Remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare? If not, here's the Cliff Notes version: The tortoise and the hare decide to race each other. While the tortoise is plodding along slowly but surely, the overconfident hare takes a nap along the way, sure he could snooze a while and still beat the poky turtle. Surprise surprise! The tortoise crosses the finish line first! In the context of the AL East in 2011, the Red Sox were the hare (despite having a couple guys who are tortoises on the basepaths) and the Rays were the tortoise (despite their youth and athleticism). The Sox, laden with all-stars and a laid-back skipper, took a nap in September, to the tune of an atrocious 7-20 record. The Rays, while not setting the world on fire, gained ground on the Sox by simply playing good baseball closing the gap little-by-little over the course of the month until they passed them on the very last day of the season and usurped the Wild Card berth the Sox had taken for granted. The Yankees, who had passed the Red Sox early on in the month, took the division crown.
Even though the Red Sox won only 7 game in September, it seemed as each win could be the one to set them back on the right track. Wake's 200th win, after 9 tries, was a monkey off their back. The 14-inning, 5-hour tangle with the Yankees where MVP candidate Jacoby Ellsbury won it with a 3-run jack, surely that game would spur on a 4-game winning streak and a Wild Card berth, right? Wrong. How about the last game of the season, all the way up to Papelbon's 0-2 pitch to Chris Davis with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th at Camden Yards? Davis doubled, Nolan Reimold followed with another double to tie the game at 3, then the latest member of the Sox Killer Society, one Robert Andino, dealt the death blow with a walkoff RBI to score Reimold. Then, what seemed like 2 seconds later, another Sox killer Evan Longoria hit a walk-off dinger to give the Rays their playoff berth. Lucy, set up that football. Here comes Charlie Brown!
You have to tip your cap to the Rays, who battled back from a 7-run deficit against the Yankees to tie the game, force extra innings, then walk off with the win. It was a microcosm of their September, rallying from 9 games back to overtake the Red Sox and clinch their third post-season berth in 4 years. With their perseverance the deserve to be in the playoffs. While the Red Sox completely imploded, the Rays kept it together and took advantage of an opportunity. How I wish it was the other way around.
This historic crash-and-burn caps off a several-years-long decline from the glory days of 2007 and even 2008, despite missing out on the World Series that year. The team has lost its competitive edge, its hunger to win as many games as they can and take home a championship. No one person is responsible for this decline, rather it's a combination of people and events. Theo Epstein may have brought the Red Sox two high-profile players in the offseason, but his free agent talent evaluation leaves a lot to be desired, as well as his ability put together an elite starting rotation. Terry Francona seems like a wonderful guy with sincerity and integrity. However, in the absence of a strong clubhouse leader, is he really the best manager for a seemingly directionless team? The laid-back demeanor that helps him cope with the pressure cooker that is Boston sports may be detrimental to keeping the team as competitively sharp as their divisional and league rivals.
Sometimes a manager's tenure with a team runs its course and I think this is the case with Francona and the Red Sox. Maybe both team and manager need a fresh start. I'm not familiar with who's available as a replacement, but ideally he would manage the team with a firmer hand, making sure everyone's in shape when they report for Spring Training and emphasizing baseball fundamentals both then and throughout the season.
Other areas of improvement include the coaching staff, particularly Curt Young and Tim Bogar. Pitching, or lack thereof, was the downfall of the 2011 Red Sox. Part of that's on Epstein, but the on-field staff also bears some responsibility for the mess that was Red Sox pitching in September. Even Beckett and Lester got Charlie Browned (Again with the little bald kid! Oh, good grief...) on a regular basis. Starters were hard-pressed to go 6 innings, let alone 7 or 8. Only one pitcher threw a complete game all season (Beckett vs. the Rays on June 15). That left the bullpen completely gassed by the end of the year. The Sox pitchers plunked more batters than any other team in either league.
How about those trainers and that medical staff? Two seasons in a row with an avalanche of injuries isn't just coincidence. How long did it take them to diagnose Clay Buchholz with a stress fracture in his back? Imagine how much sooner he might have been able to return had they diagnosed him correctly right away.
They say it's not how you start, but how you finish. The 2011 Red Sox started terribly and finished even worse. In between they looked like world-beaters, but in the end, that in-between wasn't enough to offset the ugly baseball that bookended the season.
