NEW YORK — It is not merely that the Red Sox are losing one game after another. They have spent the better part of their month-long collapse having seemingly never been in the game.

The Sox remained true to that form in Game 1 of Sunday’s day-night double header, falling behind by a 2-0 count with a succession of sloppy plays in the bottom of the first inning, marking the 13th time in 14 games in which the opponent has scored first.

That ugly frame in many ways encapsulated this month’s Red Sox: Two bunt singles, two walks, two steals, an error on one of the steal attempts in which the catcher fumbled the transfer from glove to hand to permit the first run to score, a passed ball, a run-scoring wild pitch.

It was an ugly display that typified one of the ugliest stretches in Red Sox history. The rest of the game offered little reprieve, as the Sox lineup did nothing against Yankees starter A.J. Burnett in an eventual 6-2 loss.

The Sox are now 5-18 in the month of September, with a .217 winning percentage that would rank as the second worst in team history, ahead only of a 4-18 year-ending skid in 1926. Translated to a 162-game schedule, the Sox are playing at a level this month that would project to a 35-127 record.

It has been a month of play that has been unfathomably bad, in a collapse that has been unfathomably far-reaching. The Sox were up by nine games on the Rays in the wild card race on Sept. 2. Now, that lead is down to just a half game in a matter of after the Rays’ 5-2 win over the Blue Jays, and the possibility that the two teams could be tied in the wild card by the end of Sunday if the Sox lose the second half of the double header to the Yankees.

The Sox have not looked like a playoff team this month. They have barely looked like a major league team this month. And at a time when they face a scenario where they need to start winning games, they have been playing like a team incapable of producing either the offense, pitching or defense needed to do so.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE RED SOX

–In what may have been the final start of his big league career, Tim Wakefield proved unable to stem the tide of horrible starting pitching. The knuckleballer allowed a pair of runs (one earned, one unearned) in the first, then gave up two more on a Jorge Posada homer in the third before another unearned run led to his exit in the fifth.

Wakefield gave up five runs (three earned) in four-plus innings on five hits and five walks. He has allowed at least three runs in 16 straight starts, the longest such streak of his career. It was the ninth time this month that a Sox starter has failed to record an out in the fifth inning. The Sox rotation has a 7.32 ERA for the month, helping to explain why the team is now 1-17 in games in which it scores fewer than 12 runs.

If that was indeed Wakefield’s final big league game, he will wrap up his career with 200 victories, 186 of which have come with the Sox.

–Jarrod Saltalamacchia continued his struggles with the knuckleball, especially in a two-run Yankees first inning that immediately put the Sox on their heels. In that frame, the Yankees stole a pair of bases, advanced on a wild pitch and again on a passed ball (giving the catcher 26 passed balls this year, most in the AL) and also scored when Saltalamacchia lost the handle transferring the ball from glove to hand on another steal attempt, resulting in an error on the catcher.

Saltalamacchia has generally earned high marks for his work with Wakefield this year, but it is noteworthy that Wakefield has permitted more passed balls (23) and more unearned runs (21) than in any other season in his 19-year big league career.

Saltalamacchia also went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, leaving him with a .164 average and .571 OPS in September, along with an astonishing 24 strikeouts and one walk in 62 plate appearances.

–Carl Crawford continued his inexplicably disappointing defensive season (a subject explored at further length here). In the bottom of the fifth inning, he got caught in between trying to make a play on a Derek Jeter liner to left and waiting back to play the ball on a hop. The result was that he let the ball fall and skip by him or an error that permitted Jeter to advance to second and later score an unearned run on a single.

–Though Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game with a single, he was quickly erased when A.J. Burnett caught him napping at first. Ellsbury was cut down easily when he took off for second, marking the 15th time this year he has been caught stealing in 53 attempts. Not only do the 15 caught stealings represent a new career-high, but Ellsbury’s stolen base success rate of 71.7 percent is actually slightly worse than the American League average of 72.1 percent.

–Adrian Gonzalez grounded into a pair of double plays, giving him an AL-leading 28 on the season, the most by a Red Sox since Jim Rice had 35 in 1985.

–Scott Atchison came in one day after logging 2 1/3 scoreless innings and delivered another strong relief performance, recording four more outs without permitting a run. He now has a 1.50 ERA in 12 innings this month, and it’s not a stretch to suggest that he’s been the Sox’ best pitcher in September.

However, Atchison’s outing came to an abrupt halt when he left the game while warming up for the bottom of the eighth inning. He left the mound immediately after shaking his arm following a warm-up pitch, raising concern about a serious injury.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE RED SOX

–Ellsbury launched his 29th and 30th homers of the season, becoming the first 30/30 player in Red Sox history while also reaching 100 RBI for the year. It was part of a three-hit day that continued an incredible September. He leads the majors in extra-base hits in the month with 17, and he is now hitting .374 with six homers and a 1.093 OPS this month.