Red Sox in 1st? What?!

Hello Red Sox fans!

Now that summer has arrived, I will be able to post much more often here!
Today, I bring you the news that may astound you or surprise you, but that we all love.
That's right, the Red Sox, last year's last-place team in the AL East, are in first by a 1.5-game margin over the New York Yankees!

Mike Napoli has proven to be an exceptional offseason pickup for the Red Sox, and a bargain at $5 million for this year. Napoli leads the Sox with 20 doubles and a total of 30 extra-base hits while performing admirably in the 5-spot.

David Ortiz, meanwhile, finally recovered from his Achilles injury and has quickly returned to his position atop Boston batters, as he leads the BoSox in home runs and RBI. A few days ago, he crushed a walk-off three-run homer, as Dustin Pedroia was intentionally walked to face Ortiz. Papi made the Texas Rangers pay for that decision, smashing a long drive into the Red Sox bullpen for the walk-off win. Overall, the Red Sox batting has been a lot better than expected, as they have provided excellent run support for the pitching staff, who have also been outstanding in contributing to this Red Sox season.

Everyone assumed that Clay Buchholz's 6-0 start was just a fluke, that he would give up some runs and lose a few games later on in the early part of the season. However, thus far he has shown that his brilliant performances are here to stay, as he has since improved to 9-0, tied for the Major League lead in wins and leading the league with a 1.71 ERA. Meanwhile, Andrew Bailey has posted a 1.47 ERA this year, coming back excellently from a terrible year last year. John Lackey's return from Tommy John surgery went much better than expected, as I was surprised to see him do so well in the early part of the season; Lackey currently owns a 2.79 ERA for Boston. And of course, the Red Sox bullpen has been a powerful force, with Alex Wilson, Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara all owning ERAs under 2.60 in relief for Boston.

I am extremely pleased and surprised to see the Red Sox in such a position, as they are coming back from a terrible year last year and performing at an excellent level. I hope they can keep up their performance and continue winning; if the bullpen keeps performing so well, the Sox will have no problem coming up with wins. Furthermore, the starting pitching has been great, and the BoSox hitters have provided plenty of run support, so the Sox find themselves in good shape in early June. Go Sox!