You can't win 'em all

OK, so I hope by now you figured out my plan for reverse jinxing the Sox in the playoffs. I guess it didn't pan out exactly how I hoped. Maybe the powers that be started to notice the lack of sincerity in my Rays predictions. Maybe if you make enough predictions you are bound to be right ... even when the goal is to be wrong.

Regardless, this season didn't have the storybook ending Sox fans were hoping for, and it's hard to call the 2008 campaign anything less than a failure. Sorry to be so frank, but whenever you bring back nearly every part of a World Series Championship team, anything less than winning the title again has to be considered a failure.

But the thing is, not all failures are miserable. Sure, the Sox didn't get the job done in 2008, but it wasn't for lack of effort.

Had the series ended in game five, as it looked like it would, we would be looking at this 2008 team in a totally different light. Traling by seven runs late in the contest, the only word I could use to describe the feeling was disappointment. Disappointment at what seemed to be lack of effort from the home team when it was up against the ropes. Disappointment at Sox pitchers for not buzzing a Rays hitter to make them uncomfortable at the plate. Disappointment at the Sox boppers for looking afraid to step up in a big situation. Disappointment at a team that was underachieving.

Then the miracle happened. Game five showed us that this Sox team actually did have some fight left. A team that was ravaged by injuries poured every last drop of sweat onto the field for the next three games and made us all believe they could pull off the impossible ... again.

Not every story has a fairy tale ending. Unfortunately, this one did, only it was the Rays, not the Red Sox, who played the role of the hero this time.

At the opening of the season the goal was obvious: win the World Series. By midseason it was just to survive Manny and his soap opera. By September it was to fight and claw into the playoffs despite all the injuries. And in the postseason, it was just to live to fight another day.

When we look back at 2008 years from now, we will remember one thing: that they lost in the ALCS. Unfortunately that's the way all teams are judged, and few will remember all the details when all they have left are the box scores.

But I'm not disappointed in these Red Sox. Their top slugger was injured for the majority of the season. Their ace wasn't the same in the second half. Their Hall of Fame cleanup hitter shot his way out of town. Their World Series MVP from 2007 missed almost all of the playoffs. Their sweet-swinging right fielder played through a back injury that would have put him on the DL in the regular season.

That's not to say the Rays didn't deserve to win. They had their injuries too - see Troy Percival - but they were just a little younger, a little more athletic and a little more talented (believe it or not). They earned their place in the World Series.

But the Red Sox did their job for as long as they could. They overcame more adversity than any of us expected them to face, and they showed the type of heart and grit Boston fans always crave out of their teams.

This isn't Little League, so there are no gold stars to give them for the 2008 campaign. It was a failure in the grand scheme of things, but at least it was fun to watch.