Amazement out weighs that of dissapointment

As the clock read 7 p.m. last night, I needed to make up an excuse to leave work an hour early.  Homework was the excuse, but Jon Lester against the Baltimore Orioles was the reason.  The last night of the Major League Baseball season was nothing less than amazing.  Except that's the baseball fan in me speaking, not the Red Sox fan.  Only an hour into the game, we had already established a one run lead, nothing compared to the 7 run lead that the Yankees had over the Tampa Bay Rays.  And for the first time in my life, I saw the Yankees score and could not have been happier seeing them ahead.

With a balk call, that without review, not one fan watching the game at their houses could have noticed, the Red Sox tied the game 2-2.  Not long after, a solo home run by Dustin Pedroia gave the Red Sox the one run lead.  However, as the rain began to fall and the white tarp was escorted onto the infield in Baltimore, the Rays went from a 7-0 deficit to down by one run in the matter of an inning. 

As I made my way from my living room to my bed room to watch the end of both games, I still was thinking of whether the Red Sox would be flying to Tampa Bay, Detroit or Texas within the next two days on their quest for their second World Series title in five years.  However, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.  Only to wake up an hour later to an ESPN commentator yelling at the top of his lungs that Evan Longoria had just won the game for the Tampa Bay Rays in the bottom of the 12th inning walk off home run.  And before I could even change the channel to see if the Red Sox game had resumed yet, the American League wild card hats were already on the majority of Tampa Bay's players heads.

Confused and angry, I turned the channel to NESN, to see what could have possibly happened to the Red Sox lead and how they could have gone from ahead and Tampa Bay down, to the exact opposite.  And a ninth inning collapse of Jonathon Papelbon, who recently had been one of the best closers in the league, was the case.

Last March, after an off season consisting of millions of dollars and a transformation of a Boston team(for the better?), took the field in Ft. Myers.  However, 162 games later, and a season consisting of 1 more win than the previous year, the Red Sox find themselves out of the post season. 

Mad? Yes.  The fact that a team with so much talent and character can let multiple injuries affect the players who are not even on the DL for the worse, does not deserve to make the playoffs.  I will forever be a Red Sox fan, however, losing a 9 game lead with 24 games left in the regular season to a division rival is nothing to cheer about.  However, in the end, looking at last night as a fan of the game and not of the Red Sox, it was arguably one of the best nights of baseball that I have been fortunate enough to have seen.  Granted, talking about it and even writing this article angers me.

However, the fact that a team, down 9 games in the wild card on Sept. 1st can come from behind to a tie for the wild card in the last game of the season, only to then come from behind in a 7-0 game to win in the 12th inning, deserves a chance at the World Series before a team, that for most of the season was in first place in arguably the best division in baseball.  It will be a long off season and changes do need to be made.  However, that's sports.  Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.  But, whatever the outcome is, you need to work on your mistakes on the off season, and contribute to them during the following season.  This year wasn't the Red Sox year.

Down to the finish.

With six games left in the regular season, the Boston Red Sox have found themselves in a situation of win or go home.  Granted, the sox still have a 2.5 game lead in the wild card race, however, tomorrow night starts the final three game series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  Although the Yankees have already clinched a playoff berth, the skill and depth of their team should still be considered a challenge to beat, whether they play their regular day starters or not.

While the Red Sox will be trying to leave New York with at least two wins this weekend, the Tampa Bay Rays and Anaheim Angels will also be competing for the Red Sox wild card spot.  Both down 2.5 games, Tampa Bay and Anaheim have home series this weekend.  The Rays against the Blue Jays and the Angels are taking on a division rival, Oakland.

Although arguably playing their worst baseball since the start of the season, the Red Sox, I do believe will advance to the post season.  And although teams have made it to the playoffs by a hair before and then continued to advance multiple rounds into the playoffs, they will need to turn their game around significantly if they plan on making any bit of a run for a World Series.  Granted injuries have not been in the Red Sox favor the past few weeks, however, the sox are a good enough team were a few injuries should not put the season in jeopardy.  We will have to see how a weekend in the Bronx will pan out for the Red Sox.  They are a good enough team were they can turn a winning slump around over night, however, it must happen soon or the end of their season is a week away.