BOSTON — Let’s take a walk down memory lane. Stretch your memory all the way back to July 1.
The Yankees beat the Red Sox that day to complete a winning series and tie Boston atop the AL East.
Since then, the Red Sox essentially have stopped losing, winning 22 of 28 games.
Too far back?
OK, how about the good ole days of three batters into this most recent series. At that point, the Yanks could still believe a big weekend at Fenway would catapult them into an AL East dogfight, especially since it was 3-0 in their favor three batters into this series.
The Red Sox have outscored the Yankees 23-6 since then.
They have taken the first three games of this series because they have been better on offense, defense, starting, relieving, baserunning, trade-deadline acquisitions, attention to detail and even video review. At this point, perhaps the Yankees could win a congeniality consolation prize. The AL East is about gone from their grasp.
“Obviously, it is a thought,” Giancarlo Stanton said of what is now a season-high 8 ¹/₂-game deficit. “It is a reality.”
The Red Sox won 4-1 Saturday just as they had Friday night and did so in a similar way — with their starters throwing strikes and their hitters not swinging and missing much.
“They’ve established themselves right now as the best team in this league,” Aaron Boone said.
The Red Sox are 78-34, the best record in the majors and their best record ever through 112 games.
The Yankees talked about having blinders to that and the ever-growing deficit and fixating on the next game and not losing their confidence or their belief that they are preparing for games in the best way possible. But their best hope to avoid a four-game sweep might be that David Price is the opposing starter Sunday. He has made nine starts for Boston against New York, pitched excellent once and someplace between poorly and atrocious in the other eight.
“We have a lot of confidence in our group and a lot of fight,” Boone said. “Hopefully, [Sunday] begins to dig us out.”
The Yanks are trying now to salvage one game in a series that began with Brian Johnson filling in for injured ace Chris Sale and New York taking that 3-0 lead. Over the past two days, though, Rick Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi have been No. 1 starters. They have removed a Yankees asset — long counts and walks — by dominating the strike zone.
The two combined to work 17 innings, allow four hits and one run, walk one and whiff 13 on just 179 pitches — by comparison, Luis Severino and Chance Adams needed 198 pitches to work 10 ²/₃ innings as the opposing starters. Aaron Judge might be improving his AL MVP case by not playing, so much are the Yankees suddenly missing his patience and power.
The cutter Eovaldi never refined or believed in as a Yankee has become a weapon. He walked one, Aaron Hicks on a full count to open the second, and erased that on the next pitch by inducing Gleyber Torres to hit into a double play. Eovaldi faced 25 other Yankees and never even got to a three-ball count.
Eovaldi, Steve Pearce and Ian Kinsler (now on the DL) are deadline acquisitions who have helped the Red Sox. And their big free-agent signing, J.D. Martinez, is outhitting the Yanks’ big offseason trade acquisition, Stanton. Martinez hit his 33rd homer, in the fourth, after Mitch Moreland launched a two-run shot in the first.
Both were off Adams, who acquitted himself well in his debut. Consider the Red Sox are the majors’ highest-scoring team, particularly thrive at home and are rolling at this moment. So, the Yanks would have signed up for the three runs in five innings Adams authored.
But within that, we saw a Red Sox strength. Houston won it all last year with an offense that scored the most and struck out the least. Boston scores the most and strikes out the second-least. The Red Sox work pitchers into exhaustion and mistakes.
Boston fouled off better than 25 percent (21) of Adams’ 83 pitches, 11 with two strikes. The Yanks are a strikeout staff. But in the first two games, the Red Sox struck out just seven times in 84 plate appearances. Even when Severino’s fastball upgraded in life and location after the first inning Friday, Boston totaled just two strikeouts against him.
Adams also whiffed two before the Yankees pen finally began to miss some bats over the final three innings. But by then, Boston was up enough to endure even a shaky ninth from closer Craig Kimbrel.
“We know we can absolutely play with them and at our best beat them,” Boone said.
That was easier to believe back in the good ole days.
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