Red Sox 8, Dodgers 1: This is how they wrote it

It was the plan from the beginning, it took only 91 games for him to come in.

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Eduardo Rodriguez dominates for seven innings, allowing only one point.

The offensive tears Fenway Park, led by homers from Rafael Devers, Christian Vazquez and Xander Bogaerts.

And the Red Sox face one of the best baseball players and have a better appearance than their opponent.

All of this was exposed in what would be Sox's message sending, an 8-1 win over the Dodgers on Friday night. (For a full summary, click here.)

Before the match, it was enough to speak. But, as Alex Cora pointed out, we have to start somewhere.

"We can play much better, everyone knows it," said the Red Sox manager. "I think it was the coolest thing in the star game, how many people in this clubhouse still believe in us. I do not know if they really like it or not, but they let us know how good we are.I forgot the three guys who were part of the coaching staff, the players reminded us, so that was the good thing about the match of the stars. "

At least for the first match of the all-star break, the discussion became an action, unfolding against the team that many believe to be the best to beat in baseball this season.

The biggest undeniable dish in this springboard game was Rodriguez. As Alex Speier points out, This outing marked the third time the southpaw had seven innings in his last six starts, which is his total of the previous 65. He also reached a career high with 22 swings and misses.

If last year's World Series 4 match against those same Dodgers was seen as the moment, suggesting that Rodriguez was ready to take another step in his career, his legs finally officially moved at his meeting against Los Angeles.

And then there are the bats.

Since that first match in London, the Red Sox have averaged more than eight points per game, scoring fewer than six out of nine attempts. This is probably not a coincidence if the race coincides a bit with the fact that Devers is getting in second place in the batting order, the third base player comes in with three hits sure this time. In striking point # 2, the batting average of the Devers is now 0.448 (26-in-58).

The atmosphere was different from the one we attended at Fenway this season. In the stands and on the field. During one night – partly thanks to the blue and gray uniforms on the visitors' side – we had the impression that 2018 was again.