A numbing sameness has come to typify most Red Sox losses, which have come at a dizzying pace of late -- five in the last six games and 12 over the last 16.
On most nights, the starting pitching has been surprisingly excellent. Even on a few off nights, it hasn't been bad enough to cost them. The bullpen has cost them a handful of games in the late innings but, bad as it's been in the last 10 days, it hasn't been the chief culprit for a team that now occupies sole possession of last place in its division.
Instead, lay the blame at the feet of the offense, which, with few tantalizing exceptions, remains stuck in neutral, unable to gain traction and pull the Sox out of the quicksand in which the team finds itself.
Some false hope was on display earlier in the week when it looked like the logjam might be broken and the real potential within the lineup had been finally, inexorably unlocked. False alarm.
Even if you want to excuse Thursday's loss as the result of running into the phenomenon known as Shohei Ohtani, no such alibi was in order Friday night. Vince Velazquez of the Chicago White Sox is no one's idea of an ace -- the journeyman entered with a 4.58 ERA -- but the Red Sox made him look like one with another futile effort.
The Sox accumulated just six hits in dropping a 4-2 decision to the White Sox. Again, they offered little resistance in the early innings with one hit through the first four. And given how poorly the offense has been performing for weeks now, when Chicago took a 3-0 lead in the third off Nate Eovaldi, it felt like a deficit the Sox couldn't possibly overcome.
Sure enough, they didn't. One of the few hitters who has produced since the start, Xander Bogaerts, was left searching for answers afterward.
"We're not playing well,'' said Bogaerts. "We know what we're capable of, but it's not been tough not being able to (put it together) for a stretch of a couple of games in a row. The weird thing is, I don't even feel like anyone's pressing at all, the 'I gotta be Superman, I'm the one who has to do it.' I don't know. I don't know how it's possible, with this lineup, we're playing like this.''
Both Bogaerts and Eovaldi said there isn't an issue with either confidence or determination. Eovaldi noted there are enough veteran players on the roster to hold each other accountable. Bogaerts noted that, however naively, the players show up to the ballpark convinced that today is the day.
Mostly, that's another bit of misplaced optimism. The nightmare doesn't end.
"Every day you feel better than the day prior,'' said Bogaerts, shaking his head. "Then you leave the ballpark. ... It's not fun. It's not fun. We've been running into good pitching, but we're also good hitters -- everyone in that lineup.''
On Friday, though not by design, the Red Sox had a new look at the top of the order. Jarren Duran was added to the roster after Kike Hernandez was placed on the COVID-ineligible list. The wish was that Duran's blend of speed and energy might serve as a needed spark plug.
In the eighth, sure enough, that happened. Duran ripped a line drive to right field that White Sox outfielder Adam Engel badly misplayed by failing to get in front of as the ball skipped past him. Duran, easily the fastest player on the club, sped off around second and landed on third. The fans who hadn't already given up at Fenway were energized.
Trevor Story's groundout past the mound was enough to score Duran from third with the Sox' second run, but two more singles that inning were squandered when Alex Verdugo hit a tapper back to the mound for the third out.
The boost provided from Duran's speed was short-lived and the result was too late for much of an impact.
Bogaerts also spoke of the need for the team to get on the scoreboard early in games. Falling behind as often as they have, Red Sox hitters have understandably become too aggressive at times, chasing pitches well out of the strike zone in an unsuccessful attempt to play catch-up. Moreover, added Bogaerts, the slow starts for the offense have had a negative effect on the starting pitchers, who have been uniformly excellent for the last few weeks. You have to go back a full 16 games to find an occasion when a Red Sox starter allowed more than three runs.
To a man, and echoed by their manager, the Red Sox keep saying that they're better than this. But the longer the drought continues, it's getting harder and harder to not wonder: Are they?