Chris Sale, the forever optimist.
The Boston Red Sox pitcher usually carries himself with a great attitude, but that trait has intensified since he returned to the mound following a lengthy two-year recovery from Tommy John surgery — even despite the slump the Red Sox have been in since around the All-Star break.
“Oddly enough, I do, I think we’re in a great place,” Sale on Monday told “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria” during the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Telethon.
“We have not played well in the second half, I don’t think there’s any way around that. You can’t crunch really any number without saying that. That being said, look where we’re at after that.”
He makes a point.
Boston is 16-19 in the second half of the season, but somehow, hasn’t lost enough ground in the division to fall out of the playoff race entirely.
After Sale, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez called a players-only meeting ahead of the Red Sox’s game against the Texas Rangers, their teammates responded, winning on an extra-inning grand slam after losing a ninth-inning lead.
After that much-needed victory Monday, the Red Sox sit within 2 1/2 games of the second-place New York Yankees in the American League East, and sit in the AL’s second Wild Card spot as things stand.
“We haven’t been playing well and we’re still in the hunt, we’re still in the thick of this thing,” Sale continued. “And, you know, the fact that people might not think we can do it? Well, get in line, you know? It’s been like that since spring training. We’ve been told we were dog crap for a while, so it’s nothing new. And the pressures of playing in Boston, it’s inescapable. You can’t hide from it, you can’t go anywhere so why pay attention to it?”
The Red Sox did overcome odds in the beginning of the season with their record out of the gate, fueled perhaps by a chip on their shoulder with many preseason projections counting Boston out.
“I don’t think we lost that chip,” Sale insisted. “We play 162 games, it doesn’t matter if you lose the last 10, the first 10 or the middle 10. Losing 10 games is losing 10 games and I don’t think that we should be wrapped up on when we’re playing bad. We just need to find a way to get out of the rut. The whole thing to playing good baseball and getting out of ruts is exactly that. When you go through the downtimes how quickly can you get out of that? … Playing bad now, it’s just we’re just closer to the end so the feeling is a little bit different. But it’s no different at all, you know? The percentages, the numbers, everything is the exact same. We just have to get back on what we were doing before and riding that good wave. Having the confidence, having the energy and not losing the pitch.”
They don’t have much time to get back on track though, as the Red Sox have 36 games left in the regular season to make a push.
It all starts Tuesday night with a series opener against the Minnesota Twins.
