Splat

September 29, 2011|Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Staff, Globe Staff

That's Red Sox owner John Henry's Tweet in the days just before his club inked outfielder Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142 million contract, this despite the fact that Crawford's career numbers at Fenway Park were quite pedestrian ( .275 average, .301 OBP, .708 OPS) and there didn't really seem to be a natural fit for him in the lineup, a factor that plagued manager Terry Francona for 162 games.

But boy, there was buzz. And wouldn't you know it, tickets just happened to go on sale that week. Crawford even wore a Liverpool tie to his introductory press conference that day. You know, because the brands are separate, and Red Sox fans are too dumb to understand how Fenway Sports Group works.

The sellout streak would be intact. Ratings would skyrocket as fans tuned in to see the Best Team Ever.

Splash.

Hours ago, Red Sox fans watched in agony as Crawford dropped a line drive off the bat of Robert Andino, the second time in three nights that a ball hit by the Great Andino had magically squirmed its way out of a Boston outfielder's grasp.

Orioles 4, Red Sox 3.

Minutes later, Rays 8, Yankees 7.

Splat.

The greatest collapse in Boston sports history is now complete. Good riddance.

If the Red Sox manage to actually win a playoff game in 2012, it will be the first in four seasons, already one-quarter of the winless period that plagued the franchise from 1986-98. Meanwhile, the team is handcuffed with ludicrous contracts awarded to Crawford and Lackey, all in the name of...what? Buzz? Heck of a way to build a winner.

Doing everything realistically to win every year involves more than opening up a checkbook and signing whatever name is liable to boost ticket sales. Clearly, that was what the Red Sox were hoping for with Crawford. What's good for the brand is good for the portfolio, after all. Now about that left-striker...

The fact that it was Crawford dropping that ball last night provided the perfect parallel to all that is wrong with this team. John Henry and the baseball ops team, including digital darling Carmine, are so hell-bent on stats and mathematical formulas that they're increasingly ignoring what is was that made them champions in 2004 and '07.

Call it a cliché of heart or character, whatever, but this team didn't have it. I'm not talking about the need for a constant rah-rah guy, but the absence of someone aside from Dustin Pedroia with an edge was staggering. Adrian Gonzalez had an MVP-type year, but after last night's disaster in Baltimore, he clearly proved that he doesn't get it.

"God has a plan," he said after his team finished short of the wild card berth. "And it wasn't God's plan for us to be in the playoffs."

Ho-hum. You can take the kid out of San Diego, but you apparently can't take the San Diego out of the kid.