Alone in the spotlight

CHICAGO -- Alone with his thoughts? Hardly. After White Sox third baseman Joe Crede dropped Manny Ramirez's pop fly near the third base railing in the ninth inning last night, you could have asked any of the 36,784 fans in U.S. Cellular Field, the occupants of both dugouts, and anyone listening or watching the game on radio and television, and chances are they could have told you what flashed across Crede's mind in that moment.

''In the back of my head, I'm thinking, 'Oh, man, I hope he doesn't hit a home run,' " Crede said.

Ramirez did not prolong Crede's agony. Boston's All-Star left fielder hit the next pitch from Chicago reliever Luis Vizcaino deep into the left-field seats, lifting the Red Sox to a 6-5 win over the White Sox in the first meeting this season between teams that may run into each other again in October.

''Seems like it's a baseball rule," Crede said. ''Make a mistake in a big situation like that, somebody's going to capitalize. And he showed there why he's one of the greatest hitters in the game."

Crede did not show it last night, but he's one of the best fielding third basemen in the game. He'd gone 49 straight games without an error, and had made just two in 84 games before Ramirez's popup fell out of the night and out of his glove.

''There's a jet stream in the stadium," Crede said. ''When I got to the railing, it looked like fans were grabbing for it. But in the last 20 to 30 feet from the ground, it veered to my left. It really took me by surprise."

Crede awkwardly reached for the ball, but couldn't hold on. ''That's a play I've got to make."

An inning before, Crede had drawn the White Sox into a 5-all tie with a double off Curt Schilling, who was tagged with a blown save after giving up a one-out double to Aaron Rowand and a two-out double to center to Crede.

''I haven't faced him much," Crede said. ''We missed him when they came here last year, and in Boston I got hit in the hand by a pitch in my first at-bat.

''He was throwing all fastballs. I thought he had pretty good stuff."

The White Sox came into this game with a bit of a chip on their shoulders, judging by some comments made by Ozzie Guillen, the team's outspoken manager, on the eve of this series. The White Sox have the best record in the majors, but because they had yet to face the iron of the American League East, the Red Sox and Yankees, there was some talk that Team Guillen still had some proving to do.

He was not amused by that sentiment.

''I hear that on the street and on the radio stations when some people talk about it," he told reporters. ''I think, right now, we played -- how many? -- 70 games against Triple A teams. They feel like we never played real big league teams.

''Now we're starting against real teams, I guess."

The White Sox hit three home runs off Red Sox ace Matt Clement -- Carl Everett's two-run shot in the first, and solo homers by Paul Konerko and Rowand in the fourth. They survived a double error by second baseman Tad Iguchi on David Ortiz's ground ball in the seventh, when the Red Sox took a 5-4 lead against White Sox ace Mark Buerhle.

But they couldn't survive Crede's rare bobble.

''Bad feeling?" Guillen said. ''Everybody did. Everybody in the ballpark did."