There’s a word beyond disappointment. There’s a word exceeding failure. There’s a word worse than disaster.
That word is collapse.
Ladies and gentleman, your 2011 Boston Red Sox. The epitome of the word.
For the Tampa Bay Rays to make the postseason, everything had to go right. For the Red Sox to miss the postseason, everything had to go wrong. Guess what?
Everything went wrong. And fast.
The Sox held a nine-game advantage over the Rays as of August 31. At 83-52, they led the American League East by half a game and needed to finish 17-10 to collect a 100 win season. That would have been only the third 100 win season in the franchise’s 111 year history. Not likely, but something to strive for beyond what seemed to be an assured postseason berth.
Then September happened. What turned into a chance to make franchise history for the Sox, turned into…well, baseball history.
After a 7-18 September filled with awful starting pitching (6.82 starter’s era), base-running blunders aplenty, blown leads, and crazy, unexplainable plays, the Sox were inexplicably caught by the Rays going into game 162.
However, things were looking up for Red Sox nation after the Yankees took a commanding 7-0 lead over the Rays into the 8th inning, and the Sox took a 3-2 advantage into the 7th against the Orioles.
As the Rays chipped away in the bottom of the 8th to the tune of six runs against Luis Ayala (highlighted by Evan “pitch to somebody else” Longoria’s three run bomb), the Red Sox held a 3-2 advantage heading into the late innings against the Orioles.
Boston would go into the bottom of the ninth in Baltimore still leading 3-2. As planned, they went with arguably the best closer in the league, Jonathon Papelbon, to get the last three outs. Papelbon would dominate the first two hitters he faced en route to two quick strikeouts.
At that moment, it looked like after all that had happened in the last month, Boston would back their way into the playoffs, and somehow hold off the younger, faster, more driven Tampa Bay Rays.
For Sox fans that paid close attention to the last three weeks, they knew they didn’t stand a chance. The most disheartening and stunning 15 minutes in Red Sox history began to take form.
The Red Sox would come within one strike of putting the game away. The Rays would be within one strike of being put away before Dan Johnson decided to hit a game-tying homer (his first hit since April 27 no less) to vault the Rays into extra innings against the Yankees.
While the Yankees would squander chances to score in extra innings because two-thirds of the guys left in their lineup at that point looked like fake baseball players from a Kevin Costner movie, the Orioles would put together two doubles (both with two strikes) and a game winning bloop single by Robert Andino (who had to finish the season 40 of 45 against Red Sox pitching, and no I don’t have the stats to back that up) that landed inches in front of a sliding Carl Crawford’s glove.
What seemed like seconds later, Longoria (who else?) would hit a low liner down the left field line off Scott Proctor (who knows how to give up a huge extra-inning walk off bomb, see Ortiz, David 2004 ALCS) that would barely clear the wall to vault the Rays into the playoffs.
Just like that, it was over. Red Sox nation watched with their mouths agape or their head in their hands. No one teaches you how to react to something like this.
The Sox entered the season with such high expectations. Now they left it early … and empty.
Now Red Sox nation knows what Charlie Brown feels like when Lucy takes the ball away from him at the last second.
The Rays deserved to be there, the Red Sox didn’t deserve to finish the season. No one stepped up, no one stopped the bleeding; heck, at times it looked like they didn’t even care.
Let’s face it; the 2011 Boston Red Sox had holes. Injuries didn’t help, but one quality start in a span of 15 outings in September is inexcusable by your starting rotation and can certainly deplete a bullpen, in addition to placing an immense amount of pressure on an offense.
In September, this team was pressed, frustrating, pathetic, and managed to produce more “Are you kidding me looks?” in a month than George W. Bush did during all his speeches about medical care in his entire eight year tenure combined.
This was a team that during the last three weeks of the season, played to lose, and expected to.
Give all the credit in the world to the Tampa Bay Rays. They stepped up. The Sox didn’t.
Let the finger pointing begin in Boston.
Shawn Ferris can be reached at sferris@spartans.ut.edu.