Remember Friday, prior to that first pitch at Yankee Stadium? There were doubts. There had to be.
Sure, you had a Red Sox team that was coming off a win in Houston. But prior to that there had been the kind of three losses that plant seeds of doubt brains throughout New England. And then there was the notion of playing in a place, the Bronx, you had lost 15 of your last 16 trips.
The Yankees weren't the be-all, end-all when it came to American League powerhouses heading into the three-game series, but they had shown some signs of living life as a legitimate contender. There was also the proclamation from Brett Gardner, suggesting the meeting between the teams meant a little bit more because some sort of contrived vitriol.
Three days later, it all seems so silly.
The Red Sox are legitimate. The Yankees, right now, are not. Three wins by Alex Cora's club -- culminating with Sunday night's 6-5, extra-inning victory -- defined that.
“I think we were talking about it a little bit early on in the series, pretty much before we came here," said Xander Bogaerts regarding Gardner's comments. "I think that’s when it came out, but once we were here there wasn’t much of that, like, ‘We gotta win tonight because he said this,' or, 'He said that.’ There wasn't any of that. As soon as it came out it was like, 'Oh, alright.'
You know. It was a real good series. We’ve been playing real good baseball. Tonight was really fun. Having fans back in the stadium just makes it so much better, and winning makes it much better. We could have been on the other end of that, and we would have had a sour flight. But we have a real happy flight. A lot of guys chipped in, and this is a completely team win, and a completely team win for the series. We had everyone in the lineup contribute this series.”
For these Red Sox, who sit a game out of first-place while the Yankees reside an uncomfortable 6 1/2 back, it wasn't just the scoreboard. It was also the images portrayed along the way.
By the time Bogaerts rifled his 10th-inning, two-out, two-run single into left-center field, it was almost like the hit was helping them say, "OK, we've seen enough here. Time to put them out of their misery. Let's go home."
Understand, just before in the ninth inning, Gleyber Torres' RBI double plated Aaron Judge to hand Matt Barnes just his second blown save. For one of the few times over the three days, there was genuine enthusiasm in the New York dugout and in the New York stands. It was something that Aaron Boone's team had been starved for after these series of game -- a simple glimmer of hope.
That glimmer when away fairly fast, with the three-day wave of Red Sox' optimism ultimately drowning the Yankees.
“We know we’re a good baseball club," Bogaerts said. "We know we have talented players on this team, and I think this was a good statement that we made coming in here and won these three games. We were down 3-1, but I think the best part of these last two wins is we came back from behind. It’s not the best thing that you want to do as a team, but knowing that you are able to do it and on the road in this place – I mean, I’ve been for a while. I know how crazy this place can get, as you saw in the ninth inning. These guys, you can never count them out. Being able to come back ..."
Let's finish that sentence ... meant the Red Sox were simply the better team.
In this case, guys like Marwin Gonzalez (2-run homer), Christian Arroyo (key run, sacrifice bunt) and Phillps Valdez (first career save) teamed to help offer the punctation for the Red Sox.
Make no mistake about, this is still an imperfect Red Sox team. That was put on display just a few days ago in Houston. But imperfection is a whole lot more palatable than desperation. Good news Sox fans, those Yankees have been cloaked in desperation.
All in all, it was a pretty good message sent by this Red Sox team.