The Red Sox have lost four straight at Fenway Park.
Former Boston Red Sox players, mangers and coaches gather on the field during ceremonies to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first regular season baseball game at Fenway Park on Friday. The Red Sox lost 6-2 to the New York Yankees.BOSTON - The uniforms were throwbacks to the dead-ball era, but that is where the similarity ended.
Even the 1912-style absence of jersey numbers could not hide Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz from the embarrassment of Friday's 6-2 loss to New York at Fenway Park.
Buchholz gave up five home runs in six-plus innings. In doing so, he wrote the latest ignominous chapter of an increasingly alarming Red Sox season.
The losing streak is four, the 4-9 record ranks last in the AL East, and even the proven performers such as Buchholz are struggling.
The Yankees wore uniforms resembling those of the 1912 New York Highlanders, who hit only 18 home runs all season in the dead-ball era. With Buchholz pitching, the baseball took on rocket-like characteristics on Friday.
Eric Chavez hit two home runs. Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez and Russell Martin had one each.
About the only solace offered the Red Sox was that this was the rarest of Red Sox-Yankees games - an anti-climax.
It followed a stirring pregame ceremony that saluted the park's 100-year anniversary. More than 200 players returned. Only when they left the field did trouble begin when Dustin Pedroia dropped Derek Jeter's pop fly in the sun.
Swisher and Chavez homered in the second, and the Yankee slugfest was on.
Josh Beckett gave up five homers in Detroit on April 7. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was the catcher in both games.
As Salty's own average dropped to .071 before a ninth-inning single, he heard the boos from the fans, but Buchholz defended his teammate's catching.
"He called a good game. I just didn't execute,'' said Buchholz (1-1).
Some pitchers immerse themselves in video after such an outing. He won't.
"I watch film, but I don't like to over-analyze,'' Buchholz said.
"It gets you thinking you can't throw certain pitches in certain counts to certain hitters. I've never operated that way.''
Manager Bobby Valentine called the outing "perplexing,'' because he thought Buchholz made many good pitches.
He also said Buchholz was "still building'' after missing most of 2011 with a back injury. The pitcher wasn't buying it.
"I feel 100 percent healthy. Last year has nothing to do with it,'' Buchholz said.
So what does? Buchholz looked downcast, and Valentine, quite frankly, looked dazed.
"Anybody can say it's the wrong pitch if they hit it, but (the problem was that) I was missing up in the zone,'' Buchholz said.
The results explain why some fans were chanting "Tito, Tito,'' for Terry Francona, the former manager who returned for the pregame ceremonies.
His former team is in turmoil. The Red Sox lost to Ivan Nova (3-0), whose victory streak of 15 straight decisions is the longest in baseball.
Boston had 10 hits, but the inconsistent offense left Valentine at a loss for answers.
"It just seems like that middle-inning rally builder, that blooper or tweener or whatever it is, it's finding the outfielders,'' he said.
"The line drives weren't high enough to take advantage of the wind.''
The Yankees did not have that problem. One consolation for Boston might be that Fenway's inaugural game in 1912 ended in a victory over New York, only to have most of the next century go sour.
Maybe losing the anniversary game will consequently usher in a new century of success, but this team looks anything but poised for glory right now.
"We're working on getting it together. We're still a very talented team,'' Valentine said.
"No matter how hot you start, it's how you finish that will get you to where you want to be,'' Buchholz said.
Right now, the Red Sox are nowhere close to that point. Even a birthday bash could not break the mood.
"(The ceremony) before the game was spectacular,'' Valentine said. "But it's a downer now.''