Boston Red Sox players are determined to feed off of each other in order to boost themselves collectively.
Nathan Eovaldi revealed Tuesday during his appearance on the WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon how a players-only meeting already is impacting the Red Sox. The squad assembled Monday prior to their matchup with the Texas Rangers and vowed to play and support each other enthusiastically during games. That re-invigorated approach was clear to see during Boston's thrilling 8-4 win over the Rangers, which featured the Red Sox falling behind in extra innings only to come back successfully from the brink of defeat.
"The biggest thing was bringing the energy," Eovaldi said of the meeting. "A lot of the guys in the dugout, especially now with the iPads and stuff down in there, everyone's re-watching their at-bats or re-watching the pitching. We stay a little quiet in the dugout.
"Yesterday we were loud, we were rowdy, kept the energy up in the dugout. As the hitters will tell you, they like that support from us. That we're watching the game, that we're in there. If the umpire makes a bad call, we're yelling at him. He (the batter) takes a good swing, we're encouraging him. So it gives him that good feedback going back out there to running out balls, making the defense make errors, doing the little things right."
The Red Sox are third in the American League East standings, 6 1/2 games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays and four games behind the second-place New York Yankees.
With Boston firmly in the hunt for one of the AL's five playoff spots, its games only will become more meaningful going forward. Perhaps that's why Eovaldi and his teammates now are stressing the importance of prioritizing collective support over individual improvement during each game.
