If they Yankees had their act together, Boston could be on the verge of pulling the plug on another season

It's no longer May. Theoretically, the games now count.

Thus far, the Boston Redsocks have been as soft as a football thrown by Tom Brady. (Badaboom.) They have now lost six of seven, following up a the weekend's 8-0 spanking by Texas with a dreadful, walk-off loss last night to Josh Hamilton's rehab clinic, the feeble and fumbling Rangers.

If the AL East had a solid team - just one - Boston could be looking at a hopeless deficit, and be on the verge of cutting bait for the season... And nobody cuts and runs like the Redsocks.

But Boston can thank its division for the 2014 pennant race. The Redsocks remain just four games out of "first place" in the AL East. The final Wild Card spot may look like an impossible dream, but a good two weeks against the midgets of the East could vault Boston right into the lead. They have played horribly - without paying much of a price.

Meanwhile, the Yankees have used the mediocre division as an excuse to stick with Carlos Beltran, Stephen Drew, Chris Young and the zany bullpen reality show cast of "19 and Counting." The general rule of the Yankees seems to be that rookies get 15 at bats to prove themselves... while veterans get 15 weeks.

Still, we might look back on April and May as the time when the Yankees squandered a chance to put their rivals in the dust. Every time Boston blows a game like last night - and yet we fail to capitalize - I'm not sure which team lost more.