Mlb, Boston Red Sox | featured news

The Boston Red Sox completed their September collapse in horrific and historic fashion, falling out of the playoff chase by allowing two ninth-inning runs in a 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

A little late-season magic helped both Boston and Tampa Bay, and they enter the final day of the regular season tied for the A.L. wild card.

The Tampa Bay Rays moved into a tie with the Boston Red Sox for the wild-card lead, beating the New York Yankees 5-2 on Monday night behind another strong performance by James Shields.

Never in the long history of Major League Baseball has any team held a lead in September of eight games or more for a postseason berth and failed to clinch... And yet it could happen twice in 2011, because the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves are teetering on the verge of collapsing in the season's final month the way no club has before.

The Tampa Bay Rays moved within 1½ games of Boston in the AL wild-card race, getting a clutch three-run homer from Johnny Damon in a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night.

Josh Reddick hit a game-ending RBI single in the 10th inning and the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 3-2 on Sunday night.

Bases loaded. Two out. Already trailing by two runs in the fifth inning, New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi decided he couldn't wait any longer....

Erik Bedard, making his Boston debut after being acquired from Seattle at the trade deadline, gave up three runs and seven hits in five innings as the Red Sox fell 7-3 to Cleveland on Thursday.

After a deal with Oakland for Rich Harden fell through, the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox were still able to find a starting pitcher to bolster their rotation Sunday. They got oft-injured lefty Erik Bedard from the Seattle Mariners in a three-team trade before the deadline. Bedard's stint with the Mariners has been problematic but his years in Baltimore were strong ones. And that's the pitcher the Red Sox hope they will eventually see.

Lyle Overbay hit a three-run homer and the Pittsburgh Pirates sent the Boston Red Sox to their fourth straight loss to drop them a half-game behind the New York Yankees in the AL East on Saturday.