NEW YORK — In one weekend, the Red Sox saw their manager remain under heavy fire, their former backup catcher get involved in a text message scandal, and one of their highest-paid players express his desire to have season-ending surgery ... and that was all before they squandered another opportunity to revive a disappointing season.

Yet, even after the Red Sox fell, 4-1, to the Yankees on Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, manager Bobby Valentine refused to look at it as anything more than just another weekend in a long season.

“We're in basically the same place as we were coming into the game,” he said. “One game different from we were coming into this game. Like I said, we gotta get it going.”

The problem is they are running out of time to get it going. The Red Sox dropped to four games below .500 and are now 7½ games behind Baltimore, with three teams between them, for the second wild-card spot. Add the turmoil surrounding the team and it makes for one unhappy clubhouse, which was quiet and nearly empty after Sunday night's game.

“We just got to play one game at a time,” said Josh Beckett, who took the loss after allowing four runs in six innings. “You can't really worry about that stuff. We need a lot of things to happen now. We have to play better and we have to have some teams fall off.”

The weekend did come with some good news for the Red Sox. David Ortiz, who hasn't played since July 16, hopes to return this week.

“It's difficult,” Ortiz said of the Red Sox situation. “We're in the last quarter of the season. We definitely want to be able to win some games ... Hopefully, things change.”