McAdam: Red Sox can only hope comeback win is the start of turnaround

It's one win, and one win against a pretty bad opponent at that.

It means little in the big picture and it will mean even less if the Red Sox can't capitalize on it further, can't turn it into a springboard to get themselves back into the season, into respectability.

But for a time Thursday night, there was reason to think maybe, just maybe, the Red Sox season had begun in earnest. Begun two weeks later than it should have, to be sure. But begun anyway.

For much of the first dozen games, they hadn't been competitive, beaten by teams which aren't expected to be threats. They routinely squandered leads, allowed routine flyballs to drop between them and ran the bases with the focus of kindergarten kids let loose on a playground.

Where were the focused Red Sox of a year ago, dedicated to detail, intent on playing the game the right way, seizing every break given to them? Nowhere to be found.

Maybe Thursday suggested some sort of turnaround, an awakening of sorts. They fell behind early (5-0 in the top of the third), but to their credit, didn't cash in. They responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third, and kept chipping away until Mitch Moreland's fifth homer -- and fourth in his last four games -- finally pulled them even.

And when Ryan Brasier committed the cardinal sin of handing back a run that had just been scored, they didn't give up then, either. In the ninth, three walks, a double, a stolen base and chopper over a drawn-in infield delivered them a hard-fought 7-6 win.

"To keep grinding it out and creating opportunities to win it, it was a big win for us,'' said Moreland, who has been the Red Sox' most important offensive player to date. He's had a direct hand in all four of the Red Sox victories.

And there's this: as bad as the Red Sox have been, three of the four of wins have been of the comeback variety. In those wins, they've erased five-run leads in two and a three-run lead in the other. The other was a 1-0 shutout in which the only run came on a solo shot from Moreland.

The fact that the Sox have battled and recorded three wins won in their final at-bat suggests there's some fight in them.

"That's what this team does,'' said Moreland. "We're able to grind it out. Obviously, it hasn't gone quite our way so far this year but we've got a great group of guys and we've got a good team. We're going to get it going. We just got to keep grinding out.''

The trick will be to parlay this into something significant, make it mean more than one April win.

"Games like this are always good for your confidence,'' Moreland said, "picking you up. It was nice to win one like that and carry some momentum into the next series.''

If nothing else, a win like this can provide some validation.

Prior to the game, manager Alex Cora said he wasn't worried and sounded almost bemused by his team's predicament.

"We'll be fine, man,'' said Cora. "It's 3-9. We know where we're at. We understand where we're at, don't get me wrong. But we'll stay the course and we're going to be OK.''

But when you start off 4-9, the confident talk only gets you so far. It's nice that the manager isn't in the throes of a full-blown panic attack and that, emotionally, the team remains even. But at some point, a club scuffling out of the gate needs to see some results, needs to get a return on its investment.

Calm, sober talk may ease the mood in the clubhouse, but it doesn't, by itself, lift you out of the AL East basement.

In the euphoria of the walk-off win, it's worth noting that some major problems remain. The Sox remain the only team in either league which hasn't gotten a single win from its starting rotation. The starters' ERA is an impossibly inflated 8.79 and that's hardly a recipe for long-term success.

Until the Sox start getting six or more innings from their starters as a matter of routine, they'll be hard-pressed to make up all of the ground they've ceded to the Rays and Yankees.

But the schedule delivers the hapless Orioles to their doorstep for four over the weekend beginning Friday, a yawning opportunity for the Sox to continue righting their early-season wrongs.

Thursday night presented an opening. It's up to the Red Sox to make something of it.