BOSTON — If the Red Sox lose the division, don’t call it a collapse. Don’t compare this team to 2011's, unless you're talking about the most basic commonalities: there was a lead in September and they didn’t hold it.

The Sox have never been head and shoulders better than the Yankees, at least not since the season got rolling. The Sox soared in August while the Yanks were trying to coax Aaron Judge out of a prolonged slump. 

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The 2011 Sox had the majors’ best offense, just as the 2016 version did. If you entered September believing these Sox, the 2017 version, would run away with the division, you have already realized your folly.

Don’t be too sad. Who doesn’t enjoy a little down-to-the-wire jockeying?

Nonetheless, you should have known better. The smoke-and-mirrors trick the Sox offense pulled off in August was pretty convincing, though. 

Eduardo Nunez will prove human, and has started to. Rafael Devers has hit a point where there’s reason to wonder if he’d start at third base in any potential playoff games. Christian Vazquez was otherworldly.

So at a certain point — now, yesterday, three months ago — it comes down to Hanley Ramirez, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts. Andrew Benintendi has carried his weight, and Jackie Bradley Jr.’s been on and off, but a better performer than both Betts and Bogaerts offensively. 

“Just not being consistent,” Betts said Monday after a 1-for-5 performance in a 10-4 loss to the Blue Jays. “Not swinging at good pitches. I mean, pretty much doing a whole bunch of things you’re not supposed to do.”

The starting pitching has been a rock all year. To think now that it's truly falling apart is over the top. The rotation has been a bedrock, and that's reason to believe in the group on a whole — even if Porcello’s proclivity for allowing home runs is distressing.

“Our guys are well aware of where we stand and what's transpired particularly over the last couple of weeks,” John Farrell said. “We're going through a stretch here where a couple turns through the rotation have been not as consistent and when we fall behind early in ballgames, the difficulty in being able to dig out of some of those holes is there. Of late, and this is probably more surprising than anything, is the number of balls that are going out of the ballpark. That hasn't been there all year and the last couple of weeks, it's been more dramatic certainly.”

Porcello took full blame for Monday’s loss, and said the Sox got their rear ends handed to them. They did. He did, certainly, with 10 hits surrendered in 5 1/3 innings, including three home runs — one to a No. 9 hitter who entered the day batting .182.

It was the kind of game that, even in a sport that avoids the rah-rah, seemed to be begging for a team meeting. Farrell said the Sox had one just four days earlier, although declined to detail it.

“There has been one. That was as recently as four days ago,” Farrell said. “The thing that we do frequently is that when we prepare for a city, for a team, for an opponent, we do have an opportunity to meet and those are regular.”

Maybe yelling and screaming would do no good at this point. Hitting more would. 

The division’s far from locked up. If the Yankees grab it, don’t make comparisons to 2011. Those Sox looked like juggernauts. These Sox look like a good team that tricked people into thinking they're more.

TORONTO - Curtis Granderson hit a walk-off homer in the 10th inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays a 4-3 win over Boston on Tuesday night and hand the Red Sox their season-worst third straight defeat.

Boston (17-5) still owns the best record in the majors.

Granderson's third home run of the season came off Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel (0-1), a towering solo blast off the facing of the third deck in right field. He went 3 for 5 with three RBIs.

Tyler Clippard (3-0) worked a scoreless 10th for the win.

Blue Jays closer Roberto Osuna was handed a 3-1 lead in the ninth but allowed the Red Sox to tie it, his first blown save in seven chances.

Hanley Ramirez singled to begin the ninth, went to third on a one-out hit by Rafael Devers and scored on Eduardo Nunez's single to right. It was the first run off Osuna this season.

Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out and Nunez stole second before Christian Vazquez walked to load the bases for Brock Holt, who scored Devers with an RBI single to left. Left fielder Granderson threw out Nunez at the plate to prevent Boston from taking the lead.

