Red Sox Sweep Yankees, Who Commence Their Annual Descent

 

Garrett Whitlock and Connor Wong after Boston won Sunday afternoon. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Boston Red Sox completed their sweep of the Yankees on Sunday afternoon with a 2-0 shutout win at Fenway Park, which begs the question, do the Yankees just suck?

Boston won this one with seven shutout innings from Brayan Bello, who scattered just three hits and three walks.

The Red Sox gave him an early lead against Yankee starter Max Fried when Romy Gonzalez tripled and scored on a Trevor Story single in the bottom of the first.

Rafael Devers then made it 2-0 with a solo home run in the fifth.

The Yankees had a chance in the eighth when they got a pair of runners on with one out for Aaron Judge, and Garret Whitlock got him to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Whitlock stayed on for the ninth, and couldn't have had an easier time getting Cody Bellinger to ground out and striking out Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe in succession.

Boston, who was reeling entering Yankee Stadium last weekend, took five out of six games against the Yankees in these back-to-back weekend series, and they are now one game over .500, at 37-36.

The Yankees have proven to be a vastly overrated team with a lineup that scares nobody, their weakest 1-9 that they have fielded since 1992. 

They raced out to a 35-20 record by May 28 when they completed a sweep of the Angels in Anaheim. 

That run was accompanied by a propaganda job that would make Vladimir Putin brush, as every Aaron Judge home run was met with a breathless response and the constant refrain of "they don't miss Juan Soto."

Hint: They miss Soto badly! 

Also, this is when the Yankees start to fade away after fast starts, and this start didn't match what they've done in recent seasons.

After they hit the 35-20 mark matched above, they are now a pedestrian 7-8 and been exposed by Boston and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who routed them a couple weekends ago, including an 18-2 trampling on Saturday, May 31, as they took two out of three.

Starting with 2022, here's the Yankees' high points in June, and the record the rest of the way:

2022: 50-17 on June 20, then 49-46 (won American League East with 99-63 record)

2023: 36-25 on June 4, followed by 46-55 (missed playoffs with 82-80 mark)

2024: 49-21 on June 12, then 45-47 (won AL East & League pennant)

And the past three years, they had far more heralded lineups that this bunch. Like, who expects Trent Grisham to keep playing above water? Or their overhyped prospects like Anthony Volpe and Jasson Dominguez?

As if Boston pulling to within 6 1/2 games of the Yankees (42-28), the Tampa Bay Rays also gained three games on them this weekend because of their sweep of the Mets. Tampa is now 39-32, and just 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees for first place in the American League East.