A fitting end: Red Sox, Braves seasons are over

Dustin Pedroia's Boston Red Sox season has come to a fitting, demoralizing end. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The five-hour stretch from four o’clock to nine o’ clock this afternoon and evening was perhaps the craziest, most emotional sports-related time period of my young life. There were four games with playoff implications on the final day of the regular season, all on at the same time. Tie-breaking 163rd games could be forced, but none were. Boston’s season ended. So did Atlanta’s.

Everything that can happen in a baseball game did on this night. At least that appeared to be the case. The scene was incredible. Something unbelievable would occur, then something even crazier would.

Tampa Bay erased the 7-0 deficit they faced with six outs to go against New York. Who delivered with the tying run epitomized the collective unlikeliness of so much that took place. Dan Johnson hit a solo-homer down the right-field line to bring the Rays all the way back. The pinch-hitter hadn’t had a hit in the major leagues since April 27th, and, with a .119 batting average coming in, was the worst non-pitcher this season with more than 50 plate appearances. So of course he would come up big.

Boston was watching this unfold from the clubhouse, as a rain delay halted play at Camden Yards for more than an hour. The Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles resumed, and the wackiness that had unfolded in the first six innings reached new heights.

Bad things happened to previously successful players, notably Marco Scutaro, who has been excellent throughout the month. He was thrown out at home in the eighth, largely due to his stopping momentarily between second and third. Earlier in the game, he made a spectacular diving play to help Boston out of a jam. So of course, considering how the team’s September has gone, he would err.

And of course Jonathan Papelbon, who has been on of Boston’s best players during this nightmarish month, would cough up two runs after the Orioles were down to their last strike. And of course Robert Andino, who hit a deflating three-run inside-the-park homer earlier in the series that bounced out of Jacoby Ellsbury’s glove, would hit a shallow fly ball to right Carl Crawford couldn’t come up with. This moment had Baltimore celebrating and capped off Crawford’s forgettable first season with the team. It was an appropriate end for his Red Sox, too.

“I thought I had a chance,’’ Crawford said, reflecting on the missed catch. “It was right there.’’

Seconds later, another moment was fitting for another team. Evan Longoria, the Rays main power threat, blasted off for a game-winning homer. Even before he could finish rounding the bases the television was turned off. There was silence. Tampa Bay earned their ticket to the postseason. Boston, deservedly, is heading home.

“Every time you lose, it hurts,” Boston manager Terry Francona said after the loss. “When you go home before you’re ready, it hurts. As tough as it’s been this past month, we weren’t ready to go home.”

“This is one for the ages, isn’t it?,” said General Manager Theo Epstein to WEEI. “What was going on with those two games, how poorly we played in September. We can’t sugarcoat this, this is awful. We did it to ourselves, and put ourselves in a position for a crazy night like this to end our season. It shouldn’t have been this way,”

For much of the summer, Boston was getting solid relief and rarely missing chances offensively. Oh, how times have changed. They lost for the 20th time this month in the same way they lost the other 19, getting poor pitching and squandering opportunities on offense. What not long ago went so right was suddenly going very wrong. And the trend didn’t stop.

The Braves continued their own trend that also began early this month. A bullpen that had been lights out for four months imploded. Rookie closer Craig Kimbrel, who entered September having saved his previous 22 games, blew his fifth chance in 10 tries this month. Atlanta, too, was flipped upside down.

The evening was straight out of the Twilight Zone, and everything about it represented what is so exciting about baseball. Emotions can change with every pitch, every hit, every misplay, and every hesitation. And they certainly did tonight. What a whirlwind. On cloud-nine one moment, completely depressed the next.

Two seasons ended just like that, on the season’s final day. And two worthy teams, two teams that took advantage of collapses, will play deep into Fall.

One-hundred and sixty-one games weren’t enough to decide two races. And just when it seemed 162 wouldn’t decide them, either, it did. What a way to end a regular season. What an unprecedented conclusion. What a funny, exhilarating, joyful, and painful game.

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