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Red Sox peaking at the perfect moment
- Updated: September 20, 2016
BALTIMORE — They were coming off a four-game sweep of the Yankees, their ancient rivals, all but knocking them out of the race. That alone would have been enough to make the first-place Red Sox vulnerable to an emotional hangover once the adrenaline wore off.
Then there was physical weariness. It’s late in the longest season anyway, compounded by the fact that the series finale was a natural for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. That meant the traveling party didn’t arrive at its Inner Harbor hotel until around 4 a.m. ET on Monday.
Oh, yeah, and they weren’t catching a cream puff opponent, either. When the Red Sox players got to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, they faced an Orioles team that lurked closer than any division contender, just three games off the pace in the American League East. It was just a week ago, in fact, that the O’s invaded Fenway Park and won two out of three.
Final score: Red Sox 5, Orioles 2.
To play deep into the postseason, maybe even win it all, requires a combination of factors. Talent, of course. Momentum. Good pitching and timely hitting. A little bit of luck. Plus a certain intangible, often overlooked, quality: Grit.
Baseball teams tend to develop a personality as the season progresses. The Red Sox are starting to take on the look of club with the sort of steely toughness that plays big in October.
And it’s not just that they won their fifth straight Monday, despite all the factors that increased the degree of difficulty, behind a complete game four-hitter from 21-game winner Rick Porcello and two-run homers by Mookie Betts and David Ortiz.
In sweeping the Yankees, the Sox won three of the games after overcoming a deficit of at least three runs. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time since 1961 the …
