Red Sox lose in ninth and miss playoffs

There's a bunch of new villains in New England today. Robert Andino, Dan Johnson, Evan Longoria and even Mother Nature after closer Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox blew a ninth-inning lead and lost, 4-3, to the Orioles Wednesday night and failed to make the playoffs.

The loss completed one of the worst collapses in Major League history. Boston (90-72) finished September 7-20 and didn't win two in a row since Aug. 27. They led Tampa by nine games 24 days ago.

The Red Sox bullpen had retired seven consecutive batters when Chris Davis doubled off Jonathan Papelbon with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Orioles trailing 3-2. Nolan Reimold followed with a double to center to score pinch runner Kyle Hudson to tie it a 3. The ball was hit in a spot where, according to legend, Babe Ruth's father once operated a pub. Andino beat the Red Sox for the third time this month, this time with a single to left that glanced off Carl Crawford's glove.

"It was a tough play," Crawford said. "I tried to the best I could. It's just one of those things."

The Red Sox witnessed Evan Longoria's walk off home run against the Yankees, moments later as they entered the locker room. Boston (90-72) finishes September 7-20 and failed to win two in a row for the first time since Aug. 27.

"We won a World Series in 2007," Papelbon said. "Those things don't go away. Times like this, they go away."

Looking ahead with that same wide-eyed, intense, seemingly unblinking stare he uses to intimidate hitters on the mound, Papelbon tried to put the costliest blown save of his career in perspective.

"I don't think this is going to define me as a player," the Red Sox closer said. "I don't think it's going to define this team as a franchise. You look at some of the greats, you look at Mo [Rivera], he's blown Game Sevens. He came back. Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. "

Boston became the first team to miss the postseason after leading by as many as nine games for a playoff spot entering September, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Andino helped beat the Red Sox Monday night with an inside-the-park home run.

The Red Sox had the bases loaded and one out in the top of the ninth, but rookie Ryan Lavarnway hit into an inning-ending double play.

All seemed well in Red Sox land until rain forced the Sox off the field after the seventh-inning stretch. Boston had a 3-2 lead, behind a gutsy six inning performance from Jon Lester. Even better news for the Red Sox was this: Tampa Bay was trailing the Yankees 7-0 in the eighth inning.

Boston's players were on the field warming up after an 85-minute rain delay when the centerfield screen flipped to Tampa and showed Johnson's game-tying home run.

And a game that had been marked by the Sox doing the little things, scoring the tying run on a balk, cutting down a potential Orioles tying run at the plate, became another line in the story of the Red Sox collapse.

Dustin Pedroia provided the Red Sox a lead that held up until the bottom of the ninth, after he crushed a solo home run to left in the fifth inning to make it 3-2. Boston tied the score one inning earlier when Marco Scutaro scored on Baltimore starter Alfredo Simon's balk.

Lester, who was pitching on three days' rest, allowed two runs and four hits, and struck out five, in six innings.

Baltimore manager Buck Showalter continued his efforts to become more reviled in Boston than Bucky Dent, going to his bullpen in the fifth inning and using five relievers.

His Orioles (68-94) have been a late-season thorn in Boston's side, beating the Red Sox four times since last Monday, despite sitting in last place.

Pedroia put the Red Sox on the board first, singling home Mike Aviles with one out in the third. Baltimore's J.J. Hardy made it 2-1 for the Orioles with a two-run homer the following inning. -- With AP