Red Sox Clinging to Tiny Shred of Hope After All of a Nine-Game Lead Is Lost

The catchphrase all month for the Red Sox has been the same. Through each ugly effort, every painful loss, all the injuries and all the uncertainty, they could always utter these words: "We still control our own destiny."

Not anymore. At least not entirely.

An explanation-defying 6-19 slide has finally caught up with the Sox, who no longer have the ability to decide things completely on their own. The Tampa Bay Rays have just as much say in the matter.

Ever the optimist, Boston manager Terry Francona has chosen to focus on the tiny remaining shred of positivity.

"We still, through all this," Francona said with an incredulous chuckle, "if we win, we continue to play. That's what we'll try to do."

He's right. If Boston wins the final two games and, if necessary, the play-in game at Tropicana Field on Thursday, then yes, it has controlled its destiny and made it to the postseason. Maybe another way to put it is this: There is no longer any margin for error.

And to think that when September began, there was plenty of it in the form of a nine-game, seemingly indestructible bulge over the Rays.

Dustin Pedroia, so often the pulse of the Red Sox, strained to offer an optimistic approach of his own.

"It's a great opportunity," Pedroia said of the final two games. "We've got to come out and play good baseball, I mean that's basically it. We've all worked really hard all year. It's been a long season but it's had its ups and downs. We've got two games left. We're going to come out tomorrow and play as hard as we can. I promise you."

That Pedroia will come out and play hard tomorrow we know. But we do not know if the Red Sox can absorb another loss. It's no longer only in their hands.