Vintage form

No, he didn’t miss it, blasting the pitch into the seats in the right-field corner. That gave Ortiz a pair of homers - one taken the other way over the Green Monster, one pulled beyond the Pesky Pole - the latter sending the Sox to a 3-2 win over the White Sox. With 37,839 making their own mosh pit out of the Fenway stands, the Sox were left to celebrate a game that nearly slipped through their hands.

“Victor, man, he just push me, man,’’ Ortiz said. “Every at-bat since he’s been here, he just get in my face and start screaming at me and everything. I like it, I really like it. He gets me in the mood.’’

This is the type of game the Sox won earlier in the year, the type they lost after the All-Star break, the type that will be crucial for them to take going forward. These are the must-wins, when a starting pitcher takes a lead through the seventh (albeit a small one), when the offense gives just enough.

With this win, too, the Sox picked up a game on the Rangers, bringing their wild-card lead to 2 1/2 games.

“We are fighting for the wild card, and I always keep on telling you guys, we need to try to win as many games as you can,’’ said Ortiz, whose game-ending homer was his ninth (regular season), the most in club history.

“It felt good, man. Especially a guy like me. I don’t like playing extra innings.’’

He didn’t have to, thanks to his swing, though he did have to suffer his teammates “beating the crap out of you,’’ as he put it.

But this win should have gone to Wakefield. The knuckleballer came off the disabled list yesterday, with a new catcher behind the plate, and gave the Sox “more than you could possibly expect,’’ manager Terry Francona said. “That was unbelievable.’’

But no sooner had Wakefield left the game after the seventh inning when things began to fall apart. He had given up just six hits and left his teammates with a 2-1 lead.