About a month ago, the Boston Red Sox held a seven-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the A.L. Wild Card race. While any major league club would love to win a divisional pennant, the ultimate goal is making the playoffs. Back in August the Yankees and Red Sox both looked like a lock to reach the postseason. Which team would win the division only a minor detail that would be hashed out by the time the season ended.
Along came the Rays, surging as they always seem to. A combination of quality play from Tampa and horrendous play from Boston has resulted in the Red Sox holding only a two-game lead over the Rays in the Wild Card with 10 games remaining. One man who has not done much to help the Sox this season is Carl Crawford, and the $142 million dollar man acknowledged that in his final blog post of the season on ESPNBoston.com Sunday.
“I want to end the diary saying something to the fans of Boston,” Crawford wrote as passed along by Big League Stew. “I just want to say I’m sorry for the year I’ve had. You guys have been really supportive and I appreciate that. Hopefully when we get into these playoffs, I can be the real Carl Crawford that I know I am. We’ll see.”
If Boston holds on to win the Wild Card and Crawford can indeed become the real Carl Crawford in the playoffs, all will be forgotten. I don’t know if it is the lack of a party atmosphere or the media in Boston that has resulted in a sub-par year from the left fielder, but Red Sox fans are impatient to say the least. If the meltdown continues and Boston misses the postseason, Crawford will be a huge reason for their disappointing season.
