Hope? Nope.

      Like the fabulous Opening Day win in Philly, the weekend's three-game sweep of the A's and the 7-run eighth inning on Sunday was a mirage in the hot, dry desert that is the Red Sox 2015 season.   After Monday's off-day, the horribly inconsistent offense ruined another great outing by Eduardo Rodriguez.   Tonight, Sandoval and Porcello showed off their epic bust potential, the former by getting stupid on the basepaths trying to stretch a single into a double (after Xander was out for doing the very same thing) and the latter by giving up 5 runs.   Heaven forbid they actually carry forth some momentum after pulling off their first series sweep of the season.  
   
       Of course, the team they swept, the Oakland A's, have an even worse record than the Red Sox, so it's not as if they swept a contending team like Twins, Astros, or (shudder) Yankees.   The Red Sox are, even if their record doesn't show it yet, by far the worst team in the division.  Most of the time, they play as if they would rather not win.   There are bright spots on this team (Pedey, Xander, Holt, EdRod, and, for the most part, Buchholz) but the guys who were supposed to carry the offense and hit for power (Hanley, Ortiz Sandoval, Napoli) have an all-or-nothing approach at the plate and have failed miserably, except for Hanley in April.   Ortiz, sad to say, looks washed up, as does Napoli.  Sandoval (He's not Panda to me until he plays better) looks like something out of the Carl Crawford/Edgar Renteria book.  Joe Kelly, Wade Miley, and Clay Buchholz have been more consistent than Rick Porcello (is he the pitching version of Crawford?).   Mookie is suffering from Sophomore Slump.   Rusney is raw at the plate and in the field.  

       Most of the disinterested and unfocused play falls on the players themselves, but poor leadership from the field coaches as well as the front office and ownership should be held accountable too.   Fundamentals are lacking across the board and they are heading for their third losing, last-place finish in four years.  This ownership team did a great job of bringing the Red Sox three world series championships in 10 years and they had the Red Sox competing for the better half of the 2000s, but the 2010s, with the exception of 2013, have been a different story and it's fair to wonder whether the days of the Red Sox being a consistent contender are behind them as long as Fenway Sports Group is at the helm.