The Red Sox lost in the 9th last night. Papelbon blew a save. No surprise there. Carl Crawford didn’t make a catch he’s definitely fast enough to make. Tito maybe left Lester in too long.  Boston offense didn’t come through in the clutch, again. But you know whose offense did? The Orioles. And the Rays.

Let’s face it, to not make it to the playoffs after being up by so many games a few weeks ago, to choke and let it slip away, they don’t deserve it. The Rays do.

Here’s what stymies me the most – at the end of the season, the Sox offensive stats look like this (stats found here):

• Batting average-2nd overall (NL and AL)
• OBP-1st overall
• Slugging-1st overall
• RBI-1st overall
• Extra base hits-1st overall
• Runs-1st overall

What is this telling you? What is this telling everyone? THE SOX NEED NEW PITCHING. To not make it to the playoffs and be first in almost every batting category there is – well, we have a little pitching problem on our hands. And sure, the Sox didn’t always hit when they needed to. They’ve left a lot of men on base this season. They’ve scored 18 runs in games that don’t matter, and come up empty handed in games that do. That being said, with offensive stats like these, they shouldn’t not be winning games. Simple as that.

Watch the collapse here. Well, the end of the collapse at least. Womp.