Oh, sure, there are scattered causes for optimism, indications of genuine progress, hopeful developments to cling to as the days dwindle on the competitive portion of the Red Sox season.
Jarren Duran, with his 42 doubles, 32 stolen bases, 20 home runs, and 13 triples — the only player ever to reach those benchmarks in a single season — is having a historic season in a very specific way. Not too shabby for a guy some of us (hi there, it’s me) thought was the quintessential Quadruple A player back in March.
Rafael Devers has casually and consistently walloped his way to a career-best OPS (.