It was a meaningless game in a season that was supposed to be anything but, and quite appropriately, it ended badly.
How about a 10-1 pasting from the Minnesota Twins? In much the same way the Sox were out of the AL Central Division race way too soon, they were out of this game in the first inning after right-hander Davis Martin got clobbered for six runs.
It was time to sweep game 162 under the rug, get the heck out of dodge and wait till next year.
“That’s not the way you want to finish,” acting manager Miguel Cairo said. “But they played hard. And you can tell, I knew they were a little tired.”
Playing hard is all well and good. Playing good is what matters. Aside from a nice spurt here and there, the Sox (81-81) simply did not from start to finish.
A couple of hours before the finale that put them in the 2022 books 11 games behind a Cleveland Guardians (92-70) team that poked fun at them and manager Tony La Russa with “Fire Tony” chants during their division championship celebration 10 days ago, equipment bags were laid out by clubhouse lockers as players were already packing and saying goodbye. Handshakes and well wishes were exchanged.
More handshakes and hugs followed after the game.
“A bunch of the guys here, they’ve started thinking, realizing this is their first time they’re not going to be in the postseason,” said shortstop Elvis Andrus, a free agent. “I went to back-to-back World Series my first years in the league and thought it was so easy. You have to be grateful and realize how lucky you are just to be able to make it to the postseason.”
The Sox had already absorbed the disappointment of not making the postseason days ago and sat in on 78-year-old La Russa’s sad farewell press conference Monday. Some of them won’t be back.
“It’s hard to put into words, there is a lot of emotion,” reliever Kendall Graveman said before the game, looking around the clubhouse. “We didn’t succeed.”
Martin (3-6, 4.83 ERA) got shelled for nine runs on seven hits including two home runs in 1 2/3 innings. He left the game with right biceps soreness but called it minor. It was one last fitting health problem for a team riddled by injured-list casualties this season.
Jose Abreu, who will be a free agent, asked Cairo to sit out Wednesday, denying fans the chance to give him a farewell if this happens to be his last season.
Many think it will be.
“I don’t like goodbyes,” Abreu said Tuesday.
Fans chanted Abreu’s name in the ninth inning, hoping for an at-bat but to no avail.
“We tried but he insisted,” Cairo said. “I think he’s very shy. I respect his privacy.”
Cairo said Abreu, who rarely sits out, gave no reason for wanting to sitting this one out.
“I’m good with that,” Cairo said.
No one is good with what they saw in 2022, not after the Sox declared themselves World Series contenders in the thick of their contention window but needed to win five of their last seven games to avoid an eighth losing season in the last 10.
The pressure will be on for general manager Rick Hahn, back for another year despite the self-declared failure of 2022, to hire the right manager and to fix a roster that couldn’t compete with the youngest team in baseball in the Guardians and one with a drastically lower payroll.
Mercifully, the season came to an end Wednesday. It’s time to monitor what the Sox will do to fix things up.
