Editor's note: The temperature gauge is a Bill James-created statistic that measures how hot or cold hitters are. We will spotlight Red Sox and opposing team temperatures on game days.
Pedro Ciriaco has been tearing the cover off the ball lately.
OK, he hasn't literally been dismantling baseballs, but you can bet that if Bobby Valentine asked the utilityman to do just that, he'd be more than willing — that's the type of team-first player Ciriaco has been all season. The Sox are obviously better off with Ciriaco plugged into the lineup, though.
After going 3-for-5 with a home run on Sunday, Ciriaco is 17-for-35 (.486) over his last eight games, showing the Red Sox may have something in the 26-year-old Dominican. In fact, he's been exceptional this entire season. He leads American League qualifiers with both a .360 clip (49-for-136) since his July 7 call-up and a .373 mark (25-for-67) in August.
Here are the Red Sox and Royals temperatures for Monday, Aug. 27.
Red Sox
Pedro Ciriaco, 95
Dustin Pedroia, 92
Jacoby Ellsbury, 82
Mike Aviles, 81
Scott Podsednik, 80
Mauro Gomez, 80
Cody Ross, 77
David Ortiz, 71
Jose Iglesias, 68
Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 67
James Loney, 64
Ryan Lavarnway, 60
Royals
Eric Hosmer, 79
Alcides Escobar, 78
Alex Gordon, 76
Tony Abreu, 73
Jarrod Dyson, 72
Brayan Pena, 70
Salvador Perez, 69
Mike Moustakas, 64
Johnny Giavotella, 62
Billy Butler, 61
Lorenzo Cain, 53
Jeff Francoeur, 49
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