Searching for scapegoats?
Try horrormeister Stephen King, who tossed a ceremonial first pitch.
Or the filmmakers who turned the ballpark into a movie set, shooting scenes of funny guy Jimmy Fallon and love interest Drew Barrymore for a romantic comedy, "Fever Pitch," about a man obsessed with the Red Sox and a woman caught in the middle.
Or second base umpire Rob Drake, whose disputed game-ending call on Dave Roberts cost Manny Ramirez a chance to try to complete a rousing comeback.
Or settle for Tim Wakefield, whose fickle knuckleball stuck the Sox in an 8-1 jam.
But the fact is, no streak lasts forever. And the Sox ended their best in a decade -- a 10-game run that led them out of the wilderness to the threshold of the division lead -- as their feverish comeback effort fizzled and they fell to the Rangers, 8-6, before 34,670 at Fenway Park.
The loss cost the Sox a chance to climb even closer to the East Division-leading Yankees, who were pancaked, 7-0, by the Orioles amid an escalating crisis in the Bronx. Despite the streak interruptus, the Sox remained 2 1/2 games behind the struggling pinstripers but at least 4 up on the Angels in the wild-card scramble.
"It's kind of a letdown from our standpoint," catcher Doug Mirabelli said. "Even though realistically the streak wasn't going to last forever, it felt like it was. That's a great feeling to have, that you're never going to lose again."
Not that it's gone. The Sox made sure of it by surging back despite the gaping deficit, with Mark Bellhorn slugging a grand slam and David Ortiz swatting a solo shot to enable them to bring the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth.
"It's so easy to give one [game] away and not compete, but we were down all game long and for us to battle back and make a game of it says something about this clubhouse," Roberts said. "It shows a lot of character."
In a last-gasp effort against All-Star closer Francisco Cordero, Roberts managed to single up the middle with one out in the ninth to bring Bellhorn to the plate. Bellhorn forced a 3-and-2 count as he fought off an array of nasty sliders and 98-mile-an-hour fastballs before Cordero jammed him, causing him to bounce a grounder to second baseman Alfonso Soriano.
Soriano scooped the ball and swiped his glove at the passing Roberts and fired to first in time to get Bellhorn. With Drake ruling that Soriano tagged Roberts, it turned into a game-ending double play.
"I don't know how close it was, but I know I was in the baseline and avoided the tag," Roberts said. "Rob thought he applied the tag, so it's unfortunate we didn't get Manny up to bat."
Sox manager Terry Francona protested, to no avail. Ramirez is 2 for 8 with a homer in his career against Cordero.
