Get ready for more nights like Tuesday night.
The ugly extra-inning loss in Miami may be a sign of things to come -- and not in a good way, of course.
The Red Sox bullpen allowed five runs over the final five innings and at times, seemed incapable of recording an out against a poor team with a less-than-fearsome lineup.
With Koji Uehara gone for the remainder of the season and Junichi Tazawa seemingly miscast as his replacement as the team's closer, the bullpen looks worse than it's been all year. And that was already bad to beginwith.
No leads is safe when the likes of Tommy Layne, Craig Breslow and Ryan Cook are entrusted to protect it. Looking for reinforcements in September as rosters expand? Here are the pitchers on the 40-man roster the Sox could call up: Jonathan Aro, Matt Barnes, Edwin Escobar, Heath Hembree, and Noe Ramirez.
Feeling any better?
The Red Sox' collective bullpen ERA of 4.04 is 23rd in all of baseball and some of the other metrics are worse.
Obviously, the team's won-loss record from here on out is rather irrelevant. Whether the Red Sox lose 90 games, 95 or even 100 is academic.
But that doesn't mean the final six weeks are going to be easy to watch.