KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The standings show that the Boston Red Sox are two games behind the New York Yankees in the American League East, which happens to be the most games they have been out of first place all year.

That is hardly an insurmountable gap, especially with 52 games remaining, including nine games head-to-head with the Yankees.

And inside the Boston clubhouse, optimism still reins. The Red Sox are not giving up on the notion that they can dethrone the Yankees as A.L. East champions.

"We've been up by two or three games and now we're down by a couple. I think it will seesaw back and forth," said second baseman Mark Loretta after Sunday's stunning 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Besides, there is always the wild-card route to the postseason, the path the Red Sox have taken the last three years, leading to their first World Series crown in 86 years, in 2004.

"There's nothing wrong with getting in as the wild card. There are a lot of guys with (World Series) rings who were wild cards. The important thing is just to get into the playoffs. It doesn't matter how you do it," said third baseman Mike Lowell, who, along with his Florida Marlins, won the World Series in 2003 as wild-card entrants.

Such clubhouse talk is all well and good, not to mention expected.

But, while eight weeks still remain in the season, this is a critical time for the Boston Red Sox. Their postseason hopes could very well get away from them unless they can reverse the downward spiral that has begun to claim the Sox for a variety of reasons.

One reason is the Yankees. At the trading deadline, New York strengthened itself with the acquisitions of Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle and Craig Wilson while the Red Sox stuck to their organizational guns and refused to part with young pitching talent to bolster the roster for the here and now.

That may be a terrific organizational decision for the future, but that decision, which was accompanied by the unexpected disabling injuries to Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek and the injuries to Lowell and Doug Mirabelli that all happened in a week for Boston, has left the Sox reeling, dealing with several issues.

Suddenly, the Red Sox find themselves hard-pressed to beat the lower-echelon teams, as evidenced by their play the last week.

They could only thank the baseball gods for the Indians' Fausto Carmona, who imploded twice against Boston (and again in Detroit) when called upon to save games in the ninth, or they could be even farther back in both playoff chases. Boston rallied for three last-at-bat wins in a week, thanks mostly to Mr. Clutch, David Ortiz, the Player of the Month for July, and the Player of the Week for last week.

The Red Sox split a four-game series at home with the disappointing Indians, who are 16 games under .500. Then they went on the road and dropped two of three to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, whose record is the second-worst in the A.L.

After yesterday's day off, Boston opens a three-game set with the Kansas City Royals, the team that is saddled with the league's worst record.

This is the time for Boston to make hay in the playoff races. Instead, the Red Sox have been falling back. They are a mediocre 12-12 since the All-Star break. The Yanks have gone 16-6 over the same time frame. And that gaudy .730 winning percentage at Fenway Park that Boston was boasting at the break? The Sox are only 8-7 (.533) at Fenway since the All-Star Game.

The problems are numerous, and not easy to fix.

The Sox are trying to find stop-gap solutions behind the plate in Varitek's absence. He may be back in three weeks or so, but in the meantime, when Doug Mirabelli (batting .184) is your best option on one healthy ankle, that's not a good thing.

Obtaining Javy Lopez was a desperation move, and maybe his 0-for-10 start isn't indicative of what he'll be able to offer offensively to the team, but he never has been regarded as a good defensive catcher. Greg Maddux, remember, didn't want to throw to him when Lopez was in his prime years as a catcher with Atlanta.

Ken Huckaby and Corky Miller? Decent enough catchers, but not much offensively.

And make no mistake, the Red Sox need offense. The great months of July and starts to August by Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, while impressive, have masked to some degree the fact that, outside of the consistent singles-hitting of Loretta, this team has struggled against the better pitchers.

Are they good enough to take advantage of the Seth McClungs, Brian Meadows, Fernando Cabreras and Fausto Carmonas of the world? Absolutely. But after playing the pitching-challenged Royals and then the Orioles at home, Boston's offense figures to get a much stiffer test in home series against Detroit and New York.

Coco Crisp was showing signs of productivity, but then he fanned four times Sunday. Kevin Youkilis's results lately have been inconsistent. Lowell, before he suffered a bruised left foot that knocked him out of the Tampa Bay series, has been in a steady decline for six weeks. Wily Mo Pena looks as if he has never seen an off-speed pitch. Alex Gonzalez took an 0-fer against the Devil Rays.

Of course, that's where the pitching staff has to be able to ride to the rescue. But the Sox also are faltering on the mound. Curt Schilling has been the most consistent starter, and he's 39 years old. Josh Beckett has won 13 games, but his earned-run average is 5.00, and he mystifyingly has served up a league-high 31 homers.

This is a team that has had to thrust a 22-year-old rookie, left-hander Jon Lester, into the number three role while 43-year-old David Wells tries to find his groove and the team crosses its fingers when veteran Jason Johnson takes the ball.

And the bullpen, outside of Jonathan Papelbon at the back end, is a mine field. Has Mike Timlin lost it at 40 years old, so many games over the last three years finally catching up to him along with Father Time? His velocity is down only a little bit, but enough to contribute to the four homers he has allowed in his last 5 2/3 innings.

Craig Hansen and Manny Delcarmen show flashes of dominance, but youthful inconsistencies, too. Julian Tavarez? Rudy Seanez? To whom can manager Terry Francona turn with any degree of confidence? Keith Foulke's return is looming, but is that a good thing? He wasn't especially solid when he was on the Sox' active roster earlier in the year.

Other reinforcements will be on the way. Nixon, maybe in a few weeks. Varitek, within a month. But they didn't exactly have major impact on the offense when they were healthy. And then there's Tim Wakefield, whose return would bolster the rotation.

In the meantime, the Sox are losing ground in the divisional race. They also are in a virtual dead heat with Chicago and Minnesota in the wild-card chase. A free-fall is looming. These are desperate times for the Red Sox, with no easy or confidence-boosting fixes on the immediate horizon.

skrasner@projo.com / (401) 277-7340