Wily Mo Peña, fresh off his near-maiming of a man in the front row of the Monster seats, sat in the Red Sox dugout, looking at the few fans leaving the park with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
That was when Peña turned to Manny Ramírez and asked, ``When we tie the game, are they coming back?"
Because even in his short tenure in Boston, Peña knows the truth of the Red Sox. It's not over until . . .
Until -- the sweet word most Red Sox faithful have learned to expect -- Fausto Carmona continued his poor impression of a closer, hitting Doug Mirabelli and Alex Gonzalez with pitches and walking Kevin Youkilis, all with two outs, to set up yet another outpouring of excitement and ecstasy, a 6-5 win over the Indians, the Sox' third walkoff win in the last five days.
No, this time it was not David Ortiz, who struck out swinging four times. He remained in the on-deck circle. Until (there it is again) Mark Loretta delivered his double off the Wall, at which time the behemoth slugger joined the celebration.
``In this ballpark, crazy things happen," manager Terry Francona said. ``I think a combination of they had some youth out there, we have a good team that doesn't quit, and the whole ballpark's vibrating. We just thankfully don't stop playing.
``Whatever it takes, two hit batsmen, a great at-bat by Youkilis, we end up winning a game that was very losable."
Because of Travis Hafner's home run.
Just when it seemed the Sox wouldn't have to delve into their ninth-inning heroics, Mike Timlin took the ball in relief of Jon Lester and Manny Delcarmen to begin the eighth inning. And, after getting one out and giving up a double to Jason Michaels, Timlin delivered a pitch that came back much the same way as one to Richie Sexson did a week and a half ago, when the Mariners sent the Sox to Oakland on the losing end of a walkoff win.
But being the home team last night, the Sox had two more chances. Chances to stem the losses since Monday's trading deadline that, with a defeat last night, would have included Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek going on the disabled list, two games in the standings, and the American League East lead. Not yet, at least on those last two, as the Sox took a crowd of 36,022 from down (three first-inning runs allowed by starter Jon Lester) to up ( home runs by Ramírez and Peña in the sixth to take the lead) to down (Hafner's homer) to up (Loretta walkoff).
With two straight unimpressive starts, Lester began the game in much the same fashion as he left it last Friday, and on July 23. With 10 earned runs over his last 11 1/3 innings, the rookie's ERA had soared from 2.38 to 3.49. And, with the first inning last night, it contined that upward spiral.
