And with the Red Sox one game back in the loss column, life goes on at Fenway Park. But the tension isn't thick, the players aren't scowling, the fans aren't as loyal. Even the Go Sox hats are going slower, and the voice of the vendor has a hollow sound.

Like horsehide hitting aluminum.

Just think of what the next month will bring, if we're lucky. Maybe the Sox will end up in a tie for first with, say, Detroit. 1978 with a different ending--how about Dwight Evans playing Bucky Dent and winning it with a homer?

Then it's on to New York, where the Yankees, winners of the first half, provide stiff opposition for our split-season sensations. But the Yankees haven't played baseball -- real baseball -- since June. That was three months, one manager and two pennant races ago. Let's pretend they are outclassed by Bobby Ojeda and Bruce Hurst, the heroes of Boston's second half, and lose in four games.

Next stop, Oakland (or Kansas City or Minnesota...), home of the American League West's designated champion. The scheduled three-of-five series for the American League championship. Let's look back to 1975. Let's pretend we win.

Still there? It's almost November now, and we are in Los Angeles (or Philadelphia or San Francisco or, heaven forbid, Montreal) for the 1981 World Series. The winner of the four-of-seven series will reign as baseball's finest team.

The series goes the full seven, with the Red Sox winning the World Championship for the first time since 1918 on a Rich Gedman grand slam in the bottom of the ninth. Luis Aponte is the winner; 15,667 fans go wild.

And all over New England everyone is proud of the Red Sox.

And nobody will even care what happened to the pennant race.