McAdam: Events of Friday confirm what we've known about the Red Sox for some time

The end came in the top of the ninth inning, but really, the diagnosis had been made weeks and weeks ago.

When the Cleveland Indians beat the Philadelphia Phillies in Cleveland, the Red Sox were officially eliminated from the postseason.

Again, this was no sudden death. The Red Sox had been deteriorating for some time and had been on watch. They knew they didn't have much time left.

To their credit, they fought hard against the Tampa Bay Rays Friday night. They led 2-0, lost the lead and gave up four runs, and within minutes of the Indians' win which sealed their fate, came back to tie the game again, only to ultimately lose, 5-4, in 11 innings.

Think of that second Mitch Moreland two-run homer as their last gasp, the final bit of will leaving their body.

Alas, it was too late. It had been too late for some time now.



Even management -- including former president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski -- recognized a terminal case back at the trade deadline. Dombrowski examined what was before him, and by not making any acquisitions to bolster the bullpen, essentially told the team: "I'm sorry ... there's nothing I can do for you.''

That good bedside manner didn't save Dombrowski's job, but it turned out his dark prognosis was correct.

Oh, there were the occasional signs of life. The Red Sox went to the West Coast and managed to win six-of-eight in late August and early September, briefly providing hope.

But then came a homestand with two playoff-bound teams -- the Twins and Yankees -- which brought a harsh dose of reality. Not only wouldn't the Red Sox be getting a chance to defend their 2018 title; they wouldn't even qualify for the playoff booby prize of a spot in the one-and-done wild-card round.

Then again, there were signs of the Sox being in distress from the very beginning. They stumbled and bumbled their way to a 2-8 start on their opening road trip, and never seemed to fully recover from that pratfall.

It took until early May for them to just reach .500. That was supposed to be their launching pad.

National broadcasters everywhere and opposing managers all said the same thing, ad nauseum: "The Red Sox will be just fine -- you watch.''

So, we watched. But that hot streak never really arrived. There were stretches of inspired play, like when the Sox won 13-of-19 and moved to within 5.5 games of first place. But that level could never be maintained for any extended periods of time.

The entire season felt like a team waiting for a hot streak that, like some rude guest, never bothered to show up to the party.

"We were very inconsistent from the get-go,'' acknowledged Alex Cora after Friday's extra-inning loss, "and that just carried over throughout the season. We never put together one of those stretches we knew could have.''

An eight-game losing skid -- tellingly, against divisional opponents New York and Tampa Bay -- effectively did them in at the end of July, causing Dombrowski to discreetly place the "Do Not Resuscitate'' sign outside the clubhouse.

The rest was just waiting.

The signs of distress were evident even before the start of the season, with the poorly conceived idea of putting training wheels on the starting pitchers was first deployed. That led to a rotten first month, which proved doubly costly: not only did the Sox lose games because their starters weren't stretched out, but they also overtaxed their bullpen, asking it to carry too much of the early-season workload.

In time, the starters gradually improved for a while, and the bullpen pitched credibly in the second half. But the rotation, in a bit of irony, collapsed because of a succession of injuries. Chris Sale and David Price both were sidelined and by August, it didn't matter that the bullpen was effective. Too often, by mid-game, there were no leads to protect.

Assuming the Sox find a way to win two of their remaining nine games, they'll finish with a winning record. And Friday was evidence that once again that, their record notwithstanding, the team continued to play hard and displayed some pride.

But in the end, the 2019 Red Sox will be properly viewed as a massive disappointment, and an expensive one at that. No team in franchise history ever earned more in salary and delivered less in performance.

There's plenty of blame to spread around and starting in another week or so, plenty of time to assess how and why the season went off the rails.

None of that mattered Friday night at Tropicana Field, where the magical 2018 season began and the hugely unsuccessful follow-up season came to its logical conclusion -- competitively speaking, at least.

"It wasn't a great season,'' admitted Cora. "We're going to learn from it and we're going to be better.''

With nine completely meaningless games left to play, it's not as if they have an alternative.