McAdam: Month of May ends with Red Sox reeling

For a while, not too long ago, it appeared as though the Red Sox were going to save their season in the month of May.

Having nearly buried themselves with a ghastly 2-8 start, then flailing away at 6-13, the Red Sox had some course corrections to make. In May, they began to make them.

At one point, the Red Sox were 14-6 through the first three weeks, a winning percentage a hair better than they posted a year ago when they won 108 games. The rotation stabilized and the offense, augmented by the introduction of rookie hotshot Michael Chavis, began to click.

But over the last two weeks, that burst has subsided. Since leaving Toronto, the Red Sox have lost their last two series, and after Friday night's 4-1 loss to the Yankees, need to win the next two in the Bronx to avoid dropping their third series in a row.

And while the Sox have cooled, the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, both ahead in the standings, have only put additional distance between themselves and the Red Sox. Friday's loss dropped the Sox 8.5 games out in the A.L. East, or exactly where they were when they last left New York the first time.

It isn't just that the Red Sox are losing, either. Rather, it's how they're losing.

In Houston, they bumbled their way to one setback by committing three errors and botching a routine rundown. Against Cleveland, their bullpen lit the flame in the final two innings, allowing seven runs, in no small part due to six walks and a hit batsman.

And on Friday night, while they never posed much of a threat at the plate after a solo homer from Rafael Devers in the second, it didn't help that the only other time they managed to get a baserunner in scoring position (Eduardo Nunez in the fifth), he managed to get himself picked off.

That, in turn, was the third time in the last week that a baserunner had been picked off by the opposition. It happened in Houston last weekend. And it happened Tuesday night by Zach Plesac, who was making his major league debut.

It's enough to invite comparisons to the horrendous first road trip, when the Sox seemingly could do nothing right. And for now, it speaks to a lack of urgency on the part of the team.

The season is more than a third complete and other than a three-week stretch, the Red Sox haven't demonstrated good, solid play on a consistent basis. Friday's loss dropped them to 7-9 in their last 16 games.

It's probably not a coincidence, too, that the Sox are, for now, proving themselves incapable of playing against the league's better teams. They've already dropped one series to New York and Friday got this one off on the wrong foot. They spent the last two weekends being outclassed-- home first, then away -- by the Houston Astros. And though the Cleveland Indians are struggling to get over .500 themselves, they had enough to take two-of-three at Fenway earlier this week.

If you're keeping score at home, they're a cumulative 7-11 against the AL's four other playoff teams from last season.

It might also suggest that they're wasting starts from their ace, Chris Sale. Friday's loss dropped Sale's record to 1-7. Starting pitching wins aren't important to you? OK, how about the fact that the Sox, as a team, are 3-9 in Sale's first dozen starts.

Sale wasn't horrible Friday night (four runs over six innings, with one walk and 10 strikeouts), but he wasn't good enough to overcome a punchless attack from his teammates, either. Sale acknowledged as much in his postgame remarks.

"As much as you can point a finger right at anybody in this clubhouse,'' Sale told reporters, "you can point it right at me, too.''

That kind of accountability is welcome from one of the team's best players and one of its leaders. But even as Sale took responsibility for his own outing, he sounded a bit of an alarm for the team.

"It's just frustrating where we're at,'' he said. "Collectively, as a group, we need to start winning. ... We've got to find a way to start winning games and get some zip back in us and start rolling some wins out. ... We've got find that roll we were on and find that groove we were in.''

Time is tight. A new month dawns Saturday. It had better be an improvement over how the last one ended.