LAST MARCH I was in Kissimmee, Florida watching my beloved Boston Red Sox blow an early lead and lose a spring training game to the Houston Astros. Although I was upset by the way the Sox lost--on a late-inning home run hit off reliever Calvin Schiraldi--I left the stadium excited about the season ahead.

I had reason to be hopeful. The Red Sox won the American League Championship last year and were one measly strike away from winning the World Series. One strike. At an early game this year, the Fenway Park crowd chose instead to remember the play-offs, in particular the fifth game in which centerfielder Dave Henderson hit a two-strike, two-out home run to steal the series from the California Angels. The bleachers rocked with chants of "Game Number 5!" until Henderson smiled and doffed his cap.

But in '87, Hendu has struck out far more often than he has homered. Roger Clemens and Rich Gedman began the season late after holding out for more money. Oil Can Boyd shoulder was hurt. Jim Rice forgot how to hit home runs--much less anything else. Calvin Schiraldi continued to throw meatball pitches right over the plate. The upshot of all this was that the Red Sox were never even in contention, dashing the expectations of fans all over New England.

ON SEPTEMBER 28, 1986, the Red Sox defeated the Blue Jays 10-3 to clinch the American League East. On September 28, 1987, they lost to the hated New York Yankees 9-7, giving up six runs in the bottom of the ninth--two of which came on home run hit off a pitch from...Calvin Schiraldi. The loss dropped their record to 74-82 and left the Sox 21.5 games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays. For Sox fans, last year's fabulous October, when we set our schedules by the date and time of the next game, seems many long seasons ago.

This Sunday, as I wolf down Fenway Franks and unshelled peanuts, slurp watered-down beer, sing "Take Me Out to The Ballgame," and enjoy the last Red Sox game of the year, I'll be as full of hope as I was seven months ago in Kissimmee. The Red Sox have a large crop of fine rookies: Sam.Horn (14 home runs in only 130 at bats), Mike Greenwell (87 runs batted in in 120 games), Ellis Burks(20 home runs, 26 stolen bases). With Oil Can returning, Rice rediscovering his home run swing, Schiraldi finding new life in the starting rotation and the youngsters playing a full season, excitement should return to Fenway in '88.

At least I hope so. Roger Angell once wrote that baseball is about joy, a feeling that can send "a grown man or woman to dancing with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball." It is also about hope, a necessity for disappointed fans. Especially for long-frustrated Red Sox fans, who after a tough season now cry out, with complete faith, "wait 'til next year."