Boston Red Sox clobbered in the Bronx: There is no fun in losing

The Boston Red Sox had no chance against New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole as their losing streak reaches five games following a 10-3 loss.

The Boston Red Sox continued to do three things against the New York Yankees Friday night in the Bronx: make mental mistakes, give up early leads and lose.

Following a four-game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, the challenges of escaping that rock bottom status got no easier Friday night against Gerrit Cole and the AL East leading Yankees.

In a bullpen game for the Red Sox, this one went as forecasted.

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Cole was his usual dominate self, despite giving up a homer to Alex Verdugo. The Yankees ace improved to 4-0 in leading his team to a 10-3 victory that dropped the rival Red Sox to 6-14 on the season.

Besides the Verdugo homer, there was really nothing positive about his game. Falling down quickly 5-1 in the game, the Red Sox continued the trend of mental mistakes (a Ryan Brasier balk in the fifth) and getting outscored early in games. Well, outscored period.

In this five-game losing streak, Roenicke has seen his team get outscored 52-25. Is there a way out of this sloppy display of baseball?

Well, there is always hope, but the mistakes need to stop says the Red Sox manager.

"“It’s obviously concerning,” Roenicke said, via MLB.com. “You don’t like the mental mistakes. We can take getting beat, but we don’t want to give it to teams. Every time we do, they capitalize on it. We make an error and all of a sudden we give up a homer. Just doing things to give teams opportunity to score run. So, just try to focus more, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the issue, the focus. I don’t know. Things are just not going well.”"

Losing streak aside, it has to be even more frustrating watching a team like the New York Yankees get it done with a combination of reliable starting pitching and a relentless offensive attack. Furthermore, they are a team that don’t make mental mistakes and always seem to find a way to capitalize when the Boston Red Sox do.

So how did we get to this place if you are a Sox fanatic?

Where has the fight gone? Where is the fun? Is there still hope to turn a 6-14 season around or is this an official tank job? If this trend continues, we will soon know the answer.

Boston Red Sox try to find the fun in losing

In the meantime, Boston Red Sox players and coaches continue to say all the right things.

Although the losing is frustrating, players like Xander Bogaerts know that in baseball all it takes is one play, one masterful pitching performance, players getting hot at the right time or one victory to get things rolling.

Well, in a 60-game shortened season, the 2020 Red Sox are running out of time quick.

Part of the solution is to try to have fun on the field, although it has to be hard to enjoy falling down in games early.

Prior to Friday night’s game, an optimistic Xander Bogaerts offered some hope.

"“Obviously you can’t control what’s happened already. Those games are over with,” Bogaerts said during his Zoom call, via MLB.com. “Just try to control what we have going forward. Just tr to go out there and have some fun. I know it’s been a little hard for us on that part, but we’ve just got to go out there and have fun and play like we’re having fun.”"

Next. Boston Red Sox overreaction: Team hits rock bottom, time to trade everyone. dark

On pace to go 18-42 on the season (if they even reach 18 wins), having fun on the field will be a tough task for a team that had a similar record at the start of the 2019 season. The difference is there was a Mookie Betts, Chris Sale, David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez on that team.

I those players still suited up for the Boston Red Sox, perhaps an improbable turnaround would seem more realistic.

At least a competitor like Xander Bogaerts is still believing.

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