Sports Redux: This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it.

On the outside looking in. After losing two out of three in Texas, the Red Sox are out of the playoff picture for the moment. It's a troubling time. Out batting is ineffective, our pitching (beyond Beckett and Lester) is shaky, and by our unofficial count, the Sox are 2-75 on the road this season. Not counting Baltimore.

We still have no idea what Junichi Tazawa is going to give us on any given day, so he'll fit right in. In his second start, he only went five innings, giving up ten hits, walking three, and spending most of those five innings in trouble. And we missed Daisuke. Meanwhile, the Rangers, who have traditionally been to pitching what Pauly Shore is to filmmaking, pretty much muffled the Red Sox bats - at least during scoring opportunites - in yesterday's 4-3 loss.

Jason Bay seems to have acquired a dark sarcasm since trading in his Canadian citizenship. "We should probably just pack up the season and call it a year, huh? Half-game back, might as well fold the tent," he grumped after the game. Victor Martinez chose a different attitude: "Who says we can't reel off 25 wins in September?" Well, the schedule-makers for one, who only gave the Sox 11 home games in the month. Taking the middle road was Mike Lowell, who said, "We still have a month and a half of baseball left and a chance to turn it around. I think we’ve got to look at it as that. But we can’t keep playing the way we are." We're not sure there's any place for rationality and measured optimism right now, Mike, but thanks.

Tony Massarotti is right there with a glass of cold water to throw on anyone who gets too excited. Even if they squeak into the playoffs, he says, they'll be too exhausted and too light on Beckett and Lester to go very far. He plays the 2005 card a lot. We'll see.

The Patriots roasted in yesterday's practice, losing two guys by the end of the day for heat-related issues. One guy who made it to the end was Tedy Bruschi, who's trying to adjust to being the old man of the defense. While we try to adjust to football season.