BOSTON - He says he doesn't know if he'll be back. Really, he doesn't.



"We have had no dialogue (about his future),'' Bobby Valentine said Wednesday, two hours before what may have been his final game at Fenway Park as manager of the Red Sox.



"We've talked, but not about that. That's why I think I'll be back. I don't know.''



If this was indeed Valentine's swan song at Fenway, his last game was one to forget. With Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay, the Red Sox finished 34-47 at home.



It was their worst Fenway record since 1965, when a team that lost 100 games also went 34-47 at home. This year's team is 69-87 in one of the worst Red Sox seasons since the Great Depression.



It won't lose 100 games. It only seems that way, at least to fans who booed Valentine when he left the dugout to make a pitching change Wednesday night.



Jon Lester fell to 9-14 with the loss. The offense had four hits on an all-too-familiar night of defeat.



Red Sox pitchers had 14 strikeouts, and they recorded their last 11 outs that way. It went all but unnoticed.



The public address system blared the song "You Can't Always Have What You Want,'' in pregame, and "It's The End of the World As We Know It,'' in the ninth.

After the game, it was "It's My Party (and I'll Cry If I Want To).'' All seemed sadly appropriate.



Ownership has been mum about Valentine's status for 2013, the second year of his two-year contract. Starting Friday, the Red Sox finish their season with six road games.



From the moment next Wednesday night's game at New York is over, the already rampant speculation will accelerate as to if (or in some minds, when) the manager will be fired.



In a year's time, Valentine has been dealt a remarkable run of bad luck, mostly through injuries that turned the Red Sox lineup from a stable of stars to a glorified Triple A list.



"I don't think I'd do much differently,'' Valentine said.



"Maybe I'd let the beer stay in the clubhouse. There were nights I could have used a few.''



Valentine was asked if the variables of this season, notably that mountain of injuries, helped explain his team's downfall. He declined the excuse.



"I think I'm qualified to handle those variables. And next year when I come back, I'll handle them better and we'll do better,'' he said.



That was Valentine's way of saying he's the manager until told he is not. He does not pretend it to be a guarantee.



As much as he'd like to be back, Valentine does not give himself high marks for 2012. The reason is simple: results.



"Obviously, this wasn't what I set out to do and when you don't, you don't think you did a good enough job,'' he said.



"I don't know about learning about myself (this season). We didn't have it, and I feel bad about that.''



"I'm about a year older. I know that about myself. It's gone by quickly.''

