Red Sox vs. Yankees lineups: Char Cole on a summer Sunday? Yes please

The Red Sox go for the sweep against Gerrit Cole and the Yankees this afternoon at Fenway Park (1:10 p.m., NESN, TBS) and is there any combination of words you’d rather read on a beautiful Sunday morning? There’s certainly no combo I’d rather write. Let us bask. Especially before the game starts. Cole vs. Eduardo Rodriguez is a tough one for our boys, no matter how you slice it.

Yes, the numbers say E-Rod has gotten unlucky and yes, Cole was caught in the maelstrom of the Spider Tack affair. It makes no difference for the facts on the ground, which are that Cole is still very good and Rodriguez is struggling. But also these Yankees like to shoot themselves in the legs at every opportunity and such a lopsided advantage in their favor seems like just the time for them to roll out their next listless performance. I’m certainly excited to see what they can(‘t) do.

The Sox roll out a version of a Sunday lineup, but all the main dudes are there, as is Christian Vázquez. I think this is just another way of saying that both Marwin Gonzalez and Danny Santana are playing, but they’re batting at the very bottom of the lineup, so perhaps it’s not all bad. Kiké Hernández leads off. The Yankees apparently love releasing their lineups very late, which I always take as the sign of a desperate team. Stay desperate, my friends!