Down ... and out?

The room all but emptied, the margin for error all but exhausted, an otherwise ineffective David Ortiz lumbered through the Boston clubhouse late last night wearing jeans, a black T-shirt and a carefree smile.

So Manny Ramirez may be in Los Angeles now, but his philosophy lives on here in Boston, where the Red Sox now find themselves in a familiar circumstance. All things considered, the Sox probably would be better off with Manny's bat instead. It was roughly a year ago at this time that the Sox faced a 3-1 deficit against the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series, when Ramirez sat in the visiting clubhouse at Progressive Field and shared his philosophies on survival as if he were a baseball Aristotle.

Among his pearls:

"If we go play hard and the thing doesn't come like it's supposed to come, we'll move on. We'll come next year. Why should we panic? We've got a great team. If it doesn't happen, good. We'll come next year and try to do it again."

And:

"We're just going to go and play the game, like I've said, and move on. If it doesn't happen, so who cares? ... It's not like the end of the world or something."

Of course, what the Red Sox say is one thing; what they believe is something altogether different. In overcoming a 3-1 series deficit against the Indians last season before rumbling to their second world title in four years, the Red Sox believed they were as good, or better, than the team they were facing. They believed they could come back. One of the primary issues now is whether the Red Sox truly believe they can similarly rise up against what appears to be a superior Tampa Bay team, particularly with a seemingly wounded Josh Beckett and a weary Jon Lester.

Last night, after a 13-4 pasting at the hands of the Rays in a defeat nothing short of a public humiliation, the Red Sox clubhouse was a mix of frustration, anger and disgust. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Yet there also seems an unmistakable air of inevitability in the home locker room, though maybe it is simply an air of inferiority. Deep down, the Red Sox seem to know they are up against a club that is better, faster, stronger and hungrier, and rest assured that there is positively no chance of beating the Rays if the Sox cannot overcome self-doubt first.

"If you're a fan of the Red Sox, you've seen this before and you've seen victory before," said rookie pitcher Justin Masterson. "I know, on our side, we're going to continue to fight."

Most assuredly, they will.

But does that necessarily mean they can win?

For now, at least, we remain in an unprecedented era in Red Sox history. The Sox are currently participating in their fourth ALCS and their fifth postseason in the last six years, and they have heretofore stiffened at the most demanding times. Entering Game 5 of this ALCS, since the start of the 2003 season, the Red Sox are an astonishing 16-3 in postseason elimination games, those contests in which at least one team faced the end of its season. The club's only losses in such affairs came in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS (against the New York Yankees), Game 3 of the 2005 AL Divison Series (against the Chicago White Sox) and Game 3 of this year's ALDS (against the Los Angeles Angels).

Along the way, the Sox overcame series deficits of two games or greater in 2003 (ALDS, Oakland), 2004 (ALCS, New York) and 2007 (ALCS, Cleveland), giving great validity to the theory that they have succeeded in the past despite this kind of predicament.

Now come the obvious questions: Does this Red Sox team truly have anything in common with those clubs? Is Ortiz the same player? Is Jason Varitek? What about Beckett and, say, Mike Timlin? And with all due respect to rookie Masterson, what can he draw from any of those clubs other than the fact that he wears the same uniform?

Can these Red Sox really benefit from the experiences of other Sox teams?

"I think there's a sense of belief, absolutely," said Varitek. "That can't be taken away."

For all of that the Red Sox have accomplished over the last five or six seasons, one of their great strengths has been their ability to remain poised, unshaken, undeterred. Even at the worst times, their confidence never seemed to waver. When the Sox fell behind the Yankees by a 3-0 deficit in the 2004 ALCS, we knew they were better than that. Ditto for the 2007 club that faced a 3-1 deficit against the Indians. On both occasions, the Sox won a pivotal fifth game to extend the series, showing the kind of tenacity and resolve that is ultimately required of any world champion.

Now this club is on standing on winter's doorstep, reeling and wounded against what appears to be a superior opponent. On paper, if the Sox can get the series back to Tampa, they have Beckett and Jon Lester lined up for Games 6 and 7. In reality, as manager Terry Francona pointed out after Game 4, the Sox have offered up no answers for most anything the Rays have thrown at them, which cannot help but make you wonder if the Sox are fortunate to still be playing at all.

So far in this series, after all, the Red Sox have been outscored, 31-15. The simple truth is that Tampa could have won all four games. Extending that perspective to the ALDS against the Angels, the Red Sox really have not had an easy, comfortable win during this entire postseason to date. One could quite accurately argue that the Angels gave away the ALDS and the Sox are fortunate to have made it this far at all.

On Saturday, after an excruciating 9-8 loss to Tampa in Game 2 at Tropicana Field, the Red Sox seemed unusually drained and defeated. In retrospect, maybe we should have read into that more than we did. Boston's pitching is worn down, its lineup softened, its spirit damaged.

If there is indeed a dramatic comeback in this team, it is extremely well hidden.