Requiem For The Red Sox

Unbelievable final night to baseball’s regular season. Just unbelievable. If Dickens comes back and writes a baseball novel, it will be about Wednesday night. Here we go:

— You think if the Red Sox could have splurged just a little bit more for Carl Crawford, say a $143 million contract, he maybe could have caught that ball? Just a little more? Just $1 million more? I guess $142 million just doesn’t buy as much defense as it used to.

— Given the entirety of Crawford’s season (big contract, .289 on-base percentage), when Dickens does write that baseball novel, Crawford’s character will be named Major Gagstock.

— Red Sox go 7-20 in September. First time since 1952 they have lost 20 games in September. Good timing.

— Right after Evan Longoria hit the game-winning, er, soul-crushing homer, I wandered over to the water fountain. The news department had CNN on the TV, and Piers Morgan had Dione Warwick as a guest. I think I heard her say, “I could sense Longoria would hit a home run.”

— OK, Red Sox fans: How does this compare to Game 7 of the ALCS? Personally, I can’t imagine anything being as bad as 2003 — Pedro Martinez was on the mound, it was against the Yankees, and it was in the LCS — but Wednesday came close. What’s Grady Little doing these days?

— ESPN’s David Schoenfield writes: “It was the most shocking, unbelievable, thrilling night in baseball history.” He just might be right.