Around 11:20 p.m. last night, Major League Baseball summed it up about as well as anyone could have on its Twitter account.
“Are you not entertained?” @MLB asked. “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!”
We were.
Then we were crushed.
The Boston Red Sox’s 2011 season is over, courtesy of a Jonathan Papelbon meltdown and an almost impossible comeback by the Tampa Bay Rays.
At one point last night, Boston led Baltimore, 3-2, and Tampa trailed the Yankees, 7-0. The wild card was only a few innings away for the Sox.
But it all went horribly, horribly wrong.
The Rays rallied for six runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to send their game to extra innings.
As that dragged on, Papelbon entered Boston’s rain-delayed contest. He got two strikeouts before giving up two doubles and a walkoff single by Robert Andino. The O’s celebrated their 4-3 win heartily.
Moments later, Evan Longoria — the hero of Tampa’s comeback — sent a Scott Proctor pitch over the left-field wall for an 8-7 Rays victory.
Like that, it all ended.
