The Sox are 4-6 since Anthony's departure, having navigated the hairpin turns of three straight losses followed by three straight wins and then another three-game losing streak prior to Sunday's 6-4 win over the Yankees.

While they've averaged 4.1 runs per game since Anthony landed on the IL (19th in baseball from Sept. 3-14), they've been more susceptible to getting shut down. The Sox have been held to one run in three of the 10 games since Anthony's injury, matching the number of times they'd been held to an output that low in the prior 40 games.

"We have to be better offensively. Obviously no [Abreu], no [Anthony] -- it's a different group. It's a different lineup," manager Alex Cora conceded in the middle of the weekend series against the Yankees. "But the guys, they are able to execute. They've been here the whole season. They've been part of it. So I think they're capable of putting [up] better at-bats and getting the line moving."

That happened on Sunday night, at least during a six-run, first-inning eruption against Will Warren. But the rally proved a one-off, with the Sox getting shut out the remainder of the game.

Was that outburst a sign of restoration or an outlier? The Sox' path to the postseason may hinge on the answer.

There are obvious ways in which the lineup has been diminished without Anthony. The rookie became the primary leadoff hitter on July 27, against then-Dodgers starter Dustin May. In 27 games in that role, Anthony hit .340/.437/.566 with six home runs and 11 extra-base hits. The Sox had a player whose production was among the best in the game setting the tone and batting four or five times a night.

Unsurprisingly, the Sox have been unable to replicate that production without Anthony. In the 10 games with him on the injured list, Sox leadoff hitters have posted a modest .227/.260/.409 line, with the team having experimented with four options (righthanders Nate Eaton and Romy Gonzalez and lefthanders Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida).

Perhaps the most dramatic dropoff has been in Sox' ability to reliably work counts and get on base. The Sox have a .296 OBP over their last 10 games (23rd in MLB), with a 6.5 percent walk rate (27th).

Those numbers have been indicators of a poor approach, as the Sox have been swinging at pitches outside the strike zone (30 percent chase rate, sixth-highest in MLB) and taking pitches that are in it (63 percent swing rate on pitches in the zone, 24th in MLB).

Certainly, Anthony's absence has exacerbated the team's offensive deficiencies. That said, there are elements of the Sox' outage that have little to do with the rookie's absence -- and some that predate it.

In the 19 games preceding Anthony's trip to the injured list, the Sox had been held to three or fewer runs 11 times while averaging a modest 4.3 runs per game. A number of players already had started to see their production slide.

Ceddanne Rafaela has been in a hole since the All-Star break (.184/.236/.270). Yoshida (.236/.285/.333) has been one of the least productive DHs in baseball.

But Rafaela is streaky and Yoshida was coming back from a significant injury. Neither was expected to anchor the lineup (even though Rafaela did so during the 10-game winning streak to end the first half).

On the other hand, Alex Bregman was the team's best player for most of the first two months of the season. While he produced initially after rushing back from his quadriceps strain, he's been in a funk that dates to mid-August.

While the third baseman did manage to flip a homer off the Pesky Pole on Saturday -- snapping a 27-game homerless streak, the second-longest drought of his career -- the fact that he sneaked a ball out down the right-field line was hardly an indicator that his swing has been recalibrated.

Bregman's swing is typically geared to smash pitches to the pull side, an approach that would permit him to take advantage of the Wall.

Before Bregman landed on the injured list, 26 percent of his batted balls were liners or flies to left field. Since his return, that has dropped to 19 percent. His ground-ball rate has crept up from 37 percent pre-injury to 40.

Bregman's swing has been disconnected, with his top half pulling off the ball early and his bat dragging instead of his typically tight, compact swing that results in more productive contact -- something he acknowledged in discussing why he was more satisfied with fly outs to center field on Saturday than his opposite-field homer.

"My chest wasn't facing the left-field foul ball on my swing. I was actually on the baseball," said Bregman. "I think mechanically, [the swing] hasn't been great since I've been back. So, just working on getting the mechanics back honed in."

Bregman's .606 OPS in September ranks as one of the worst months of his career. But his track record suggests he's a candidate to give the team a steadying contributor over the final 12 games.

How is Roman Anthony's absence contributing to the Red Sox' recent offensive struggles? - The Boston Globe