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BOSTON — Had things worked out differently Drew Hutchison Jersey , Noah Syndergaard would be pitching four or five times a season against the Boston Red Sox.But on Dec. 12, 2012, the Toronto Blue Jays, in the American League East with Boston, included the former first-round draft pick in a mega deal to the New York Mets that brought defending Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey to Canada.Friday night, Syndergaard makes the second appearance of his major league career against Boston when he tries to cool off the sizzling Red Sox in the opener of a three-game series at Fenway Park.Article continues below ...Thursday night, the Red Sox finished off a three-game sweep of Syndergaard’s old team with a 4-3 win at Fenway, Boston’s 101st victory of this special season. They reduced their magic number for clinching the East to six over (the New York Yankees were idle Thursday).The Red Sox, who finished 15-4 against Toronto, are 101-46 and need just five wins in their last 15 games to break the franchise record for victories.J.D. Martinez hit his 41st homer and Craig Kimbrel earned his 40th save Thursday, making him the fourth pitcher with five 40-save seasons.Hector Velazquez, who has been an invaluable utility man on the Boston pitching staff, makes his eighth start of the season for the Red Sox. He is 2-2 with a 4.00 ERA as a starter, 7-2 with a 3.29 overall.In Syndergaard’s last start, he was hit in the ribs with a line drive to cap a game that saw him allow 12 hits and four runs while walking five and raising his record to 11-3 (3.44 ERA). The start before that, he pitched the first complete game of his career, a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts at San Francisco.He is 3-0 in his last four starts and brings a 4-3 record and 4.45 interleague ERA into the game.The Red Sox have reached the 100-win mark for only the fourth time in their history — the first time since 1946 (1912 and ’15 were the others). The first three such seasons were in 154 games and this year’s team got No. 100 in its 146th game.Before Thursday’s game, manager Alex Cora, addressing the uncertainty of his bullpen setting up Kimbrel Larry Bowa Jersey , said he may well use a group effort in the postseason.“No, I think we need versatility, guys that can match up with whoever we’re facing,” he said. “Fastballs up, breaking balls, slider, I think that’s the most important thing. You guys saw earlier in the season how we’re going with Joe (Kelly) and (Matt) Barnesy, and now that things are going this way, you see it with (Bobby) Poyner getting switch-hitters out and lefties.“You see (Ryan) Brasier coming in in the sixth inning or pitch in the eighth. It’s about who can get people out and how can we match up with whoever we play. That’s the most important thing. Obviously, those decisions will happen before we play (the American League Wild Card Game) or we play the Division Series. We’ll look at the matchups we like and the matchups we can exploit and we can go from there.”Boston opens a six-game New York/New York run this weekend — the Mets in for three before the Red Sox visit the Yankees for three next week. They could clinch the division on the field of their main rivals.The Mets come in with a three-game winning streak, including a double-header sweep of the Miami Marlins Thursday — on the day the emotional Mets captain David Wright met the media to essentially discuss the end of his career.Wright, who hasn’t played in a game since 2016, will be activated Sept. 25 for the final Mets homestand and then start against the Marlins on the 29th. Retirement is almost certain after that because of his numerous physical problems.“The way I feel right now and from everything the doctors have told me, there’s not going to be an improvement,” Wright said when asked if he could play again next season. “So, yeah, I don’t see that as a possibility.”Sunday’s game is set as a matchup of Chris Sale and Jacob deGrom. But Sale is slated to pitch a maximum of just three innings as he works his way back from shoulder inflammation. deGrom is the favorite to win the National League Cy Young despite his 8-9 record (1.71 ERA and little offensive support), while Sale was on track to win his first Cy in the American League before getting hurt — twice.Eduardo Nunez suffered a sore right knee Thursday and is considered day to day. He will not play for Boston Friday night. OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — By now http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-jim-bunning-jersey , most everyone in baseball realizes the Oakland Athletics are rarely out of it. Almost no deficit is too daunting for a rallying cry, which could be led by any number of sluggers in a loaded lineup.Never before in his managerial career has Bob Melvin been around a club with such a knack for comebacks, for winning the close ones in the late innings despite what might seem insurmountable odds.Lately, other teams in contention have added to their rosters to try to do the same down the stretch of the season.During a recent trip in Texas, the A’s rallied from behind 10-2 to beat the Rangers 13-10 by scoring 11 runs over the final four innings and getting a three-run homer by Khris Davis in the 10th. They have earned a reputation around baseball — in both leagues, on both coasts and in between — for their ability to keep swinging for the fences and pitch when trailing at any stage of a game.