With the bottom falling out of the Red Sox season as they’ve plunged to the bottom of the American League East, it’s no surprise that there has been a coinciding drop in NESN’s game ratings. Pretty sure the only people still tuning in are those curious whether Alfredo Aceves will attempt to maul Bobby Valentine the next time the manager tries to take him out of a game. In mid-July, when the Red Sox held a 43-43 record, NESN’s game telecasts were averaging a very respectable 7.5 household rating. In the two months since then, the Red Sox have gone 21-38, and that average rating has dropped to a
6.64. While the recent Yankees matchups have earned a nightly number in the 6s, there have also been some extremely low-rated games lately. Neither last Friday nor Saturday’s rain-delayed games against the Blue Jays rated higher than a
3.2, and last Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. start that went up against the Patriots opener pulled a
1.68 . . . Channel 4’s ratings for that Patriots opener were predictably huge, with a 19.6 rating, a 59.8 share, and 1,148,290 total viewers. The total viewership peaked at 3:30 p.m. with 1,317,140 tuning in, earning a 22.5 rating and a 63.7 share in that window.