Ceddanne Rafaela homered yesterday, which might be a sign that he’s pulling out of a bad stretch at the plate and making adjustments to big league pitching. Is some old school pepper to thank for his recent performance? (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

Vaughn Grissom came close to homering, too, but couldn’t quite power his ball over the big wall in right-center at Target Field against the Twins. If the 14 pounds Grissom lost battling the flu is at fault for that, then he’s doing his part to get his power back with some unhealthy breakfasts. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Hopefully Grissom can put that weight back on quickly, because the Sox are in need of a right-handed bat with Rob Refsnyder going down with hamstring tightness. Luckily, though, the early read on this injury is that it won’t require a stint on the IL. (Sean McGuire, NESN)

All of the injuries mean that there is more than one Red Sox player being asked to take on new roles. That includes one of the newest Red Sox players, pitcher Naoyuki Uwasawa, who pitched on consecutive days for the first time in his entire life this weekend. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

Uwasawa, like Cooper Criswell, was briefly a pitcher in the Tampa Bay Rays organization. If his transition to Boston goes as well as Criswell’s, then the Sox may have found a gem, because Criswell is exceeding all expectations so far. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Speaking of pitching gems, the Sox are going to face Chris Sale in his new Atlanta Braves uniform for the first time this week. And Alex Cora has had it up to here with your jokes about his injuries! (Adam London, NESN)

With Chris Sale pitching well down in Atlanta, there was a chance his trade could’ve caused a lot of angst amongst Sox fans. But that hasn’t happened, thanks to the outstanding pitching Sox starters have provided. As pitching coach Andrew Bailey says, they’re just up there trying to play wiffle ball in an MLB ballpark. (Ryan Gilbert, WEEI)