“I think it’s a momentum aspect,” Davis said. “You’ve just got to keep playing the game the right way, what we expect of each other. We’re just looking to do our jobs and luckily we’re having a great time doing it right now.”Oakland is right on the heels of reigning World Series champion Houston in the AL West, the A’s trailing the Astros by five games going into their day off Thursday. The small-budget franchise hasn’t reached the playoffs since losing the AL wild card game in 2014, finishing last in the division the past three seasons.“It’s a fantastic team. We certainly have the ability to be a playoff team,” second baseman Jed Lowrie said. “At this point it’s got to be a narrow focus. Keep the eye on the prize but narrow the focus.”The A’s didn’t get their 60th win until Sept. 8 last year and already reached that mark by July 25 in 2018.They were 27-7 since June 16 before being swept in a three-game weekend series at Colorado from July 27-29, then swept the Blue Jays and Tigers in back-to-back series.New Oakland reliever Shawn Kelley was playing in Washington and went to bed before the A’s were done most days but still had heard plenty about the penchant for finding a way to win late.“Winning close games and not winning games late, I think all that mindset, that mentality kind of manifests itself,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, on the losing end of a one-run game at Oakland on Wednesday. “These guys, with their bullpen, you look at these arms that they’re running out, they have four or five guys deep that are lockdown guys in the pen so if and when they do get a lead early Jim Thome Jersey , it’s tough to beat these guys late. And because they can all slug, that they’re a two- or three-run home run away from tying or taking the lead. It’s a tough group and it’s a fun group to watch, it really is. They’re a dangerous team.”Melvin has a deep and talented bullpen that allows him flexibility to mix and match at any point in a game — and the A’s acquired closer Fernando Rodney from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday to bolster that strong unit.“I don’t know if I’ve had this many quality arms in a bullpen ever since I’ve been managing,” he said.The Milwaukee Brewers know how important winning the close ones will be over the season’s final two months. They acquired veteran reliever Joakim Soria and left-handed power hitter Mike Moustakas in a pair of big trades over two days ahead of the deadline.“That’s two different types of things saying when you’re not out of it and winning close games,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I think we had a team last year that we felt like we played in a ton of close games, so you do get kind of hardened to it a little bit as far as it’s the game you play every night. What we felt more than anything is how do you bounce back, because you are going to lose some of those games and how do you kind of respond when you lose games like that?“I don’t know if there’s a knack for it but we have enjoyed playing in games like that.”Oakland’s late-inning numbers are phenomenal.The A’s have 31 comeback wins and are the only team in baseball not to lose when leading after seven innings — 46-0 — and have a 61-game winning streak in such contests.Oakland is 55-0 when leading after eight innings, while Seattle (57-0) is the only other team not to lose when ahead after eight.The A’s are best in the majors scoring runs in the seventh inning or after with 217 and the eighth inning at 87. They also lead the majors with 10 comeback wins trailing after seven innings. At 22-9 in one-run games, that is also the best record in the majors.Some managers believe it can become contagious.“Once you’ve done it, you know you can do it and you can do it again and you start feeling it,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “You believe it. Without question, I think having success in close games just breeds more success, especially the way you play and handle the pressure of playing in those tight ballgames.”The A’s have a noticeable swagger having won so many games in dramatic fashion.“It just gives you that extra confidence when you get behind, you don’t worry about it,” Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire said.It’s pretty simple in Melvin’s mind: Stick with it, play every out.Though he knows that means making the right moves with the pressure on to pull off some late-game magic.“If you keep it close … all it takes is a walk or a hit or a couple of hits in a row and you’re back in the game,” Melvin said. “That’s why you play 27 outs.”