Step right up and greet them
On July 14th, heading into the All Star Break, the Red Sox were 53-43 and charging towards the trade deadline looking like a team with playoff aspirations. Since then they are 17-24 and looking toward 2025 instead. Would Craig Breslow have stayed in Wittenberg If he knew this would happen? As many have pointed out here, in the papers, and online, the Red Sox are being dragged back toward 78-84 again. They can still avoid that fate but losing two out of three isn’t the way,
Enter the New York Mets. Often referred to as the LOLMets. They’ve invested heavily in Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander to rebuild the rotation and are now paying them to pitch elsewhere. Or, stay on the IL elsewhere, as it may be. The Metropolitans have a record of 73-64, which is good enough to sit just a single game back in the NL Wild Card race. They’re eight games back in the NL East. And one team in front of them for the Wild Card is the Atlanta Braves, aka The Walking Wounded.
Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images
The Mets are coming off a 15-13 August. Pete Alonso has 30 home runs in his walk year. Francisco Linder is just shy of a 30-30 season. Old friend J.D. Martinez is still chipping away at pitchers with 16 homers and a .777 OPS as their DH.
Brayan Bello is coming off a masterful start. 8.0 innings, 9Ks, 2 hits, 1 walk, and 0 runs. Against a Toronto Blue Jays team that took three games out of five from the Sox last week. Where was this guy most of the year? Boston 2025 is going to need “pitching pitching pitching” and a step forward from Bello, plus a built-up Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford will go a long way to sustaining pitching the entire year.
Bello’s opponent: Luis Severino. He’s coming off a mixed month: a shutout of the Miami Marlins but struggles against the Mariners, Rockies, and Diamondbacks. This is the game the Sox need to take.
Kutter Crawford is getting through 5 or 6 innings with 2 or 3 runs sometimes. And hit hard by home runs other times. David Peterson actually has a favorable FIP for blowing him up in a start. But he’s a lefty. So… yeah.
Tanner Houck blew up against Arizona but was good in four other starts recently. He’s not First Half Houck but he’s good enough. Tylor Megill isn’t amazing. But it seemingly doesn’t take much to quiet the bats on days where the lineup takes a rest.
If Alex Cora and Andrew Bailey can help their boss more than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern did theirs, this is one the Sox can take. Need to take if September is going to be a positive.
Probable Starters
9/2: Brayan Bello (4.66 ERA / 4.38 FIP) vs Luis Severino (3.96 ERA / 4.32 FIP)
9/3: Kutter Crawford (4.12 ERA / 4.67 FIP) vs David Peterson (2.83 ERA / 4.25 FIP)
9/4: Tanner Houck (3.12 ERA / 3.34 FIP) vs Tylor Megill (4.82 ERA / 3.88 FIP)
Where and When to Watch/Listen
9/2: 7:10 PM ET on WEEI, NESN, and MLB Network (out of area)
9/3: 7:10 PM ET on WEEI, NESN, and TBS
9/4: 7:10 PM ET on WEEI and NESN