Blue Jays left-hander J.A. Happ struck out a season-high 10 over seven innings. Happ walked none and allowed four hits and one run in his longest outing of the season.

Boston's Rick Porcello allowed three runs and three hits in seven innings. Porcello walked three, two more than he'd walked in his previous four starts combined, and struck out a season-high nine, including five straight in the third and fourth.

Porcello extended his scoreless innings streak to 14 by pitching around a one-out walk in the first but couldn't escape the second. The Blue Jays put runners at the corners with none out before Kevin Pillar opened the scoring with a fielder's choice grounder, with Steve Pearce coming home ahead of the throw by third baseman Devers.

Three batters later, Granderson hit a two-run single that bounced off Devers' glove and rolled into shallow left field.

Red Sox designated hitter J.D. Martinez went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts and is 0 for 11 with eight strikeouts over his past three games.

As Red Sox hitters swing earlier in counts, there doesn’t appear to be a comparable, broad change in philosophy on the pitching side. Their arms are doing just fine with personalized alterations (which, to be fair, have always been in place for hitters too). 

In his first year as pitching coach, Dana LeVangie presides over a staff that carried the third-best ERA in the majors entering Tuesday, 2.75.

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Rick Porcello’s throwing his changeup from a lowered arm slot while commanding both his sinker and his four-seam fastball better than last year, to great effect. 

Heath Hembree is throwing his slider lower than he has before, per BrooksBaseball.net's figures, and he’s getting more whiffs per swing on it than he has before, 43.75 percent. LeVangie noted that sliders with depth may be more effective than those with stronger lateral movement. 

Eduardo Rodriguez is healthy and he gained a much better feel for his changeup ahead of his most recent start. The list goes on.

“We just hammer in on guys attacking to their strengths and dominating to their strengths and dominating each pitch they throw,” said LeVangie, who was born in Brockton and has spent all 28 years of his pro baseball career with the Red Sox. “Everyone’s going to have failure at times, and we’re not going to panic because a guy doesn’t have success one day. We feel like every guy out in that bullpen has the ability to get outs, even later in the game. We trust. We trust guys. And that’s what it’s all about.”

Some Sox velocities have been down to begin the year, but LeVangie indicated no alarm. Chris Sale is sitting at 93 mph this season, although that includes one start in weather Sale said was the worst he had pitched in. He averaged 95 mph in April 2017, and he sat at 95 in his most recent start.

“I think he sees the big picture,” LeVangie said of Sale. “That he can still compete in April, not showing 97 consistently, and maybe that lasts to the end of the season.

“He controls his throwing program really well. He’s not a big thrower in bullpens. … Doesn’t overthrow. Takes days off, days after he pitches. Goes about it the right way.”

Craig Kimbrel, who missed most of spring training, never had a month averaging below 98 mph in 2017 and sits at 96 mph now. Not that it’s hurt his effectiveness: he hasn’t allowed an earned run and has 10 strikeouts in eight innings.

"Yeah I mean, I think you can look at a lot of our guys, you know velocities might be down a little bit,” LeVangie said when asked about David Price, who’s sitting at 93 mph, down a full tick. “But you know, maybe a month or two from now, when they start getting into [summer], things will increase. Craig’s velocity is down. I mean, in a matter of month or so it’s going to be back where it needs to be. David’s just in a really good spot right now.”

Elevated from bullpen coach to pitching coach as the Sox transitioned from John Farrell to Alex Cora, LeVangie said he does all the same things that he used to. The 48-year-old’s placement during the game is naturally different, and he’s generally communicating a little more with the starters than he had before — more often in group settings rather than one on one.

Both he and Cora are filling their respective roles for the first time in the majors. Their frequency of communication in-game, a matter of preference where there’s no right or wrong choice, is better described as intermittent than nonstop.

“It’s leading up to a guy’s pitch count,” LeVangie said, “the match-ups that we feel are best. And we sort of go over it beforehand so we’re not caught off guard heading into it.”

