BOSTON -- And this is supposed to be the new face of the franchise for the foreseeable future?

It can be argued that Hanley Ramirez is the worst left fielder the Boston Red Sox have ever had, taking Manny Ramirez off the hook for eternity, and after a burst of 10 home runs in the season's first month has become, at least temporarily, a singles hitter. He also forgot how many outs there were in the seventh inning of a tie game, running into an avoidable tag play at third, butchered another line drive in a catastrophic ninth inning and displayed a brazen lack of awareness -- or indifference, which is more likely -- toward the town in which he plays by evaporating from the clubhouse without addressing any of his failings in Thursday's 8-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins.

Pablo Sandoval has come as affable as advertised, full of good cheer, a likeable clubhouse presence, and with a work ethic that received the Mike Napoli stamp of approval, no small thing. He was out for early work before Thursday's game. But Sandoval has lost his way at the plate, especially against left-handed pitchers, and suddenly can't field his position, either. For the second time in four days, he made two errors in a game, and in each instance botched a ninth-inning play that led directly to a Red Sox loss.

Hanley Ramirez is tagged out by the Twins' Trevor Plouffe during a seventh-inning rundown Thursday. Winslow Townson/Getty Images

Unlike Ramirez, Sandoval, with a little coaxing from the Sox PR staff, answered for his actions Thursday. So did 23-year-old catcher Blake Swihart, who should have been celebrating his first big-league home run but instead was called upon to relive his low throw to third base in the ninth inning, the one that skipped through Sandoval's 5-hole like Patrice Bergeron slipping the puck through the legs of a Maple Leafs goalie. As did third-base coach Brian Butterfield, who walked out of the coaches' room into the middle of the clubhouse so he could answer to why he sent Napoli home on Xander Bogaerts' single in the seventh, an ultimately futile mission.

Ramirez and Sandoval were supposed to be the $183 million difference-makers, yoked to David Ortiz in a feel-good "Three Amigos" scenario endlessly promoted by the Sox, one that promised a powerhouse offense and a re-energized clubhouse after 2014's last-place finish.

Instead, all three are at the center of a vortex of cynicism enveloping this underachieving team, one that seems constitutionally incapable of righting itself and is rapidly turning off its most loyal supporters. Ramirez has been a disaster afield, and if he is putting in lots of extra work in left, the way Jim Rice did when he first came to the Sox, he must be doing so under the cover of darkness. Ortiz is on a pace to hit 18 home runs, the fewest he has hit since 2001. Sandoval has a .239/.306/.352/.658 slash line that easily ranks him as the worst third baseman in a division that includes Manny Machado, Evan Longoria, Josh Donaldson and Chase Headley.

One season-ticket holder said that as he was leaving the park Thursday, he happened to run into Sox CEO Larry Lucchino. "I said, 'Larry, that was pathetic,''' the fan said. "He kept going. I said, 'I'm a season-ticket holder.' He turned around, came back to me, and said, 'I'm sorry.'''

Sorry, indeed. Red Sox manager John Farrell, in an exercise of barely contained fury, was uncharacteristically blunt in his postmortem, one in which he cited the team's "physical and mental errors" and a "lapse of concentration.''

"That's the only [way] I can explain it right now,'' he said. "They're routine plays, plays that guys have made throughout their careers consistently. That was not on display today.'' Farrell confirmed that Ramirez thought there were two outs when he jogged into third baseman Trevor Plouffe's tag in the seventh, and left no doubt that he felt Sandoval should have handled Swihart's throw, even if it was low.

"Not a difficult short hop,'' he said. "Unfortunately, it gets through Pablo and gives them the go-ahead run.''

Sandoval concurred to reporters that he should have made the play, then fended off questions about whether he was comfortable here -- "I feel comfortable, why do you ask me that?'' -- whether he was hurt -- "Everything's fine. I'm good." -- and whether he felt his approach was the right one -- "Been tough, up and down. I try to do the best I can.''

"It is, like I said, rough,'' said Sandoval, whose subpar play is practically begging for another discussion about his weight, the kind of stuff that dogged him when he was in San Francisco but will be renewed with far greater intensity here if he doesn't begin to play better. "I've got to keep my head up, keep working hard. Nothing is going to be easy.''

Butterfield made no apologies for electing to send Napoli on a mad dash to the plate after momentarily halting him at third. He didn't say so, but he could have easily noted that an attempted first-to-home journey by Napoli would have been unnecessary if Ramirez hadn't lost count and had remained at second. He also didn't mention that the next hitter was Sandoval, who was 0-for-9 in the series and 7-for-60 (.117) since May 12.

"The thing we impress on our players is, 'Stay aggressive,''' said Butterfield, who in Napoli was willing to take a chance on the team's best baserunner, even if he is not the fastest. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Today's case we ran into some outs and it didn't work.

"But you know what? This is a league where it's back to the drawing board, and we're going to get after it tomorrow.'' But tomorrow isn't going to bring a new left fielder. Farrell, asked how long he would be able to tolerate such subpar play in left, and if so, was it because his hands were tied, all but admitted it was the latter. As long as Ortiz is the DH, he said, "one has to get on the field.''

As he has said repeatedly, Farrell labeled Ramirez a "work in progress," but Thursday he added a caveat.

"We've got work to do,'' Farrell said. "There's no denying it. There is no one skirting around that. We've got to anticipate more and begin to expect more.''

Because when a manager talks about such things as a "lapse in concentration," he knows he is treading treacherous territory. An unfocused clubhouse? The blame for that often falls on the manager, as Farrell experienced in Toronto. Owner John W. Henry may have come out in full support of Farrell just two days ago, but both within the clubhouse and without, he is being closely watched on how he reconciles issues that could easily turn toxic.

That's why he didn't hesitate when asked if he takes it personally.

"Absolutely,'' Farrell said. "That was a poor display of baseball today. Those situations are addressed individually, they're addressed collectively, and we'll continue to do so.''

But as long as the center remains hollow, all talk merely bounces off of unforgiving walls.