishes 10th in ERA.

What is interesting is that if you add five seasons to the search - if you change the criteria to pitchers with 1,000 innings pitched since 1910, thus including more of the Deadball Era - Kershaw drops to 9th. Which tells you he's still a Hall of Fame-worthy pitcher, but it may not be as cool to cite as the original tweet.

On the career ERA list, Ed Walsh is #1 at 1.82. Rivera is #13, Ruth is #17, Kershaw is #24, and Cicotte is #25. After Kershaw, the next two qualifying active pitchers are Madison Bumgarner at #160 (2.96) and Adam Wainwright at #196 (3.09).

So, yeah, Kershaw is pretty damn good. But you don't need to cherry-pick data to show it.

Muhammad Ali: "A Powerful, Dangerous Political Force"

Dave Zirin rightly calls Muhammad Ali "a powerful, dangerous political force":

He was willing to go to jail in opposition to the war in Vietnam. But one has to hear the voice, and read the words, to understand what exactly made it so dangerous and, by extension, made it all matter.

Imagine not only an athlete but a public figure telling these kinds of unvarnished truths. To this day it is awe-inspiring that he once bellowed "God damn the white man's money" at a time when such words were more than shocking — they were sacrilege.

It is awe-inspiring that, when facing five years in prison, Ali said: "I strongly object to the fact that so many newspapers have given the American public and the world the impression that I have only two alternatives in this stand — either I go to jail or go to the Army. There is another alternative, and that alternative is justice. If justice prevails, if my constitutional rights are upheld, I will be forced to go neither to the Army nor jail. In the end, I am confident that justice will come my way, for the truth must eventually prevail." ...

In 1967, long before it was obvious to most, Ali connected the black freedom struggle to the injustices of the war in Vietnam, saying: "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No, I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again: The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. ... I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I'll go to jail, so what?"

Three other articles worth reading in the wake of Ali's death:

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016): Anti-War Legend and Boxing Great Dies at 74
Jon Queally, Common Dreams

"I Just Wanted to Be Free": The Radical Reverberations of Muhammad Ali
Dave Zirin, The Nation

Muhammad Ali Risked It All When He Opposed The Vietnam War
Justin Block, Huffington Post

***

In the comments to today's game post, I posted a link to a Daily News column criticizing former Yankee Derek Jeter for his comments about Ali. Headline: "Derek Jeter Honors Muhammad Ali For Living The Life He Never Would". Columnist Ebenezer Samuel called Jeter "the most inauthentic athlete of our time" and the "anti-Ali".

Muhammad Ali ... dared to use his athletic platform to push for social change. ...

Derek Jeter had ample opportunity to speak his mind in front of the media, but never did. ...

[Jeter was] a superstar who could have addressed any issue he ever wanted. But Jeter, tone-deaf on Saturday because he never listened to the world in the first place, never understood what Ali really brought, that what he really did was offer a roadmap for today's athlete to be an activist. ...

For two decades in pinstripes, Jeter wanted no part of authenticity. He made a career out of not speaking his mind, unless Gatorade or Rawlings or the Steiner Sports memorabilia machine were paying him ... [He] stood only for his right to stand for absolutely nothing.

I am always up for some Jeter-bashing, but Maxwell Horse went a bit deeper with this comment (with which I wholeheartedly agree):

The Jeter article is a reminder of how most everyone in this country sounds completely full of crap when it comes to paying tribute to people like Muhammad Ali or Martin Luther King.

Everyone is championing how courageous and heroic Ali was after his death. Why? Well, because he fought for social change, was anti-war, and wasn't afraid to espouse values beyond the same mindless jingoistic sloganeering that most people repeat like parrots.

Basically, they're praising Ali for every action and opinion that, should he be espousing them today, they would crucify him for. If he (or MLK) were alive today and doing their thing, these same people would be burning them in effigy. Calling them traitors. Telling them to just shut up and dance.

The hosts on WEEI (who I estimate to be about 99% Neocon, not counting those who identify themselves as "libertarian"*), wouldn't be doing their condescending little "pat on the head" acknowledgment of what a great man MLK was the way they begrudgingly do every MLK day--basically the same way a parent praises their toddler for drawing a not particularly good stick figure with crayon. No. They'd be rolling their eyes and smirking at the stupid annoying liberal moonbat. Or they'd be screaming what a traitor he was for opposing the war. Kirk Minihane would roll his eyes at the idea that someone could be hurt by racism, and proudly trumpet how he just laughs on the odd occasion when he hears a "cracker" joke (which I'm guessing has happened to him exactly never).

