The Red Sox extended their losing streak at Yankee Stadium.
The New York Yankees no longer reside in the House that Ruth built but the Boston Red Sox remain haunted by their endeavors to the current stadium as much as they were during a decades-long curse that tortured the franchise.
The lopsided schedule of this shortened 2020 season has forced the Red Sox to play seven of their 10 games against the Yankees on the road. Boston has already lost all seven games in the Bronx, culminating in an embarrassing four-game set in which they were outscored 31-13.
How fitting that the scores tallied by both sides are mirror images of each other as both clubs trend in opposite directions. The first-place Yankees storming their way toward a division title while the Red Sox toil away in the basement of the American League.
The Bronx Bombers rolled through the Red Sox pitching staff despite missing the three best hitters in their lineup. Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton skipped this series while recovering on the injured list and DJ LeMahieu joined them after hurting his thumb in the second game of the series. The Yankees B-lineup had plenty of firepower to punish the pitiful Red Sox pitchers.
Boston’s starting rotation has been hit hard with injury and illness ruling out their two best pitchers for the season but the Yankees haven’t missed a beat despite suffering more than their fair share of injuries to key players over the last two seasons. New York has the depth to overcome these adversities while the Red Sox have crumbled.
Getting swept by the Yankees extended the losing streak against their greatest rival to 10 games dating back to last season. Boston’s last victory over the Yankees was September 6 of last year, the opener of a four-game set at Fenway Park. They would lose the next three games to fall 18.5 games behind the Yankees in the division and eight games out in the Wild Card race, crushing their chances of making a late run for a playoff spot.
This is the first time since the 1952-53 seasons that the Red Sox have lost 10 in a row against the Yankees. Ted Williams missed the majority of those two seasons while serving in the Korean War. The 1950s was a miserable decade for the Red Sox so any connection to that dismal era is unfortunate.
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The stretch of futility has been even worse in Yankee Stadium. The Red Sox have lost 11 straight road games against the Yankees and 15 of their last 16 in the Bronx. Boston hasn’t won a series in New York since the 2018 ALDS. Yankee Stadium has been their own personal house of horrors ever since.
Boston is currently riding an eight-game losing streak after getting swept by the Yankees and Rays. They are tied with Seattle for the most losses in the majors with 17 and only Pittsburgh (.222) owns a lower winning percentage than Boston’s .261 mark.
By opening the season 6-17, the Red Sox have equaled their worst 23-game stretch since the ill-fated Bobby Valentine season in 2012. Are we sure that Ron Roenicke isn’t actually Bobby V in disguise? Valentine has been known for such tricks. Fine, maybe the current manager hasn’t been quite that bad. Roenicke appears overwhelmed, unable to spark his floundering team, guide them out of their slumps or manage an undermanned pitching staff. He may have lost the clubhouse but at least the players don’t appear to despise him enough to mutiny. See, we have survived worse!
Survive, that’s all the Red Sox can hope to do when they visit Yankee Stadium. The best thing we can say about 2020 is that they are done making trips to New York this season.