Is this it?
Have the Red Sox finally returned to the “good times never seemed so good” days?
There were positive vibes all over the ballyard when the Sox pantsed the Yankees, 15-5, Friday. After Saturday’s rainout, I suspended my chronic skepticism and returned to Fenway for Sunday’s day-night doubleheader with the once-vaunted Bronx Bombers.
And the Red Sox won both, taking the day game, 6-2, then winning at night, 4-1 — both after falling behind in the first inning. These last-place Red Sox have come from behind in 23 of their 37 victories.
They have five straight wins after Monday night’s 9-3 rout of the Twins and have beaten the Yankees five out of six times. They are suddenly within a half-game of vaulting out of their American League East basement apartment. If George Steinbrenner were still alive, he’d have fired Aaron Boone for what the Sox did to the Yanks the last two weekends.
Your last-place Sox at this hour are the daddies of the the 2023 Yankees. They have exposed them on national television. Sunday’s twin kill marked Boston’s first doubleheader sweep of the Yankees at Fenway since July 31, 1976. That’s back in the days when Don Zimmer was managing, Bob Montgomery was backup catching, and Jim Rice was a second-year slugger.
I asked weary Boston manager Alex Cora if he had any sense that his team was finally turning things around.
“We played well against them last weekend and we’ve played well against them this year,” stated Cora. “We’ve played well against the division [13-11] except for one team [1-7 vs. Tampa Bay]. We haven’t done well against the National League [11-15], which is weird. Now we go on the road and we’ll see how it goes.”
Playing the Yankees without Aaron Judge (broken toe) certainly changed things. New York’s lineup is powerless without the reigning MVP. The Yankees rank 14th in the majors in runs and hit only .205 in their first batch of games without Judge. Giancarlo Stanton — did he really hit 59 homers in a single season? — strikes out more than Jaylen Brown turns the ball over, DJ LeMahieu looks to be in steep decline, Anthony Rizzo is in a deep slump, and former MVP Josh Donaldson is done.
The Yankee outfield for Sunday’s ESPN special was Jake Bauers (.235), Billy McKinney (.286), and Oswaldo Cabrera (.190). That’s not exactly Maris in right, Mantle in center, and Berra in left.
Speaking of the Worldwide Leader, it was strange to hear Cora complain about back-to-back national television games against the Yankees.
“I think it’s too much sometimes,” Cora said Friday. “Back-to-back Sunday night games? With all due respect to ESPN, come on. There’s other teams out there and people want to watch them.”
Yeesh. Since when did Cora become Adrián González? Are the Sox really in a position to be pushing national networks away from Fenway?
The national exposure came at a good time for the heretofore struggling Sox. Folks watching ESPN saw Boston with good pitching, two-out hitting, and more than adequate defense. They must be thinking: Why is the Boston market so critical of this team? They look pretty darned good against these no-name Yankees.
A word about Sox righty Brayan Bello. He is pretty clearly the best pitcher developed by the Red Sox since Clay Buchholz. Or Jon Lester, if you want to declare Bello better than Buchholz. Bello just turned 24 and there is every indication he is going to be a top-end rotation guy. He stuffed the Yanks on one run Sunday, fanning eight and lasting an unthinkable in 2023 seven innings. He’s 4-4 with a 3.49 ERA and gives Sox fans hope for a future without more Corey Kluber signings.
In his last nine starts, Bello is 4-3 with a 2.60 ERA, and the Sox have won six of the nine games. Bello has pitched seven full innings in three of his last five starts.
Please remind your Bloominati friends that Bello was signed as an international free agent by the Dave Dombrowski administration. Hard-luck Chaim gets no credit.
That said, it should be noted Bloom and his young son joined Red Sox ballpark staff in the expedited, exhaustive Fenway cleanup between games of the doubleheader. ESPN ran video of Boston’s front office work detail, a beautiful teaching moment on Father’s Day.
The baseball gods seem to have rewarded the gesture, finally showering some hope on the 2023 Red Sox.
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.