Boston Red Sox: Carl Crawford Continues Upswing as Red Sox Sweep Oakland

Carl Crawford made one of the biggest free-agent splashes this offseason, signing a seven-year deal worth $142 million with the Boston Red Sox.

The signing flew under the radar as many anticipated Crawford signing with the Anaheim Angels; instead, Crawford all but cemented many fans, writers and baseball analysts thoughts that the Red Sox were the team to beat.

A 3-10 start in which Crawford was batting .127 with a single RBI had many pushing the panic button. Crawford hit just about everywhere in the lineup, but never seemed to find a rhythm.

Crawford finally broke the .200 batting average mark on May 6 and had an 11-game hitting streak that helped raise his average to .218.

After flirting with .200 again, Crawford has been on a tear. Since May 19, Crawford is hitting .354 (23-of-65) with four home runs and 19 RBI.

In that span, Crawford has raised his batting average from .205 to .248 and has more RBI in the past 17 games (19) than he did in the first 40 games (10).

After sweeping the Oakland Athletics, the Boston Red Sox, 30-16 since the 3-10 start, square off against the first-place New York Yankees starting Tuesday in New York.

On the season, Boston is 5-1 against the Yankees, including a three-game sweep back in May.

The sweep helped ignite Boston to a seven-game winning streak.