The Red Sox collapse of 2011 was capped off by two heartbreaking come-from-behind wins.

First, the awful Orioles scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth with two outs off Papelbon. Ouch! Then the Rays came back from 7-0 to the Yankees on a game-winning homer in the 12th! Double ouch!

To me, it was a reminder of Boone’s home run in 2003. The good thing is the Red Sox went after serious pitching and in 2004 made history!

Recent headlines said “Don’t blame Francona, the worst two things about this season were a 2-12 April and a 7-20 September. In between they were red hot.” GMs and ownership own a lot of that (what’s put out there, then what’s acquired). Followed closely by the starting pitchers’ ERAs and the American League-record men left on base.

Injuries to Buchholz and Dice-K are part of the pitching woes, but again all the World Series winners over the past 10 years have gone after pitching in the off season. We did next to nothing (Bedard is it, and we had him very little) The message is: Go after pitching!

They will keep Pedroia, Ellsbury, Gonzalez, Ortiz, Scutaro, Beckett, Pabelbon and Youkilis, but the rest could be different. I think they’re on the cusp of a big year in the Red Sox centennial 2012. (I know, it’s the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic too).

Dan Powers

Fairfield