Almost Back On The Bandwagon

Shank's pretending to like the Red Sox again, albeit with a few caveats:

NEW YORK — Things did not get off to a swell start for your Boston Red Sox in the first game of their showdown series with the Yankees on Friday.

New York’s Baby Bombers rained four homers on the heads of the Sox en route to an 8-1 victory that vaulted the Yankees back into first place (mere percentage points; it is a virtual tie) in a division race that is shaping up as one of the greatest chases in the history of the sport.

There's a brief showing of halfwit cleverness:

There is no shortage of hype for this midseason meeting — the rumble in the asphalt jungle of The Bronx. The folks from Fox will telecast the Saturday night game across the land — hello Chris Sale — and then we’ll get ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball with A-Rod and Jess Mendoza, as David Price returns to the Apple for the first time in more than 3½ fortnights.

Fortnite? Get it? I thought Shank liked Price - what gives?

Throw in a Shankism or two:

The Sox, who came into the series with a 55-27 record, presumably spent the first four innings of Friday’s loss asking one another, “Why aren’t we ahead, 9-1 yet? Is this supposed to be competitive? Why can’t we go back to playing the Angels and Orioles every day?’’

It’s always weird when the Tomato Can is in your own kitchen.

New York jumped to a 1-0 lead in the second when rookie flash Gleyber Torres smoked a leadoff triple off the center-field wall. Spiderman Jackie Bradley Jr. almost made another spectacular catch, then narrowly missed nailing Torres with a heat-seeking throw to third. A price was paid when Miguel Andujar dumped the next pitch into a no-man’s zone in shallow right-center. The ball plopped on the grass in the middle of four Sox defenders and one couldn’t help but think that Dustin Pedroia might have had a chance. Eduardo Nunez? Not so much.

Shank conveniently forgets / omits that the infield was pulled in because Torres was at third base. No one was getting that ball. He's just being dishonest in order to criticize the Sox infield / be an asshole.

Far be it from me to critique any personnel moves by the Sox, but Pearce has effectively replaced Hanley Ramirez in the Sox offense, right?

He's going to harp on that one for the rest of the season, isn't he?

And to top it all of, we have, ladies and gentleman, a Larry Bird sighting!

The roof fell in on Rodriguez in the fourth when Andujar and Greg Bird (wearing No. 33, which is not an homage to Larry)

No need to read further, folks...