By JOSHUA NATOLI
Staff Writer
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 4, 2011
Let’s go back to the 2010 postseason. The Boston Red Sox seemed to have it all figured out with all-star acquisitions Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. General Manager Theo Epstein was sure he put all the pieces together for another World Series run.
Now go rewind to the 2011 preseason. Every analyst under the sun picked a Phillies versus Red Sox World Series. Many of them also picked Adrian Gonzalez as MVP. Nobody appeared to be giving their AL East rival New York Yankees or the young gun Tampa Bay Rays any sort of shot over the Red Sox.
After a more then dismal 0-6 start to their season, the Red Sox started to prove though analysts right finishing the regular season with a 55-35 record and first place in arguably the hardest division in baseball, the AL East.
They also had been handling their rival Yankees numerous defeats with a 8-1 record against them. The universe was unfolding in the Red Sox favor as many thought it would until the month of September came around.
With the Yankees in second place and relatively in reach of Boston’s lead and the Rays a nearly impossible 10 games out, the Red Sox had a 99.93% chance of at least making the playoffs. It was then when injuries turned the Red Sox into the Red Cross with major injuries to third baseman Kevin Youkilis, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez.
As Boston’s losses began to pile up and Tampa Bay’s wins ascending, panic time was drawing nearer and nearer for the Red Sox. The Yankees had overtaken Boston for first place in the AL East and clinched a playoff berth and the division on the same day during a double header with the Rays. With a division title dream now in shambles it was time for the Red Sox to clinch the Wild Card.
The Red Sox and the Rays entered their respective final games of the season Wednesday tied for the Wild Card. The Red Sox had the seemingly easier task of taking down the Baltimore Orioles and the Rays had their hands full with the New York Yankees
With Boston fans rooting for the Yankees and Tamps Bay fans rooting for the Orioles this situation was made of things you could only see in movies. The Yankees had a 7-0 lead on the Rays into the bottom of the eighth inning. Boston fans could sense the playoffs in their future while holding on to a 3-2 lead over the Orioles during a rain delay.
They were quite surprised when the Rays came back to push the game into extra innings. Around the same time the Red Sox game had resumed and was down to its final outs. Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon was in to shut the Orioles down. Quite the opposite happened. The Orioles ended up smacking Papelbon around to a 4-3 victory.
Shortly after the Rays’ Evan Longoria crushed all the hopes and dream of every Red Sox player and fan alike with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning. You could see the misery on every face in the Red Sox dugout.
How could such a thing happen? A team so hyped up at the beginning of the season with so much control of their own destiny, now sent to the golf course early by a team with a less than half a percent chance of making the playoffs. This collapse makes the phrase “better luck next year” an understatement.
