McAdam: Red Sox no match for Astros through two lopsided ALDS games

HOUSTON – This time, it’s Boston – not Houston – that has the problem.

A gigantic, ugly, probably insurmountable problem, one that the nearby NASA engineers could probably spot from outer space.

Simply put, the Red Sox, through two games of the American League Division Series, do not belong on the same field as the Astros. Nevertheless, Major League Baseball has decreed that the two teams will meet, at least one more time, at Fenway on Sunday afternoon.

For now, that seems like punishment and not opportunity for the Red Sox, one more chance to embarrass themselves.

They’ve had their doors blown off in both games, by identical scores. Both times, they held onto a glimmer of hope after responding to the quick leads the Astros have built. Both times, that hope proved illusory.

In both Games 1 and 2, the Astros have grabbed control by the middle inning and left the Sox reeling.

“We haven’t played well yet,’’ said Dustin Pedroia, in an understatement as big as the hole the Sox have managed to dig for themselves. “They’ve played great. They’ve done everything right and we haven’t done anything right.’’

That’s only the slightest bit of hyperbole.

For the second straight postseason, the Red Sox starters have used the mound as though it were a sinkhole, disappearing from sight. In the last two ALDS, the Sox have sent four pitchers to the mound who won 17 or more games during the regular season preceding their starts.

The collective results? Just 14.2 innings pitched, with 26 hits allowed – including nine homers – and 22 runs yielded, producing a 13.81 ERA.

On Friday, Drew Pomeranz was rattled around for two runs in the first and two more in the third, yanked after six outs, which took 47 pitches.

Offensively, they’ve haven’t been any more proficient. In 18 innings, the Red Sox have 15 hits, 11 of them singles, none of them homers. They haven’t led at all in the two games and have been tied for a grand total of five at-bats.

“We feel like we’re in the game,’’ said Xander Bogaerts, “and then, there’s one inning where they take off.’’

It was widely assumed the Astros had a significant edge in offensive ability, but this gulf between the two seems to be growing by the moment. Houston’s smallest player, Jose Altuve, has 14 total bases. As a team, the Red Sox have 18. Surely, that would be a tighter race by now, except for the fact that the Red Sox finally threw their hands up in resignation and intentionally walked Altuve in two of his last three plate appearances Friday.

To lose as badly and as one-sided as the Red Sox have, requires a team-wide failure. It’s neck-and-neck between the hitters and starting pitchers as to which element of the team has been worse.

When Boston pitchers make mistakes – and, to be fair, sometimes when they don’t – balls end up soaring over the wall or rattling around in the outfield gaps. And if Houston’s pitchers have made mistakes, it’s news to the Red Sox lineup, which has looked punchless.

‘’We’ve got a short amount of time to figure it out,’’ said Pedroia. “Confidence level? We just our ass kicked twice.’’

And that has become a sadly predictable pattern for a team that hasn’t won a post-season game in four seasons and seems dangerously close to elimination.

Several Red Sox players were asked if the team could draw upon last year’s experience – losing the first two ALDS games on the road – now that they’re going home, forgetting, perhaps, that the Sox came home and lost their lone home game, too, to complete Cleveland’s sweep.

Bright spots might exist, but they require a lot of detective work to locate. At the top of the lineup, Bogaerts is 0-for-9 from the leadoff spot. Andrew Benintendi is 1-for-8. Put it this way: more than a quarter of the team’s hits in the first two games have come from the catcher’s spot in the batting order.

Pedroia, who self-identified as a team leader in late July, was asked if something needed to be said – by someone, anyone.

“Oh, there’s a lot of things always said,’’ Pedroia responded curtly.

For the first two games, it’s as if the Red Sox have been left muttering to themselves, with no logical answers to their plight.