Greg Plus Bello Equals Vibes As Sox-O's Goes Live

Of course, this being Fenway, the night couldn't go by without a Green Monster controversy. Carrabis went on a perfectly reasonable rant about replay review on Monster balls — specifically that a ball that ricochets off the wall and shoots STRAIGHT UP in the air should never, under any law of physics known to man, require a review to confirm it didn't clear the wall. He's right. It's been bugging him forever and it should bug everyone.

Jared Carrabis

@Jared_Carrabis

I've always been confused as to why replay would be necessary to determine that a ball off the Green Monster that shot directly up in the air was a home run or not. It is physically impossible for a ball off the wall to shoot straight up in the air. Boggles my mind every time.

Then Polar Pete reminded everyone why the Orioles are still dangerous. Alonso went up and over the Monster — 110.8 off the bat, 400 feet — to flip a 1-1 game and remind Sox fans that Baltimore's lineup doesn't really care about your coaching-pairing thesis when a guy that big is locked in.

Barstool Baseball

@StoolBaseball

POLAR PETE OVER THE MONSTER

That's the rub with a Red Sox team that's finally fun again. Duran is scorching, Wilyer and Masa are producing, IKF is somehow the heartbeat of the roster, and the Greg-Bello arrangement is paying off — but the AL East doesn't hand out anything for free, and Alonso just put a 400-foot exclamation point on it. The formula still works. It just has to survive the lineup on the other side.