O'Brien in the booth the other day did his bland, vanilla acknowledgment to Ali's passing and what a great man he was. He did this with a straight face, as did the entire NESN staff when they made their requisite acknowledgments. (I think even Tom Werner made the requisite "He was a great man" comment in an on-field interview.) And then in the very next breath they go back to promoting the same mindless pro-war jingoism they always do--it never once occurring to them what a contradiction this is.

I'm reminded of George Orwell's "double-think." When you have a society in which almost no one actually thinks nor has any personal agency, inevitably you're going to get a lot of people espousing values and opinions that are completely at odds with one another. People "know" that you're supposed to "support the troops," and if you're against war, you hate America. And so that's what they stand for. And then the next day Muhammed Ali dies, and you get the entire country "mourning" him and praising him for representing the exact viewpoints they otherwise despise.

[*Note: The WEEI version of "libertarian" apparently means that you have all Neocon beliefs, with the exception of gay marriage. You're basically okay with gay marriage, but you're pro Neocon on everything else. That makes you a "libertarian." Basically, you're a Republican, but you call yourself something else so people don't yell at you.]

G57: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 4

Blue Jays - 103 001 000 - 5  4  0
Red Sox   - 000 000 013 - 4  6  0

Marco Estrada (8-2-2-3-5, 110) came within five outs of pitching a no-hitter and all four of Toronto's hits were home runs.

Jose Bautista, as the first batter in the game, went deep off Eduardo Rodriguez (5.2-4-5-3-0, 99). In the third inning, Darwin Barney hit a solo shot and Edwin Encarnacion belted a two-run dong. Russell Martin homered in the sixth. ... As far as I could figure out, the most hits for a team in a game with every hit being a home run is six, set by Cleveland on June 24, 1989.

Chris Young ruined Estrada's bid for a no-hitter when he homered with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

The Red Sox provided some unexpected excitement in the bottom of the ninth. Dustin Pedroia doubled off Estrada and the Blue Jays brought in closer Roberto Osuna. Xander Bogaerts popped to second. David Ortiz doubled home Pedroia and, after Travis Shaw struck out for the second out, Hanley Ramirez doubled in pinch-runner Rusney Castillo. Jackie Bradley singled, scoring Ramirez. Chris Young singled, putting the tying run on second and the winning run on first. Marco Hernandez pinch-hit for Christian Vazquez and got ahead in the count 3-0. Then he took a strike, fouled two pitches off, and swung and missed, ending the game.

Marco Estrada / Eduardo Rodriguez

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Shaw, 3B
Ramirez, 1B
Bradley, CF
Young, LF
Vazquez, C

Both Blake Swihart and Ryan Hanigan left yesterday's game with injuries, and now both players have been placed on the disabled list. Swihart has a left ankle sprain and Hanigan has a neck strain. Rusney Castillo and Sandy Leon were recalled from Pawtucket. ... Also, Noe Ramirez was optioned back to AAA and Heath Hembree was recalled.

G56: Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 4

Blue Jays - 000 121 000 - 4  4  0
Red Sox   - 012 111 00x - 6 11  0

David Ortiz and Mookie Betts each drove in two runs. ... Xander Bogaerts had three hits and scored two runs. ... Betts and Travis Shaw had two hits apiece, including a double.

The Red Sox stole three bases (Dustin Pedroia, Jackie Bradley, Betts). Boston is 38-for-43 in steals (88%). ... Bradley is 17-for-17 in his career.

Steven Wright: 5-3-3-5-3, 111. All three runs allowed by Wright were unearned, because of three passed balls charged to Ryan Hanigan (giving him 17 for the season!).

Marcus Stroman / Steven Wright

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Shaw, 3B
Bradley, CF
Swihart, LF
Hanigan, C

Schadenfreude 192 (A Continuing Series)

Kevin Kernan, Post:

Yankees' Bitter Truth: They're Broken And Not Good Enough

This is the reality of the AL East slugging the Yankees square in the jaw.

On a night they actually managed to score five runs, the Yankees still came up losers to the Orioles, 6-5 on Friday night at Camden Yards.

This is a stretch of 12 games in 13 days against the AL East and the Yankees are 3-7 over that span.

This is reality. The Yankees don't measure up in their own division.

They have become AL East patsies. They are 9-14 against the East. They are in fourth place in the division. The three teams above them — the Orioles, Red Sox and Blue Jays — have beaten the Yankees 14 of 19 times they have played this season, which is exactly one-third complete. ...

Yankees hitters are dead last in just about every offensive category in the American League, starting with batting average, at .233. They are the only team with an on-base percentage below .300, at .299. Their slugging percentage is last, at .374.

The Red Sox have scored the most runs, with 326. The Yankees have scored the fewest, with 203.

The Yankees came into the night averaging 3.7 runs per game. ...

The Yankees are brittle and broken and getting punched around in the AL East.

