by Chip Ainsworth
Good morning! Or should it be good mourning?
To the fans still hung over from Boston’s sudden demise at the witching hour on Wednesday, get over it. The Red Sox stopped being a Cinderella team a long time ago. They have the third-highest payroll in baseball and were beaten for the final wild card spot by a Tampa team with the second lowest payroll. Admit it, Evan Longoria ($2.5 million), James Shields ($4.25 million) and Jeremy Hellickson ($418,000) would look better in a Red Sox uniform than their former teammate Carl Crawford ($14.8 million). The team that rebounds from trailing 7-0 to win in extra innings is more fun to root for than the team that blows a nine-game lead in September. Full story »