Red Sox Manager Alex Cora knows his team missed a chance to make a playoff run. “Let’s put it that way. You look around, you look at teams that are fighting.
..we had it right there and we blew it.
” Michael Wyke/Associated Press TORONTO — What had seemed obvious for some time now became certified shortly after 9:40 p.m. Wednesday night: when the regular season ends Sunday night, the Red Sox will be free of any October commitments.
Yet another second-half collapse had left them with the slimmest of hopes in recent weeks. They had circled their second-to-last home series of the year with Minnesota as their “Last Stand.” Sweep the Twins, went the thinking, and the last week might become very interesting.
The problem was, the Sox lost the opener in excruciating fashion, squandering scoring chance after scoring chance. So when the Sox valiantly rebounded to sweep a doubleheader from the Twins on Sunday, and won twice more in Toronto, it seemed they were merely postponing the inevitable. So when Vaughn Grissom took a called third strike in the top of the ninth, reality struck in the form of a 6-1 loss .
That, coupled with wins by Kansas City and Detroit, helped seal the Red Sox’s fate. “I’m not happy, but it’s very quiet (in the clubhouse), which is good,” said Red Sox’s Manager Alex Cora. “Like I’ve been saying all along, outside of the walls here, nobody expected us to play all the way until now, meaningful games.
Our goal was to make it to the playoffs.