Playing nine innings while realizing that Chris Sale is a great teammate in every way but the most important one …
1. I don’t know if the Red Sox won the trade deadline. But they sure didn’t lose it, despite reactions and overreactions beginning at, oh, 4:01 p.m. on July 31. (Consider this a guilty plea, but some deserve far longer sentences than I do.) Since finally making his injury-delayed start with the Sox, Kyle Schwarber has been an on-base machine(.406 OBP, .863 OPS) and he’s someone you want at the plate late in the game (he owns a .