There was a moment around 11 pm last night that it looked like the Red Sox were going to finally stumble into play-offs, despite their best attempts otherwise. Starting out the day tied with Tampa Bay, they needed to win and the Rays needed to lose for the Red Sox to advance to playoffs and avoid becoming the answer to a trivia question about the worst September collapse of a playoff team ever.
But at the moment, it seemed like the sinking ship had finally righted itself....
...At Camden Yards,the Sox were up 3 to 2, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, nobody on, and Papelbon pitching. At Tropicana Fields, the game was in extra inning, but the Yankees had two runners on with only one out...
And then the games took on the same cast as the whole season and shades of 1986. Papelbon, one the game's best closers inexplicably gave up three straight hits, once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Then the Rays got out of the top inning and later scored to win 8 to 7.
And so, the dream turned to nightmare season ends, and Red Sox fans are left asking...
...Did trading Manny bring back THE CURSE?
(Or maybe Theo Epstein should have traded for some pitching back in August.)