G55: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 2

Blue Jays - 200 100 020 - 5  7  0
Red Sox   - 100 000 010 - 2  5  1

The Red Sox - who batted an MLB-best .305 as a team in May - managed only five hits against R.A. Dickey (6.2-2-1-5-4, 100) and three Toronto relievers. Boston did not get its first hit until David Ortiz doubled to lead off the sixth inning.

Baltimore beat the Yankees 6-5, so the Orioles and Red Sox are once again tied for first place.

David Price (7-6-3-4-5, 114) put his teammates in a hole right away. He walked Josh Donaldson with one out in the top of the first and watched as Edwin Encarnacion crushed a two-run homer to center.

The Red Sox got back one run in the bottom half without a hit. Betts walked, went to second on Dustin Pedroia's groundout to second, took third on Xander Bogaerts's groundout to shortstop, and scored on a passed ball by Toronto catcher Josh Thole.

Devon Travis was a big part of the Blue Jays' other three runs. He reached second on Travis Shaw's two-base throwing error and eventually scored on a double play grounder. He then hit a two-run homer off Koji Uehara in the eighth.

Boston rallied in the eighth. Bogaerts walked on four pitches from Joe Biagini and Ortiz doubled to left. With two on, Hanley Ramirez grounded to short, bringing home Bogaerts. Shaw struck out. The Blue Jays brought in Roberto Osuna. Jackie Bradley popped a 1-1 pitch to third.

In the ninth, against Osuna, Marco Hernandez, pinch-hitting for Christian Vazquez, struck out. Blake Swihart singled to center. Mookie Betts flied to center. After the umpires failed to call an obvious balk on Osuna, Pedroia singled to right, moving Swihart to third. Bogaerts, at the plate as the potential tying run and with his 26-game hitting streak on the line, got ahead 3-0, then looked at a strike and fouled one off. He swung at and missed a high fastball out of the strike zone to end the game - and his hitting streak.

Bogaerts grounded to short in the first, walked in the 3rd, struck out in the 5th, walked in the 8th, and struck out in the 9th.

Ortiz hit two doubles and has 25 on the season. He is on pace to finished the season with 73 two-baggers, which would break the current MLB record of 67, set by Earl Webb of the 1931 Red Sox.

R.A. Dickey / David Price

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Shaw, 3B
Bradley, CF
Vazquez, C
Swihart, LF

It's Pride Night at Fenway Park. (h/t fenfan.)

This Date in 1995: Montreal's Pedro Martinez pitches nine perfect innings against the Padres before allowing a leadoff double to Bip Roberts in the 10th inning. Montreal wins the game 1-0 in 10 innings.

Could Ortiz Set New Record For Extra-Base Hits?

Through 54 games, David Ortiz has 40 extra-base hits (23 doubles, one triple, 16 home runs). Fifty-four games is exactly one-third of the regular season, so Ortiz is "on pace" for 120 extra-base hits (69-3-48). That would be a new major league record (69 doubles would set a new record, too).

Most Extra-Base Hits, Season

Player        Year    2B   3B   HR   XBH
Babe Ruth     1921    44   16   59   119
Lou Gehrig    1927    52   18   47   117
Chuck Klein   1930    59    8   40   107
Barry Bonds   2001    32    2   73   107
Todd Helton   2001    54    2   49   105

There have been 15 instances of a player having 100+ extra-base hits in a season. Four of those 15 came in 2001 (Bonds, Helton, Sammy Sosa, Luis Gonzalez).

The Red Sox record for extra-base hits is 92, set by Jimmie Foxx in 1938 (33-9-50).

In 2004, Ortiz had 91 extra-base hits (47-3-41). Ortiz also holds the #3 and #4 spots on the Red Sox list, with 88 in both 2005 and 2007.

Apostrophe Abuse - And Head-Slapping Ignorance - At WEEI

Holy shit!

Misuse of it's/its makes me grit my teeth, but some people - even journalists and editors - apparently don't know any better. But how does someone covering the Red Sox every. single. day. make this mistake?

Bogaert's

That is fuckin' pathetic.

G54: Orioles 12, Red Sox 7

Red Sox - 000 005 002 -  7 12  0
Orioles - 000 221 34x - 12 11  1

Baltimore clubbed seven home runs - none of them cheap - as they routed the Red Sox and salvaged a split of the four-game series. All 12 of the Orioles' runs scored on the dongs.

