July Becomes a Test Month for Red Sox

On June 1, I wrote a post here on Batter-up with Bruno entitle, "Red Sox need to bloom in June," which was the day after Boston salvaged a win in a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays. They ended the month of May with a 15-14 record.

Well, guess what Red Sox Nation? I think they read my post or something.

With the exception of Tuesday night's bullpen meltdown, Boston absolutely bloomed in the month of June. They finished with an 18-8 record and are 48-30 sitting on top of the American League East (currently 3.0 games above the New York Yankees who play later tonight against Seattle). 

The next step? Boston needs to finish strong before the All-Star Break. They got off on the right foot beating the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 in 11 innings to take the series. Now, they head back to Fenway to host the Seattle Mariners, Oakland Athletics (welcome back Nomah), and Kansas City Royals (welcome back Coco Crisp).

After the break the Sox have a tough road trip right off the bat going up to Toronto then Texas to face the Rangers who are currently a game and a half behind the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Boston has to focus and put its stretch faces on because it's not going to get any easier for them. July will be the test month (plus factoring in the trade deadline) and from there we'll know how good they really are as a club.