HOUSTON -- Watch the Red Sox try to compete with the Houston Astros on the field and it may invoke memories of another matchup from 30 or so years ago.
These Red Sox can't seem to beat the Astros with any regularity. They won their division two years running, but dropped three out of four on the final weekend of last season, which, in retrospect, was merely a precursor of what was to follow a week later in the Division Series when the Astros manhandled the Red Sox three games to one.
This year has been more of the same, at least to date, with the Astros winning the first two regular-season head-to-head meetings, before the Sox got one back on Saturday night.
If you're keeping track, that's eight wins for the Astros in the last 11 games with the Red Sox, a pretty thorough domination on the part of the world champs.
In more than few ways, this mismatch is beginning to resemble the Red Sox' futile efforts against the Oakland A's in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Those Red Sox teams had plenty of talent, winning the A.L. East in 1988 and again in 1990. They had a strong lineup with Ellis Burks, Mike Greenwell, and Wade Boggs, and they had respectable starting pitching, led by Roger Clemens, augmented by Bruce Hurst in 1988 and Mike Boddicker in 1990.
And yet, no matter what, those Red Sox couldn't beat the mighty A's, who swept them in four games in the ALCS both seasons. (This, of course, pre-dates the wild-card era with just two teams in each league qualifying for the postseason).
Clemens, for all his brilliance, could never seem to find a way to out-duel Dave Stewart. The A's Bash Brothers -- Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire -- tormented Red Sox pitching. And the Red Sox never had anyone to counter Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley.
Fans frustrated by the team's postseason stumbles charged that the Sox were, despite their division titles, paper champions, unworthy of the postseason stage. But that was neither fair, nor accurate: the Sox had to beat out some good clubs fielded by the Yankees, Blue Jays and Tigers to win East and advance to the playoffs.
They just didn't have enough to topple the A's, who won three consecutive American League pennants from 1988-1990, winning one World Series.
The parallels are many.
Like Clemens and the A's, Chris Sale, the modern equivalent of Clemens, seems perfectly ordinary against the Astros. And the vaunted Red Sox lineup, which leads the A.L. in almost every meaningful category, was limited to just five runs in the first two games of this series and last October, managed just eight runs in their three Division Series losses.
Admittedly, the Red Sox aren't at full strength for this series, minus their best player (Mookie Betts) and without Dustin Pedroia, whom they had hoped would be able to stabilize the second base position for them, but is instead, headed back to the DL.
Who can say why some teams struggle so much against others. It may reflect a gap in talent, or it could be about style of play. Then again, much of it may be a matter of confidence — the Astros may have successfully lodged themselves in the Red Sox' collective head.
Perhaps by the time the Astros visit Fenway in early September, things will be different and the dynamic will have shifted. And perhaps, if the two teams meet again in October, the Red Sox will have some things figured out when it comes to knocking the best team in the American League.
For now, however, the Red Sox appear overmatched, unable to knock off the best their league has to offer.
Just the way it was 30 or so years ago.
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