The Boston Red Sox are surging in the month of July.

Boston has won 10 straight games, sweeping the Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays prior to the start of the All-Star break. The recent surge has the Red Sox sitting just three games out of first place in the American League East. Officially, the Sox are 53-45 and in third place in the East behind the New York Yankees and the first-place Toronto Blue Jays.

Former New York Yankees star and current Fox baseball analyst Alex Rodriguez sits on a panel with the network alongside his former teammate Derek Jeter and Red Sox great David Ortiz.

And on Tuesday night, when it came time to talk about the Red Sox, Rodriguez was clear about what the franchise's surge means in the broader context of the sport. And it made him absolutely sick to say out loud.

"Bottom line, boys, if we zoom out, it's great for baseball when the Boston...I can't believe I'm saying this...when the Boston Red Sox are good," Rodriguez said on Tuesday night.

Rodriguez added that the trade of Rafael Devers could end up being a good thing for the Red Sox in the long run, as he referenced two specific examples from his own playing days.

"Sometimes when you clear a clubhouse of whatever perceived energy...I remember when [Ken] Griffey Jr. left us in Seattle, we got better. And then when I left the next year, we got even better. And sometimes you need the big brother to get out so all the other big brothers can excel and thrive and they're doing that in a beautiful way."

The Red Sox open the second half of the season with a series in Chicago against NL Central's first place Chicago Cubs. The Red Sox will then take on the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies before hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers later this month.

Three brutally tough series out of the break will tell the tale of whether or not the Red Sox are for real.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Alex Rodriguez Begrudgingly Admits Baseball Is Better When Red Sox Are 'Good'.

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