With more salacious headlines, more hints of dysfunction and more evidence of unhappiness, on the surface it seemed this was another horrible week for the Boston Red Sox.

There was the Yahoo! Sports report revealing the details of a meeting in New York last month at which a number of players said they no longer wanted to play for Manager Bobby Valentine. There was the word from a Cincinnati television station that half his ex-Boston teammates came up to just-traded catcher Kelly Shoppach and said they wished they were going with him as he was leaving for New York.

Oh, yeah, then there was the losing, which sent the Sox into the weekend as far back in the wild-card race as they’ve been all season.

But it’s widely believed the first step in fixing a problem is admitting it actually exists.

And, if that’s true, this past week might actually be the one Red Sox Nation remembers as the week things finally started getting better.

It could be remembered as the week ownership finally moved past the absenteeism, excuse-making and blind denial that defined their involvement in the 12-month period that have transformed their organization from paradigm to pathetic, and finally made a public acknowledgement that things haven’t met a standard worthy of their fans. That things aren’t functioning properly.

And, most importantly, that things have to change.

“I understand that when the team isn’t playing up to our standards that issues are going to be sensationalized,” Red Sox owner John Henry said in the final paragraph of his Wednesday statement. “But what is important for Red Sox fans to know is that ownership, players and all staff especially Bobby Valentine are determined to turn around what has thus far been an unacceptable, failed season.

“We are all on the same page in that regard and will not waver.”

Using words like “unacceptable” and “failed” are important acknowledgements because Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino are in the end the only people with the power necessary to enact the major changes the franchise needs — yet to this point they’ve hesitated to flex that might.

They moved on from their manager, but had apparently made that decision even before things turned sour last September, considering they’d previously neglected to pick up the option years on his contract. They didn’t stand in the way of Theo Epstein taking a job with the Cubs. They made the obvious choice in hiring successor-in-waiting Ben Cherington to replace Epstein as general manager.

Yes, they overruled Cherington and hired Bobby Valentine as their new field manager — but even that decision was based on the veteran and high-paid composition of their club. They were convinced baseball’s worst-ever final-month collapse was an aberration, not an indication of some fatal flaws, and opted to leave the core of the roster essentially intact. When that didn’t work, either, they blamed injuries and misfortune in a tone-deaf letter to season ticketholders.

Lucchino signed his name to the excuses and lower standards voiced in that letter, then Thursday in Baltimore he suggested the cynicism evident in the media isn’t reflected by the fans, another indication that he doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of a fanbase currently living somewhere between disgust and disinterest. But there is some speculation that Lucchino may not be back next year in his capacity as club president/chief executive officer. So it’s more important that Henry, and Werner, and anyone else who’ll hold the ultimate authority in the makeover that’ll take place this winter understand the failures of the past, the reality of the present and the critical nature of the near future.

And this week, if Henry’s statement was indeed sincere, there was finally evidence that they are.

They didn’t deny or run from the Yahoo! report of their meeting with the players, instead confirming that it happened and noting that they’ve held such meetings with the team throughout their ownership tenure. And not only does that go against the idea that this was an attempted mutiny led by Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez, it also indicates a consistency with the way they’ve operated for a decade. All in all, a very successful decade.

And that’s important to remember. As bad as things have been during the last year, over the nine before they are the same guys who established Boston as a model franchise — and so any indication that they’re returning to those ways is at least a little bit of reason to think they’re starting to find their way back.

At their best, this was an ownership that understood the business of baseball, not merely the business of filling seats and fattening wallets. There was accountability at all levels of the organization. There was involvement. There were bold decisions. There were fearless choices. There was a commitment to excellence. And there were no excuses for failure.

There was no question that winning wasn’t just the priority — it was the only acceptable outcome. The fans honored that approach with eight years of sellouts. The club rewarded that loyalty with two World Series titles and playoff berths in six of seven seasons. And though last week those good times felt so far away, at last there were words to suggest a return the decision makers are aware that it’s time to start looking for the road back.

Of course, the actions that come next will speak far louder than any words.

But admission was the one that needed to be first.

- - - - - - - -

After Friday night, the Yankees had out-homered the Red Sox 28-9 in head-to-head play this year, accounting for 44 of the 73 runs New York had scored in winning seven of the first 10 meetings between the teams. That’s 60.3 percent of the runs they’ve scored.

- - - - - - - -

STAT OF THE WEEK: In the 365 days leading up to Friday, the Red Sox had a 74-85 record – the fourth-most losses in the American League (fewer than Cleveland’s 88, Seattle’s 90 and Minnesota’s 98), as well as the eighth-most in baseball.

- - - - - - - -

Dave D’Onofrio covers the Red Sox for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is ddonof13@gmail.com.
Dave D’Onofrio covers the Red Sox for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is ddonof13@gmail.com.