News and notes from around Red Sox Nation.
You may not have realized it if you just tuned into the game yesterday and missed the online chatter, but believe it or not the Red Sox and Angels engaged in a little tussle yesterday. The funny thing, though, is that it happened before the game, with the principal figure being not a player but Sox first base coach Jose Flores. While everyone involved has downplayed the affair, with Alex Cora insisting it was “just baseball talk,” the word is that the incident was sparked by the Angels’ belief that Flores was stealing signs. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
Given the way they absolutely pounded Lucas Giolito yesterday, it looked it was the Angels who knew what pitches were coming. But Giolito isn’t making any excuses or accusations. He knows how bad he was. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
This is hardly the first time the Sox have been involved in a little dust-up about sign-stealing (lets face it: every team is involved in a little dust-up about sign-stealing every now and again). The last one involved accusations flying between the Red Sox and Yankees. The blood rivals will meet once again this weekend, though it may already be too late for the Sox to catch the Yankees for the division. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Perhaps the fact that the Sox sniped Rookie of the Year candidate Carlos Narvaez from the Yankees will add a little spice to this weekend’s series. Though, if it weren’t for the Yankees, Narvaez might not be a baseball player at all right now — they were the only team to show any interest in him as an amateur out of Venezuela. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)
Ceddanne Rafaela is no longer a rookie, and he didn’t perform nearly as well as Narvaez is when he was. But he’s still a young player making his way in the game. And with underlying metrics suggesting that he’s been unlucky with the bat to go along with his stellar defense, he could be on the verge of a breakout. (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)