A SAD END TO A RECORD SEASON ...
Carlos Pena gives the Sox a lift as
Jason Varitek and Trot Nixon return

September 4, 2006 ... There was jubilation at solemn Fenway Park, as Carlos Pena, in one of those truth-beats-fiction-every-time moments, did something he imagined doing many times while growing up in Haverhill hitting a game-winning home run for the Olde Towne Team. Leading off the bottom of the 10th, Pena connected off Chicago reliever Brandon McCarthy, driving a ball deep into the right-field seats to lift the Red Sox to a 3-2 win over the White Sox before the usual sellout crowd of 36,206 on Yawkey Way.

Ovations rang out, loud and long, for all the familiar faces back on the field after extended absences due to injury: the captain, Jason Varitek; the dirt dog, Trot Nixon; and the silent slugger, Manny Ramirez, who in a departure from tradition was the last player to jog out to his position instead of the first.

It was the fifth walk-off home run of the season for the Red Sox and the first home run of any kind in a Boston uniform for Pena, who until last month was languishing in the minors, playing for the Yankees' Triple A team. The win went to Mike Timlin, who worked a scoreless 10th after Javier Lopez, the lefty just summoned back from Pawtucket, gave the Red Sox four outs. Jenks's blown save was just his third in 42 chances this season.

Absent at the start of the night was the tension that customarily comes with the price of admission here on Labor Day, the traditional starting date of baseball's stretch run. Only an extreme optimist or Julian Tavarez was giving the Red Sox much of a chance to reenter the playoff picture. Even after last night's win, with 24 games to play, the Red Sox are 10 games behind the Yankees in the loss column in the AL East, and trail both the Twins (6 games) and White Sox (5 1/2) in the wild card.

But Tavarez, the accidental starter with Curt Schilling on the shelf with a strained side muscle, pitched as if October were hanging in the balance for both teams, in a splendidly played game in which 35 players took part, 18 for the Red Sox. For six innings, Tavarez shut out the White Sox. He struck out the side in the first inning, sprinted across the first-base bag after gloving A.J. Pierzynski's roller in the fifth, and induced two double plays, exhorting his fielders by pointing dramatically at the bag where he wanted the ball thrown. Tavarez was gesturing even when there were no runners on base. Never mind, Tavarez was on a roll, no more so than in the sixth, when he set down the White Sox on just three pitches, starting an inning-ending double play himself.

Who could blame manager Terry Francona for being seduced into running Tavarez out there for another inning, given the alternatives he's had in recent weeks? But it backfired. White Sox strongman Jim Thome swatted a Tavarez sinker over the wall in left to tie the score at 1, and Paul Konerko followed with another opposite-field hit, a double, that finally forced Francona's hand with one out in the seventh.

Tavarez's replacement, Manny Delcarmen, was spared momentarily when Youkilis made a terrific diving stop of Pierzynski's smash, a certain base hit, but then Joe Crede lined a single in front of Gabe Kapler in center, Konerko scored, and the White Sox led, 2-1.

Starter Jon Garland, set down 13 in a row before singles by Youkilis and Mark Loretta led to the game's first run in the sixth, which Nixon brought home with a soft single just over the head of second baseman Tadahito Iguchi.

Meanwhile, the Sox' MVP candidate, Ortiz, was beseeching Francona to let him pinch hit rather than wait for the final medical green light that is expected to come today.

Schilling was honored before the game for becoming the 14th pitcher in major league history with 3,000 strikeouts. There were taped messages of congratulations from the top three K- kings of all time: Nolan Ryan (5,714), Roger Clemens (4,508, including the six he whiffed last night), and Randy Johnson (4,372). Schilling has no peer, however, in the 3,000-K club in terms of strikeout-to-walk ratio: He's at 4.39 K's per walk. Next best in the 3,000-K club is Greg Maddux (3.36).