October 14, 2003 ... When the rather dull playoff game was over, a crushing Boston loss, the Red Sox and their fans said goodbye to Fenway Park. Depending on what happens, the next home game is either Opening Day 2004 or the first game of the World Series Saturday night.

It's Midnight Cowboy Up for these Sox again, and to keep their season alive, they're going to have to get the job done in the haunted house where so many of Boston's baseball hopes have been dashed in the last 85 years. Yankees lefthander David Wells beat Boston's baldies, 4-2, in the fifth game of the American League Championship Series.

It's simple, Sox fans. The Sons of Grady Little must win twice in the Bronx or there will be no more Rally Karaoke Guy, no more 10- gallon hats, and no more "Sweet Caroline" sing-alongs until April. All those exorcisms, Springsteen blessings, and Reverse The Curse signs become part of the ongoing history of a four-score championship slump. Or, as the Boss might say, more skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets.

The Sox landed against the wall as Derek Lowe fell to 0-2 in the series by surrendering all four Yankee runs on seven hits and four walks (one intentional) over 7 1/3 innings. The Yankees scored all they needed against the sinkerballer when they struck for three runs in the second inning, a rally Lowe abetted by walking Jorge Posada with one out and intentionally walking Nick Johnson after Posada reached second on Hideki Matsui's ground out. The intentional pass brought up right-handed-hitting Aaron Boone. The ball bounced to third for an infield single, loading the bases. And Lowe responded by throwing a 2-and-1 changeup to Karim Garcia, who lined it up the middle for a two-run single. But Lowe could not say the same about his work against the next batter, Alfonso Soriano, who grounded a run-scoring single to right.

Lowe could hardly be blamed for the loss, though, since the Sox mustered only two runs, including one on Manny Ramirez's solo home run off Yankee starter David Wells. The Sox have averaged just three runs a game in the series, hardly a recipe for success.

Nomar Garciaparra fanned with two outs and runners on second and third in the third inning. Ramirez grounded out with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth inning. And the Sox managed only one other serious scoring opportunity, when Walker tripled off Mariano Rivera leading off the eighth inning and scored on Garciaparra's ground out (the shortstop's first RBI of the postseason).

The bottom line is the Red Sox have not hit in this postseason. During the regular season, they thumped their way to the highest slugging percentage in baseball history, throwing the 1927 Yankees out of the books. But they feasted on too many toothless Tigers and Devil Rays. You don't see that kind of pitching in October, and Boston's Monster mashers have been neutralized over 10 playoff games, not once scoring more than five runs.

Most alarming is the suddenly sick bat of Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar has become "No-hit" and he's killing the Red Sox in the No. 3 spot in the order. Garciaparra slumped badly (.170) in September and it has carried over into the postseason. He struck out swinging at a belt-high fastball with runners on second and third and two outs in the third inning.

Ramirez's solo shot in the fourth was his 16th career postseason homer, two shy of the all-time leaders, Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle. The homer was Boston's 15th of the playoffs, matching the club postseason record, set in 1999.

Part of the charm of the 2003 Red Sox has been their ability to dig out of holes and recover from tough losses. The comeback from a 2-0 Division Series deficit against the A's was the ultimate test of mettle until now. Now they have to go to New York and win two games to bring the World Series back to Boston for the first time in 17 years.

In 1949, the Ted Williams Red Sox went to the Bronx for the last two games of the season, needing only one victory to win the American League pennant. While New England wept, the Yankees won both games and went on to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers for one of their 26 world championships since the Sox sold them Babe Ruth in 1920.

So the end is near for the Sox, a familiar, if unusual, position of strength.