"I was overthrowing," he would admit later, shaking his head. “I was pumped up to be in that situation."
Sox-killer Roberto Andino was next and he hit a splitter to left field. Carl Crawford, one of the symbols of the franchise’s failed plan to overwhelm baseball with a high-salaried collection of stars, had a chance to catch the ball and missed it.
His throw to the plate was too late and the Orioles had a walk-off 4-3 win. Buck Showalter, who mocked the Red Sox in spring training, beat them in five of the last seven meetings between the teams.
As the Red Sox entered the clubhouse, Evan Longoria homered and the Rays had beat the Yankees in 12 innings, rallying back from a 7-0 deficit. The season was over as the Rays claimed the wild card.
"This is was one for the ages, isn't it?" a solemn Theo Epstein said. "With the way we played in September, we can't sugarcoat this. This is awful. We did it to ourselves. We put ourselves in a position for a crazy night like this to end our season. It shouldn't have been this way.
"A 7-20 September? If we go 9-18 we're where we want to be. 9-18 is what, winning a third of your games? The worst teams in baseball won a third of their games. There's no excuse for this."
There will almost certainly be changes. How can there not be? The $161 million Sox lost 16 of their last 21 games and injuries don't explain all of that. They won one more game than last season.
No team has ever lost a nine-game lead for a playoff spot in September. Only seven seasons after the greatest playoff comeback ever, the Sox are now the greatest regular-season chokers.
This team played poor fundamental baseball over the final weeks. The organization was exposed for its lack of pitching depth. Aging players broke down and others unperformed.
"Obviously we didn't play good baseball and the pitching led the way as far as not playing well," Epstein said. "There were a lot of factors."
The Sox can't chalk it up to bad luck and gather up the same old gang in Fort Myers next February. This franchise has not won a playoff game since Oct. 16, 2008. That's a long time given their resources.
