McAdam: Red Sox still can't find home remedies

Fresh off a successful road trip, the Red Sox ran back into an ugly reality Tuesday: their season-long inability to win at home.

Alone among the American League playoff contenders (and pretenders), the Red Sox can't seem to take care of business in their own ballpark. The Yankees, Rays, Twins, Indians, Astros and A's are all well-above .500 at home, with the Yankees and Astros already having won better than 50 games with nearly four weeks still to go in the regular season.

The Red Sox? Their 6-5 loss to the Minnesota Twins Tuesday dropped them to 34-35 for the season at Fenway.

Hours before the game, Alex Cora was asked to explain why it was his team had struggled so much at home. Cora paused, as if this was the first time this season that he had given the matter any thought, which is surely not the case.

Eventually, he suggested that perhaps the problem lies with the team's inability to "keep the ball in the ballpark'' at home.

That sounded reasonable enough. After all, Fenway is an inviting hitting environment and it sure has felt that teams have taken some liberties as visiting teams.

But, nope, a check of the stats revealed that, before Tuesday's loss, the Red Sox had actually given up considerably more homers on the road (101) than they had at home (79).  A breakdown of OPS and slugging percentage and OPS revealed the same patterns: Despite a winning record on the road (40-29), hitters have fared poorer at Fenway than in their own ballparks against the Red Sox pitching staff.

Perhaps, it's simpler than all that. Maybe it's nothing more complicated than this: the Red Sox can't seem to beat good teams at home.

Sure, they beat up losing teams like the Padres, Rockies and Angels on the road. And before that, they even took two-of-three in Cleveland. They've swept the Rays in Tampa once already.

But at home, it's another story. They were a woeful 1-8 against the Rays in Boston. In fact, the only two winning teams against whom the Sox have winning records this season are the A's (3-0) and, improbably, the Yankees (3-1).

With the passage of time, however, that one series against the Yankees over the summer looks more and more like an aberration. The Sox' bats got hot at the precise time when the New York rotation hit a rough patch, and next thing you know, the Sox were rocketing balls all over -- and out of -- Fenway, scoring 38 runs in the first three games.

But other than that? The Sox have wilted against quality opponents at home, losing series to Houston, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

They're 10-18 against winning teams at home.  Against teams currently in the playoff picture, they're 7-16. And against A.L. teams that would be in the playoffs if the season were to end now, they're 6-14.

On their recent road trip, the Sox had the benefit of two factors to aid them: lesser opponents and two days off during the trip. That meant that Cora could go the whip with his bullpen, knowing that a break in the schedule was in sight.

But both advantages are gone now. The Red Sox have only two more off-days the rest of the way, with the next one not coming until Sept. 13. And, tellingly, on this homestand at least, the competition is a lot better.

The Twins are trying to hold off the Indians for the AL Central title and aren't yet eliminated from securing home field in the Division Series, so they've got plenty of motivation. After the Twins come the Yankees, who own the best record in the game, intent on securing home field all the way through the ALCS and into the World Series.

A year ago, en route to a franchise-record 108 wins, the Red Sox were a force on the road and at home.  They not only won 57 games at home, but they also won 51 on the road, the most in the game. In October, the Sox lost fewer games on the road than at home and actually clinched all three of their postseason series on the road.

This year, the Sox have a favorable schedule at the end. Their last two home series are against teams out of contentions (Giants, Orioles). And they have winnable road series in Texas and Toronto.

But the next six games could do them in. Home field is no advantage at all when you've demonstrated all year long that you can't beat quality teams at home, and six more games against the Twins and Yankees are unlikely to change that pattern.