4th inning: Mark Trumbo 2-run HR off Rick Porcello
5th inning: Adam Jones 2-run HR off Porcello
6th inning: Mark Trumbo solo HR off Porcello
7th inning: Manny Machado 3-run HR off Junichi Tazawa
8th inning: Pedro Alvarez solo HR off Tazawa; Francisco Pena 2-run HR off Noe Ramirez; Adam Jones solo HR off Ramirez

The seven home runs allowed tied a Red Sox record. It happened three previous times before tonight:

May 30, 1961: Yankees 12, Red Sox 3
May 17, 1967: Orioles 12, Red Sox 8
August 8, 2004: Red Sox 11, Tigers 9

The Red Sox's bats were utterly silent except for the sixth and ninth innings.

Trailing 4-0 and having managed only one hit through the first five innings, Boston suddenly woke up in the sixth. Christian Vazquez doubled into the right field corner. Mookie Betts - who did not hit a home run tonight - walked. Dustin Pedroia singled to right, loading the bases. Xander Bogaerts drilled the ball off the left field wall, bringing home two runs. But because Boagerts was admiring what he thought would be a grand slam, he got only a single out of it. (It extended his hitting streak to 26 games.) David Ortiz followed by crushing a three-run dong to right-center - and Boston led 5-4! Hanley Ramirez singled - and that was the end of Ubaldo Jimenez's night. Mychal Givens came in. Travis Shaw struck out and Ramirez was thrown out trying to steal. Blake Swihart singled, but Chris Young struck out.

Down by seven with three outs to go, Swihart and Young both singled. Vazquez stroked a pitch to right field, but Young was forced at second. Thinking the ball might be caught by an infielder, Young darted back to the bag. Even as the ball was going into right field, he was still moving towards first. He was easily thrown out 9-6. (For some reason, NESN's Jerry Remy tried very hard to tell us why Young had not made an embarrassing mistake. His explanation was not credible.) Betts singled in one run and after Pedroia popped out, Bogaerts was credited with a single and RBI when Nolan Reimold dropped his line drive in left field. Ortiz popped to left to end the game.

Rick Porcello / Ubaldo Jimenez

Betts, RF
Pedroia, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Ramirez, 1B
Shaw, 3B
Swihart, LF
Young, CF
Vazquez, C

John Harper, Daily News:

In some sense the Yankees are always measuring themselves against the Red Sox, which so far makes 2016 nothing short of their worst nightmare.

It's not just because the Sox have bashed their way to the top of the AL East, leading the league in runs scored, but the way they're doing it, led by a trio of young position players age 23, 23, and 26, respectively, bodes well for a bright future in Boston, as well as the present.

Yes, in Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackie Bradley Jr., the Red Sox might just have the makings of a young nucleus around which they’ll win multiple championships ...

In short, this has been a season to forget on many levels for the Yankees, in particular because it's hard to see them closing the gap between themselves and the Red Sox anytime soon.

Boston leads the AL East by two games while the Yankees are mired in fourth place, 7.5 GB.

Most Home Runs Hit In Three Consecutive Games

If Mookie Betts homers tonight, he will tie the American League record of six home runs in three consecutive games. Two more home runs tonight will set a new AL record and tie the MLB record, set by Shawn Green in 2002.

Most Home Runs In Three Consecutive Games

National League
7 Home Runs
Shawn Green, Los Angeles, May 23 (4), May 24 (1), May 25 (2), 2002

6 Home Runs
Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, Aug. 14 (1), Aug. 15 (2), Aug. 16 (3), 1947
Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, Sept. 10 (2), Sept. 11 (1) 1st game, Sept. 11 (3) 2nd game, 1947
Ralph Kiner, Pittsburgh, Sept. 11 (1) 1st game, Sept. 11 (3) 2nd game, Sept. 12 (2), 1947
Frank Thomas, New York, Aug. 1 (2), Aug. 2 (2), Aug. 3 (2), 1962
Lee May, Cincinnati, May 24 (2), May 25 (2), May 28 (2), 1969
Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia, April 17 (4), April 18 (1), April 20 (1), 1976
Barry Bonds, San Francisco, May 18 (1), May 19 (3), May 20 (2), 2001
Barry Bonds, San Francisco, May 19 (3), May 20 (2), May 21 (1), 2001
Bryce Harper, Washington, May 6 (3), May 8 (2), May 9 (1), 2015

American League
6 Home Runs
Tony Lazzeri, N.Y. Yankees, May 23 (1) 1st game, May 23 (2) 2nd game, May 24 (3), 1936
Gus Zernial, Philadelphia, May 13 (2) 2nd game, May 15 (2), May 16 (2), 1951
Manny Ramirez, Cleveland, Sept. 15 (3), Sept. 16 (2), Sept. 17 (1), 1998
Alex Rodriguez, Texas, Aug. 16 (1), Aug. 17 (3), Aug. 18 (2), 2002
Jeff DaVanon, Anaheim, June 1 (2), June 3 (2), June 4 (2), 2002