Red Sox 2, Blue Jays 9: The Long Death

In a way, this was a microcosm of Boston's season.

It started badly. Very badly. By the end of the second inning, they were already down 5-0, thanks largely to some awful pitching.

In the middle, they threatened to make something of it. They never came so close as to really inspire fear from competitors, but showed enough life that fans could hope, if nothing else.

In the end, they fell completely apart, and embarrassment was all that remained.

And oh, it was so, so long.

We have the basic laws of time to thank for that with the season as a whole. With this game, we have the rain to thank. The Jays couldn't quite get the last out of the fifth inning in time for the second rain delay, and so we were forced to sit not only through that, but four more innings of schlock.

And all we got out of that was one awful Andrew Bailey homer.

Ignoring the business/financial aspects of things, at what point does the misery of the fanbase subjected to such games outweigh the outrage of the fans who purchased tickets? At what point is a forfeit the humane thing to do?

Get on that, Bill James.