So the Red Sox lost another game last night. 

At this point, it's starting to seem like less a matter of if they will lose and more a matter of how. There was Bard's implosion in the first game, Lackey's pathetic performance in the second, offensive shutdowns in three and four, and now this: half a complete lack of clutch hitting, and half Dennys Reyes and Dan Wheeler.

To spare both myself and you readers most of the gory details, we'll sum things up: The Red Sox were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position (including a situation where both Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz failed to bring in a run with men at second and third and zero outs), Dennys Reyes hit more batters than he threw strikes, and Dan Wheeler followed up that remarkable performance by allowing home run number 13 on the year. Number 14 was not too far behind.

What was good? Well, Daisuke Matsuzaka wasn't completely horrible, turning in a performance similar to Josh Beckett on Tuesday. And both of the Sox' new acquisitions were producing, with Adrian Gonzalez delivering his first home run of the season.

A purely objective look at the Red Sox' position right now shows that they are only three games behind of the Yankees (no, we will not be counting in the Orioles as legitimate contenders just yet)--a situation far better than the one they faced a month into the 2010 season. The Sox might not have made it to the postseason then, running out of gas as the injuries continued around July, but they overcame a larger mountain, setting the precedent to do it again.

A more subjective look at things, however, sets off alarms. Drop three to the Rangers? That can happen. Follow it up by making two mediocre pitchers look like Cy Young contenders while giving up two more games to the Indians? We're in trouble.