For the past two weeks, the Red Sox have been the embodiment of the meme “how it started vs. how it’s going.”
After a 10-17 start to the season and the firing of Alex Cora, it had seemed until recently that this was bound to be a year to forget in Boston.
But if the beginning of the season was all rainclouds, July has been almost nothing but summer sunshine. The team has only lost one game all month, and is currently on a 13-game win streak, tying the second longest such mark in franchise history.
Speaking outside Fenway Park Monday, Red Sox fan James Clark described it as night and day.
“It’s been incredible. I never imagined that they’d go on a streak like this,” Clark said. “But I’ll take it.”
Right now, Clark believes a realistic goal for the team is to make the playoffs. If the postseason started today, Boston would have the third AL Wild Card slot.
The turnaround is partly due to the fact that the offense finally looks alive. If you look at the season as a whole, the Red Sox have 413 total runs — “meh” by MLB standards.
But in the month of July, the team has been near the top in runs across both leagues. And pitching-wise, the Red Sox staff has posted a blistering 2.34 ERA for the month so far. Hot enough to start a barbecue in most ballparks.
The turnaround has made the trip to Fenway much happier for fans like Doug Evans.
“I’m from Los Angeles, moved there in 1964, kept the Red Sox my whole life, bought these tickets for a trip like two months ago and thinking, like, ‘Hey, it’s just going to be the bad Red Sox, and we’re gonna go there to see Fenway and it won’t be that exciting,’” Evans said. “Now, it’s very exciting.”
For Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy, whose squad is two consecutive victories away from tying the team’s all-time mark of 15 straight wins set by the Ted Williams-era Sox in 1946, it’s all business.
“I won’t shy away from what we’re doing is pretty incredible and it’s a fun ride and we want to keep it going, but focused on tomorrow and get ready to play again tomorrow,” Tracy said after the team’s win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Boston hosts the first leg of a three-game homestand tonight against the Baltimore Orioles.
