MLB

Red Sox not set to concede

Reality and the calendar hardly are BFFs for the Red Sox these days. After losing the opener of an admittedly important series to the Yankees, 10-3, at the Stadium Friday night, Boston is 11 ½ games in back in the AL East and 5 ½ games behind in the wild-card hunt.

So the Red Sox don’t want to look back.

“The first 100 games have been [terrible],” said Dustin Pedroia who delivered one of three solo homers by the Red Sox (49-51) against Yankees starter and winner Phil Hughes. “We’re two games under .500 and we’re the Boston Red Sox, so if anyone’s thrilled about where we’re at, we need to re-evaluate.”

Therefore, they’ll look ahead.

“We’ll turn it around,” manager Bobby Valentine said. “We’ll get on a good streak. We haven’t had our good streak yet. That’s the good news.”

Before the Yankees went out and put one more heel on Boston’s throat, Valentine stressed how the Red Sox were five games over .500 since a lousy start. Health was returning. Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford were back atop the order. David Ortiz was out of a walking boot, taking batting practice (“It went fine”) and talking about a Wednesday return.

BOX SCORE

Then came game No. 100, in which little went right. A potential multi-run first inning saw only Pedroia’s solo shot as a Cody Ross drive bounced over the fence for a ground rule double, denying Boston a second score. In the bottom of the first, Mark Teixeira barely avoided a double play as shortstop Mike Aviles made a tough, awkward turn at second.

“Teixeira, you have to give him credit for running out that ball, beating that double play,” Valentine said.

That brought in a run and extended the inning for Raul Ibanez, who slugged a two-run homer.

“I was really surprised he swung at it, one. And two, that he was able to get it out,” said Boston starter Aaron Cook. “I missed by 3 ½ feet. I left it up and away. He still hit it out.”

It was that kind of night. Another potential double-play grounder skipped through the middle in the third and led to another Yankees run. So the Red Sox are left to talk about survival.

“I think we can. … We’ve got great players. We just need to play good and we didn’t and their guys did,” Pedroia said. “We didn’t do anything. Our at-bats late in the game were not good. Swinging early in the count. Heck, if their eighth-inning guy is going to come in, let’s at least get 25-30 pitches so maybe he can’t pitch tomorrow. Do something productive. We’re not doing that.”

The calendar says 62 games remain for the Red Sox to get on that streak and at least make a wild-card run.

“This is a big series for us,” Ross said. “They’ve got a lot of energy over there. So do we. But sometimes, it gets taken out from under you. They are figuring out ways to win and we’re not.”