McAdam: Embarrassing setback caps another series loss for Red Sox

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for the Red Sox, Thursday afternoon happened.

They had lost before -- but not like this.

They had blown a 3-0 lead before -- but not like this.

They had made miscues in the field before -- but not like this.

And don't think the manager hasn't noticed.

"The whole game was an issue,'' Alex Cora told reporters after the 7-3 embarrassment to the Oakland A's. "I pay attention to details. I love paying attention to details and that's something I took pride in last year and right now, we're not paying attention to details, so that's on us. That's on me, that's on the staff.

"I know we're going to make mistakes, but at the same time, we have to keep teaching the game and put them in certain spots where they're going to take advantage of certain situations. Honestly, today I was watching and there were a few things that were great last year and we're not doing right now.''

If you had to pick a metaphor for the first week of the season, it came in the fourth inning. Stephen Piscotty hit a flyball to the warning track in right center. Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts, two Gold Glove outfielders, cruised toward the ball, pulled up and allowed it to drop between them as it hopped the fence for a two-run, ground-rule double.

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That snapshot -- ugly and hardly representative of the way this team played a year ago -- was the 2019 Red Sox. And the picture wasn't pretty.

You name it, and it went wrong for the Sox in their series finale in Oakland.

Pitching? Not only did Eduardo Rodriguez cough up a 3-0 lead, but he did so in most frustrating fashion. Rodriguez needed just 14 pitches in each of the first two innings. But in the third, he fell behind Piscotty, then threw a complete meatball over the heart of the plate, with predictable results: a three-run homer to straightaway center.

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That's 14 homers allowed by the starters in 35.2 innings pitched, a gopher rate that seems hard to believe.

Offense? The Sox let A's lefty Brett Anderson off the hook in the early going, leaving the bases loaded two times in the first four innings. The Sox managed three runs in total -- two in the first, both on bases-loaded walks and another in the third on an opposite-field homer from J.D. Martinez.

But that was it for the Red Sox offense, which failed to score again over the final six innings. A total of 10 baserunners were stranded and the team was just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Baserunning? Right down to the final inning, the Red Sox were performing head-scratching feats. Mookie Betts, normally the team's best and smartest baserunner, foolishly attempted to go from first to third with the Sox trailing by four. Naturally, Ramon Laureano threw him out for a costly out at third.

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Behind by four and with no out, there was no tangible benefit for Betts to be so aggressive. And while it would have represented a foolhardy play 10 times out of 10, it was especially inexplicable with Laureano in center. He had already gunned down the Sox twice before on the bases in the series. Betts made it three.

But the unquestioned low point was the gift double in the fourth, which effectively chased Rodriguez from the mound and ended the Sox' afternoon. It was all downhill after that, with little fight left.

Statcast assigned Bradley a 99 percent catch probability and Betts a 95 percent chance. That's how easy the play should have been. Instead, the ball dropped unattended. Worse, Betts and Bradley didn't seem to discuss what happened, with each player walking back to his position in complete silence, not so much as a glance between them.

Cora seemed to absolve his players from much blame, maintaining that the sloppy play was "on me. I'm the manager of the team. Regardless of the results, win or lose, stuff like that can't happen. So I'm accountable and I expect better things out of the group.''

But these are not rookies. These are, for the most part, veteran players who have established themselves as All-Stars individually, and champions collectively.

While Cora's willingness to accept the responsibility may be admirable, it may not be the right tact. For the team to play this poorly, perhaps some calling-out is in order.

This is Cora's challenge, just eight games into his second season. After a year in which almost everything went right, from the second game on, his second season is not going nearly as smoothly. He now must figure out a way to get his team's attention and get them to turn things around -- quickly.

"It's early enough that we can clean it up,'' said Cora, trying to sound a positive note.

Indeed, it is early. Eight games down, 154 still to play.

The other positive takeaway? It doesn't seem like it can much worse.

Can it?