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DAN SHAUGHNESSY

For David Price, the key to winning hearts is winning big games

David Price was showered with affection at Fenway last Sunday night when he shut out the Yankees for eight innings.Michael Dwyer/AP

ANAHEIM, Calif. — David Price is halfway through his second season with the Red Sox and we still don’t know what to make of him.

Is Price an overpaid, thin-skinned, prima donna ill-suited for Boston baseball? Or is he the Red Sox’ secret weapon destined to establish his value and earn fans’ love with a strong 2017 finish and (gulp) postseason glory? We’re pretty sure Price hates Boston, but could he yet emerge as a rich man’s John Lackey? Could Price wind up being a guy who delivers the goods even though he hates Boston with the power of a thousand suns?

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We don’t get much from the source anymore. Price has thus far honored the pledge he made in June when he said he’d only talk on the days he pitched. Since his clubhouse media meltdown in New York on June 7, Price has offered little of depth or substance in his uncomfortable postgame interview sessions. Always Available David has morphed into a 2017 Badass Beckett.

On June 30, Price compounded his Yankee Stadium misbehavior with a preposterous verbal attack on NESN analyst and Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley. This was done on a team charter flight. Price explained that he was merely sticking up for teammates, adding, “Whatever crap I catch for that, I’m fine with it.’’

All the nonsense, coupled with Price’s longstanding playoff underachievement (including a stink bomb with the Sox in Cleveland last October), make Price an easy and worthy target of fans and bloodthirsty media.

Ultimately, of course, it doesn’t matter what Price says or how he feels — certainly not until he has a chance to opt out of his contract. What matters right now is what David Price can do for the Red Sox. And he’s definitely more of an asset than a liability.

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Price makes his 11th start of the season Saturday night against the Angels. Though he’s still not the David Price of Cy Young days, or the guy who commanded $217 million on the open market, Price has been good lately. While Chris Sale has emerged as the fan favorite/alpha dog of the Sox staff, Price has taken his humble place as the No. 2 starter. Think of him as baseball’s richest wing man.

Price vaulted into the Red Sox rotation May 29 after a three-month shutdown owed to elbow tenderness. In 10 starts he is 5-2 with a 3.39 ERA. Price overpowered the Yankees for eight innings in a nationally televised 3-0 win last Sunday night at Fenway. He fanned eight and walked none. He was showered with Fenway love when he punched out Matt Holliday to end the eighth. It was probably the best reception he’s had at Fenway.

Fortunately for Sox fans, this is more trend than aberration. In Price’s last three starts he is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.90, 22 strikeouts, and 4 walks. He has won 13 of his last 16 decisions and the Sox are 15-6 in his last 21 starts. Batters are hitting only .234 off him this season. In his Red Sox career, he’s 22-11 with a 3.87 ERA, and 286 strikeouts in 291 innings.

Despite all of this, Price still battles the perception that he is a failure in Boston. When Pablo Sandoval ($95 million, zero yield) was released this week I actually heard Price’s name lumped in with the likes of Panda, Carl Crawford, and Rusney Castillo.

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Please. While Price has not been what the Sox thought they were getting — and certainly not yet worthy of the money he’s making — he has been a good pitcher for the Red Sox. He won 17 games last year and led the major leagues in innings. And after the Tommy John scare from March, he has come back and pitched at a high level.

It is good news for the Red Sox rotation. For all of Boston’s problems (third base, eighth inning, lack of power), the Sox have more depth in their starting rotation than almost any other team. On a nightly basis, John Farrell sends a guy to the mound who is better than the other team’s starter. In Sale and Price, the Sox could have a 1-2 rotation punch on a par with Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez, who famously anchored the Curse-busting Red Sox of 2004.

The Sale-Price tandem more closely resembles the Roger Clemens-Bruce Hurst duo of 1986. Clemens went 24-4 that season, winning the MVP and Cy Young and leading the Sox to the World Series. The ’86 Rocket was even better than Sale has been this year. But at the end of ’86, Hurst — who missed significant time during the season because of a hamstring injury — had more bullets left and was the better pitcher. In a best-case scenario, this could be the unintended benefit of Price’s spring training injury.

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Price knows he’s no Pedro Martinez. He’s no Jon Lester. In Boston he’s not even John Lackey yet.

But if he wants to earn the love here, he doesn’t have to talk or smile or tweet or even be nice to the great Dennis Eckersley.

All he has to do is win in the playoffs.


Dan Shaughnessy can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com