To say they are polar extremes would not be an exaggeration.
The Red Sox own the best record in the majors at 59-29. They have won eight of their past 10 and 10 of their past 13. They are 30 games over .500 for the first since they ended the 2013 season 32 games above.
Boston leads the American League with 463 runs and has outscored its opponents by 130 runs.
On the flip side, the Royals have lost six straight, 18 of 21 and 25 of 30. They are 25-61 and are 36 games below .500 for the first time since ending the 2006 season 62-100.
Kansas City ranks last in the American League with 297 runs and has been outscored by 167 runs.
“We didn’t have opportunities to manufacture runs,” manager Ned Yost told reporters after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians. “We had opportunities with runners in scoring position that we couldn’t capitalize on. And that’s been a major problem for us all year long.”
The Red Sox are 31-17 on the road. The Royals have lost 12 of their last 13 games at Kauffman Stadium and their 11-32 home record is the worst in the majors.
The Royals have not scored more than four runs in 25 of their last 26 games. They have failed to collect double-figure hits in 25 of their last 26 games and are batting .191 with 55 runs in that stretch.
And who do the Royals face in the opener of this series?
None other than dominant left-hander Chris Sale, who leads the American League with 164 strikeouts and is averaging 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents own a .179 batting average versus Sale (8-4, 2.41 ERA).
“He looks like the best pitcher in the big leagues right now,” Boston manager Alex Cora said.
Sale, who ranks among the league leaders in overall ERA, owns a 2.32 road ERA and a 2.45 night ERA. He enters the game having not allowed a run in his past 15 innings. Sale is 3-1 with a 1.03 ERA in his past five starts after striking out and allowing a first-inning single to Giancarlo Stanton in seven dominant innings in an 11-0 win at Yankee Stadium over the New York Yankees on Saturday.
“He was outstanding again,” Cora said. “Fastball command and off-speed pitches, it was a great performance.”
Sale is 10-10 with a 2.92 ERA in 33 career appearances Authentic Austin Corbett Jersey , 22 starts, against Kansas City. He held the Royals to two runs and five hits while walking two and striking out six over seven innings in a no-decision on May 1 at Fenway Park. Sale is 2-0 with a 2.87 ERA in his last four starts in Kansas City, striking out 34 and walking five.
The Royals will counter with right-hander Jason Hammel, who is 2-10 with a 5.56 ERA. He is tied for the AL lead in losses and has yielded 15 runs in his last two starts. He is 0-5 with a 4.33 ERA in seven home starts this season.
Against the Red Sox, Hammel is 3-4 with a 5.13 ERA in 16 career appearances, nine of them starts. He dropped a 10-6 decision on April 30 to Boston, allowing eight runs on eight hits, including a pair of home runs, and three walks over 4 2/3 innings.
While Sale was the AL Pitcher of the Month for June, Hammel went 0-5 with a 6.43 ERA in six starts last month after ending May with back-to-back victories.
Hammel’s biggest challenge will be Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. They rank 1-2 in the majors in slugging percentage with Betts at .669 and Martinez .642.
Betts has 21 home runs and a .338 batting average. Martinez is hitting .327 with a major league-best 26 home runs, which is more than any Boston player hit in 2017.
Betts also hit three homers at Fenway Park on May 2 and went 4-for-4 in that game.
鈥?A rare losing season without a playoff appearance led to significant front office changes for the Green Bay Packers.A new structure is in place at the top of the front-office flow chart, and new general manager Brian Gutekunst is signaling that the Packers might be a little more aggressive in free agency.The “draft-and-develop” philosophy will still be the foundation of the way that Green Bay builds the roster, Gutekunst said Monday at his introductory news conference at Lambeau Field.“But I do think I will lead in my own personality and probably a little bit more aggressive in certain areas Uchenna Nwosu Jersey ,” said Gutekunst, formerly Green Bay’s player personnel director.“We’re not going to leave any stone unturned as far as every avenue of player acquisition.”Predecessor Ted Thompson is now a senior advisor following a 13-year tenure highlighted by the Super Bowl-winning 2010 season.The Packers went to four NFC title games and won six NFC North crowns under his watch.Thompson also took heat from some vocal fans for being timid in free agency, especially at a time when two-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers is still in his prime at age 34.The defense did not improve over the past four seasons despite being stocked with high draft picks.Thompson had the titles of executive vice president, general manger & director of football operations 鈥?positions that will now be held by different executives under the structural change initiated by team president/CEO Mark Murphy.“It’s very difficult for one person to handle all of those responsibilities, so really looking at it, I decided it would be in the best long-term interests of the organization to change the structure,” said Murphy, who oversaw the GM search.Gutekunst, 44, will have complete control over roster decisions as general manager.Coach Mike McCarthy, who is under contract through 2019 after receiving a one-year extension during the season, will now report directly to Murphy. He will have the authority to hire and fire the head coach.Russ Ball, the team’s salary cap expert and chief contract negotiator Zack Martin Jersey , was promoted to executive vice president/director of football operations after serving as vice president of football administration/player finance. Ball, who interviewed for the GM job, will also report directly to Murphy.Murphy said he decided to make the change during a broad re-evaluation sparked by the GM search. He hoped that lines of communication would improve in order to break down “silos” that had built up over the years.“I just felt like there were too many silos in football, whether that be coaching and personnel, the college and the pro side, and breaking down those silos” was necessary, Murphy said.Murphy is the highest-ranking administrator on a team without a traditional owner 鈥?the Packers are the NFL’s only publicly-owned franchise. In times when there might be close calls, Murphy would cast a tiebreaking vote.“But I hope it never gets to that,” Murphy said. “That’ll be the goal, is that we can work together and through good communication we’ll all be on the same page.”He has more football experience than the average team president, having played safety under Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs for the Washington Redskins.Also a lawyer, Murphy had extensive experience in sports administration before becoming Packers president/CEO in 2007, including athletic director stints at Northwestern and Colgate.Entering his 20th season with the Packers Uchenna Nwosu Youth Jersey , Gutekunst is also a football lifer, but on the personnel side. He spent the past two seasons as player personnel director. He also oversaw college scouting for four years, and worked 11 seasons as a regional college scout in the talent-rich Southeast.Gutekunst got his start in Green Bay as a scouting intern in the summer of 1997, spent most of 1998 as a scouting assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs before returning to the Packers for good when then-GM and Hall of Famer Ron Wolf hired him as a scout on Dec. 30, 1998.Gutekunst had interviewed for other GM openings in recent years. In fact, he got the call from Murphy offering him the Packers’ job while on a trip over the weekend to Houston to interview for the Texans’ vacancy.The interview with the Packers on Friday ended up being his last one.“I let Mark know on Friday that this was my dream job, that I absolutely love this place,” Gutekunst said.Interjected Murphy: “You didn’t tell your agent that.”It all worked out in the end.“I’m really glad that it came to where we are now,” said Gutekunst, as his wife and children watched from the front row of the auditorium.The Packers also interviewed director-football operations Eliot Wolf, who is the son of the former GM and friends with Gutekunst; and former Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley.Gutekunst said he hoped that he could keep Wolf as his “right-hand man”, but wouldn’t hold him back if other opportunities arose..