As a staff holdover, LeVangie is better positioned than most to explain the difference for the 17-4 Sox compared to a year ago. As a group, the 2018 Sox have at times looked unstoppable. A focus on the players not as a unit, but as individuals — from everything from mechanics to long-term goals — seems a driving force behind what amounts to a group effort.

“Most everyone pulling in the same direction. Most everybody’s rooting for one another to have success,” LeVangie said. “There’s a lot of talk in the dugout during the game. There’s a lot of communication during, before, about individuals, and not just team. And there’s just a lot of guys buying in and we got a really good team.”

It’s unrealistic for everything to always be about the team and not the individual. Take Drew Pomeranz, for example. Cora and LeVangie both noted the importance of Pomeranz being extra careful returning from injury as an impending free agent. As important as Pomeranz is to the 2018 Sox, this season will have a ripple effect on the rest of his career earnings.

“It comes with patience,” LeVangie said of Pomeranz’s continued ability to return from forearm injuries. “Because Drew likes to compete and it was really important that, as a group, we talked about the patience that he needs to make sure that he’s going about this the right way. I mean, it’s his career. 

“Yeah, his success for us is really important. But also going into free agency, he’s got to go about this the right way. Him going about having patience and making sure he goes through the whole process was the right approach.”

It was the staff’s choice to be cautious and pull another lefty, Price, who had a circulation issue on a cold night against the Yankees. He couldn’t grip the ball. Theoretically, they could have forced Price to stay out there and eat innings, but that wouldn’t have been smart for anyone. 

The numbness Price felt is not something the Sox can definitively prevent in the future.

“That’s a hit or miss, because it doesn’t happen all the time. And it’s happened only twice,” LeVangie said. “Once in Detroit, once here. So it’s something that doesn’t come all the time, but you just never know. Our training staff does a tremendous job with every one of those guys. But they’re constantly communicating with those guys during the game, keeping ‘em hot, as hot as possible. Heat packs, rub downs during the game. Constant.”

One other example of the individual’s needs showing up? Kimbrel’s usage. Not using him in the eighth inning (and just the eighth inning) is in part an appeal to the importance of other relievers.

“Me personally, getting four outs, yeah,” LeVangie said when asked if Kimbrel could come in for the eighth. “To lead off the eighth? I want to believe and trust that our eighth-inning guys, our seventh-inning guys, can get those guys out. Because the longer we can trust those guys, it pays off big time down the stretch. Because we can’t win this thing by one guy. And I’m not sure how many relievers pitched in the eighth inning last year with Craig’s [stuff], who he is. Not too many. And it usually only happens maybe September or October when it does happen."

The eighth inning does present a different challenge than the ninth, LeVangie said.

“What’s the panic of the hitter in the eighth inning to the ninth inning? The eighth inning could be tougher," LeVangie said. "Those last three outs, guys have the willingness to expand the strike zone a little bit more because it’s on the line. The game’s not on the line at times in the eighth inning. The zone’s become a little bit more [tight] because they know they have a chance in the ninth. Koji [Uehara outside the ninth] had a tough time. Guys who live outside the strike zone, it’s a little bit tougher because they have three more outs to get.”

Kimbrel is so dominant, though, it’s hard to imagine him struggling because of an inning. Consider one other point, though: he’s on track to be one of the greatest of all-time. 

The righty is four saves shy of 300 for his career, with a 91.1 percent success rate (296 of 325 opportunities). Amongst pitchers with at least 300-plus saves, that mark would be tops. Mariano Rivera and Joe Nathan own the highest save percentage at the moment, at 89.1.

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The Red Sox are paying attention to what matters to the individual. Like Pomeranz, Kimbrel is a free agent after the season. And saves matter to him.

"Oh yeah, no question, no question,” LeVangie said. “Craig wants to win a World Series, but he also wants to get in the Hall of Fame. And he’s going to get in the Hall of Fame. We just need to win a World Series for him."