BALTIMORE -- The road trip is over, and so is the 20-days-in-20-games stretch, and the Red Sox did more than survive.
The Sox went 5-3 on the road trip and though their 20-game record was a rather pedestrian 11-9, they're 10-3 in their last 13. They're back at .500 (22-22) for the third time this season . . . and Bobby Valentine is impressed.
"I am so proud of this group of guys," he said. "I know it's an overstated line, but those men played 20 days of hard baseball, hard travel, hard competition . . . there were weather factors, injury factors . . . "
And Valentine likes what he saw.
"We play like this the rest of the season," he said, "we're going to win the championship."