BOSTON — Jason Bay said he wanted to go home and relax for a night before thinking about his future with the Boston Red Sox.

The left fielder will become a free agent this offseason and no doubt will be one of the more attractive players on the market. Whether or not the Red Sox are one of the teams that pursues him remain to be seen.

Bay's $18.25 million contract, the one he signed with the Pirates before being traded to the Red Sox, has expired and he said he's interested to see how the free-agent market works.

"I've gotten to this point, and as much as I would love to come back here, I make no bones about that . . . I'm a little bit interested in going through the whole process, seeing what it's like and seeing what's out there," said Bay. "That really isn't going to sink in for awhile. I'm still sitting on this loss for a bit."

The two sides were close to an extension twice this season, but it never came to terms. Both Bay and Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said they would wait until the offseason to discuss the matter again.

Epstein and the Red Sox made Bay an "aggressive" offer in July, which Bay turned down.

"We still want to retain him," Epstein said at the time in Toronto. "We think he still wants to be here."

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Tim Wakefield will have surgery this week on his back to repair a herniated disk.

The veteran knuckleballer was kept off the ALDS roster due to the pain and discomfort in his back and left leg. He suffered the injury late in June and it got worse during the All-Star break. After posting an 11-3 record in the first half of the season, Wakefield was limited to only four starts in the second half, posting an 0-2 record with a 6.00 ERA.

In the corner of the quiet Red Sox clubhouse Sunday afternoon, Wakefield put on his street clothes and walked out of the room disappointed like all of his teammates.

"Yeah, it's very disappointing," he said. "You don't expect that to happen, but it did. It's probably double demoralizing because you expect to get the win and go onto Game Four. It just didn't happen, unfortunately. It's going to take time [to get over]. Everyone is numb right now because of what happened and how it unfolded. You just have to try to get over it, move on and get ready for next year."

Wakefield hopes this surgery will help and he'll be able to return for his 16th year in a Red Sox uniform.

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The Red Sox compiled an impressive 56-25 record at home this season, but after the season ended on Sunday afternoon, some players weren't too happy with the so-called home-field advantage.

With the Red Sox still leading 5-2 in the top of the eighth inning, the Angels had runners on first and second when Kendry Morales hit a would-be double-play grounder to second baseman Dustin Pedroia. It took a bad bounce, forcing Pedroia to dive for the ball and when he made it to his feet he only had time for a play at first.

That proved crucial.

With two outs and runners on second and third, the Angels' Juan Rivera laced a two-run single off closer Jonathan Papelbon to cut Los Angeles' deficit to one run.

When asked if he could have turned a double play on Morales' grounder, Pedroia gave a bold answer.

"Yeah, it took a bad hop," he said with blood gushing from his right knee from the dive. "Our infield [stinks]. It's the worst in the game. I'm not lying about that. That is true. It took a bad hop and I just tried to put my body in front of it to get an out."

Pedroia talked about teams capitalizing on breaks, just like the Angels did in the last two innings en route to victory. Papelbon didn't make a bad pitch in the situation, he induced a ground ball. Morales did hurt the Sox with a hit, either. It was a bad break for Boston.

"I think about those things, too," said Pedroia. "That stuff upsets me. My job is to take 1,000 ground balls a day, and other guys' job is to get the field perfect so we can play baseball. It happens. That's the way it goes."

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Former Red Sox postseason hero Dave Henderson threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

jmcdonal@projo.com