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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 28, 2023 4:31:58 GMT -5
Dan Shaughnessy reposted John Tomase @jtomase · 13h Sean McDonough didn't mince words on WEEI broadcast after Mookie Betts homered. "It's a trade that can never be defended and a stain that will never be erased, the trade of Mookie Betts by the Red Sox."
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 28, 2023 4:35:06 GMT -5
Matt McCarthy @mattmccarthy985 · 10h Mookie Betts this weekend: 7-for-15, 5 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI. Played right field and second base.
Leads the NL in slugging and OPS. Leads baseball in WAR. Could very well win NL MVP.
Doing it all in Dodger Blue.
Dan Shaughnessy @dan_Shaughnessy · 10h True, but Sox have payroll flexibility
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 28, 2023 4:36:55 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 14h Amed Rosario, who runs well, at second base, two outs and Outman singles to right. Throw goes through, far too late and Outman takes second.
Roughly the 800th time the Sox have done that this season. Run didn't score, but they need to clean that stuff up.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Aug 28, 2023 4:40:35 GMT -5
Mookie Betts takes care of business in return to Fenway Park and shows Red Sox exactly what they’re missing By Peter Abraham Globe Staff,Updated August 27, 2023, 7:34 p.m.
This was Friday afternoon, before all the standing ovations and people screaming his name when he popped his head out of the dugout.
“I want to take care of business,” Mookie Betts said. “We’re here to take care of business.”
Easy to say, much harder to do. But there Betts was Sunday, shaking hands with his Dodgers teammates after a 7-4 victory that gave them a series win against a Red Sox team desperately fighting to stay in contention for a postseason berth.
Betts was 3 for 5 Sunday with a two-run homer. He finished the series 7 for 15 with three extra-base hits, five runs, and four RBIs.
“Man, he’s a pro. He does a great job of compartmentalizing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s fun when you have expectations for a superstar and he delivers.”
Dressed in matching blue sweatsuits, the Dodgers left Fenway Park at 80-49 and with victories in 21 of their last 25 games.
Betts and first baseman Freddie Freeman played off each other like basketball teammates, pressuring the Red Sox by getting on base 17 times in 30 plate appearances and scoring eight runs.
Freeman has 50 doubles with 33 games left to play, a record for the Dodgers since they moved to Los Angeles. Betts has a 1.328 OPS since Aug. 1 and has already scored 110 runs.
“They dominate a game,” Sox manager Alex Cora said. “Freddie has been locked in and Mookie is getting on base. It’s instant offense it seems like in two pitches.”
Betts doesn’t see it as anything unusual.
“Maybe it’s because my expectations of Freddie are so high,” he said. “I really don’t pay attention. We’re just trying to make something happen. It’s kind of what we do.”
Betts hammered a hanging slider from Chris Murphy into the Monster Seats in the sixth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Then in the bottom of the inning, he chased down a line drive to right field to take a potential extra-base hit away from Trevor Story.
It would have made sense to walk Betts in the eighth inning with a runner on third and one out. But with Freeman on deck, the Sox had little choice but to pitch to him. Betts took a strike from Murphy then lined a fastball into center field for a single. That gave him 93 RBIs — as a leadoff hitter.
For all the handshakes and hugs this weekend, Betts was a cold-blooded terminator between the lines.
“Obviously, the emotions are there. I let them come but I also let them go,” he said before recalling a conversation with the late Kobe Bryant about how best to put your feelings aside in such situations. “He kind of explained that to me and I kind of put it into my repertoire.”
Even Roberts, who once stole a base at Fenway Park with the season on the line, marveled at how well Betts handled his first series in Boston since being traded in February 2020.
“It’s remarkable how he was able to be accessible but not be overwhelmed as far as the people that he had to see and obligations and still focus on the job at hand,” Roberts said. “It’s not easy to do. I’m sure he’s going to sleep well tonight. I’m sure he’s physically and emotionally exhausted.”
Betts was quick to leave the visitor’s clubhouse after the game to spend a little more time with some friends before heading back to Los Angeles.
His return to Fenway went better than he could have expected.
“I kind of had some closure and I’m glad I got it,” Betts said.
The Dodgers aren’t due back at Fenway until 2025. Betts could well have another World Series ring or two by that time. Maybe another MVP.
Clear-eyed Red Sox fans already understood what a terrible mistake it was to lose Betts. After this weekend, how could anyone not?
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