... and the Sox once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Nothing else to say.
I have something else to say. I'm speaking purely out of emotion right now, but oh well: Most of this pitching staff needs to go, starters and relievers. First things first: Lackey is a complete waste of money. Beckett's best years are behind him, plus he and Lester came up empty when the team needed them most. Wakefield's 80, so I'll give him a pass -- except to say that he does very little well now, so they may as well part company with him. Bedard? The guy had one horrible inning in almost every start with Boston. Buy-bye.
As for relievers, keep Aceves -- a pitcher like him is a rare asset. Bard, though, needs to go after he wilted in the September heat, and though Papelbon's overall campaign was good, two of his three blown saves this season came in the last week. That's unacceptable.
The hitting was good overall throughout the season, with great individual campaigns by Ellsbury, Gonzalez, Pedroia and Ortiz, but too many times, especially lately, the offense whiffed on too many opportunities. By my count, in this last game against Baltimore, three times the Sox had a runner on third with two outs and could never come up with a clutch hit. There was also one inning in which they had runners on first and third with NO outs and didn't score. Another disturbing trend late in the season: guys getting thrown out trying to stretch singles into doubles. Ortiz did that this game, and Scutaro was thrown out at the plate. Missed opportunities.
