Just like the sun late Sunday afternoon at Fenway, the Red Sox season is fading fast.

The fate of the 2010 Red Sox is all but sealed and they will almost certainly be watching the playoffs and World Series instead of participating. But Sunday was one of the ugliest losses of the season, rivaling the 6-5 loss to Toronto when the decline began. And in both cases, Jonathan Papelbon was the lead suspect at the scene of the crime.

There were plenty of dramatics. Victor Martinez drilling a 3-1 pitch from Mark Buehrle over the Green Monster for a two-run, go-ahead homer, the seven pitches from Jonathan Papelbon to Manny Ramirez in the first-ever meeting between two old teammates, which ended with, of all things, a hit batter.

There was the bloop hit by Carlos Quentin that turned into a run-scoring double with two outs in the ninth. That was followed by a sinking line drive by Ramon Castro that fell in front of a diving Ryan Kalish for the game-tying single.

Follow that up with appearances by Dustin Richardson and Robert Manuel, the last of which included a pair bases-loaded walks and you have the recipe for what happened Sunday afternoon as the sun was going down on the 2010 Red Sox.

And fans could not be blamed if they compared this Sunday afternoon with the Sunday afternoon last October against the Angels when Los Angeles completed a three-game ALDS sweep against the same pitcher.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX:

– This time Josh BeckettDID NOT have his best stuff in the opening three innings. He allowed six hits over the first three innings of work but Chicago only penalized him with one run in that stretch. That allowed the Red Sox righty to stay in the game until one out in the seventh.

– Red Sox pitchers continue to bumble on the mound. And we’re not talking about their pitches. We’re talking about the inability to field the position. All season long, Red Sox pitchers have had a hard time fielding their position cleanly. On Sunday, in the space of five minutes, Beckett threw wildly back to second base, allowing Omar Vizquel to reach third. And Daniel Bard, from the seat of his pants, threw errantly to Mike Lowell at first to allow a second run to cross the plate.

– Terry Francona has very little back-end bullpen left. He had to go to Daniel Bard in the seventh and Papelbon with one out in the eighth to rescue the game. Forty-eight pitches later, Papelbon was left to stare hopelessly into space from the dugout as Manuel walked in the two go-ahead runs.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX:

– The offense finally showed signs of life, and with two outs, no less. The clearest example of that was when Victor Martinez stepped to the plate with a runner on first and the Red Sox trailing 3-2 in the seventh. He drilled a 3-1 hanging pitch from Mark Buerhle over everything in left for his 14th homer of the season and a 4-3 Red Sox lead.

– After grazing Manny Ramirez with an inside fastball in the eighth to put runners on first and second with one out, Papelbon regained his focus, striking out Gordon Beckham looking and getting Juan Pierre to fly out to left to end the threat. Then, of course, came the ninth.

– Adrian Beltre again shows he’s 2010 MVP. He had three hits, joining Darnell McDonald, also with three hits, as the team leaders on the day.