NEW YORK — It would be an exaggeration even beyond the wide hyperbolic range of a sportswriter to call Chris Sale’s season so far an outright disaster.
A disaster would be if his $145 million left shoulder had started barking in Fort Myers, or his fastball velocity had declined rather than ascended as April turned to May and May now to June.
He’s pitching pretty well, mostly. That is not a disaster. But his won-lost record — now 1-7 after he gave up four runs in six innings in the Red Sox’ 4-1 loss to the first-place Yankees on Friday night — has officially become alarming, and I will not judge you if you choose to use any more colorful adjectives that come to mind.