Winning hit was child's play

I was Tony Conigliaro, with the wide stance and bat cocked high, shaping the No. 25 with duct tape on the back of a white T-shirt.

You were Fred Lynn making great catches against an imaginary wall, or Jim Rice hitting sizzling line drives over the Green Monster.

Your dad was Carl Yastrzemski, with the elbow held high and bat waving above the head. Your grandfather was Ted Williams, hitting majestic homers into the right-field bleachers.

In a backyard in Haverhill in the 1990s, Carlos Peña was Mo Vaughn.

In his mind, he would hit home run after home run, probably making his own crowd noise as he ran around imaginary bases and emphatically jumped on home plate with teammates high-fiving and slapping him on the back. Probably mimicked Joe Castiglione or Ned Martin or Sean McDonough making the call.

He did what we all did. At some point, most youthful dreams give way to the reality that they will never be.

``You have dreams," Peña said shortly after he connected with a Brandon McCarthy fastball and sent it into the right-field seats to give the Red Sox a walkoff 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox in 10 innings. ``This was one of them.

``Point blank, I've dreamt about this and played with it, visualized it. When I was 13, 12, and as soon as I got to this area, the Red Sox were everything to me.

``Do you know how many times I've done this in my backyard? It's amazing. It's a true story now."

We are happy for him because he's one of us. Last night he did what most of us will never have a sniff of doing. We were living vicariously through him. Bottom of the 10th, tie score. The count goes to 2-and-1. Peña, hitting lefthanded, wearing No. 37, gets a fastball right where he wants it and hits it so well, so hard, that he's back in his backyard in Haverhill, his childhood flashing before him.

It felt like slow motion: He sees the ball, watches it go over the right-field fence. While he didn't hear Castiglione or Don Orsillo's call on NESN, he probably was hearing it in his head. This was real.

``I hit that ball pretty solid," Peña said as he sat in the interview room in an area of Fenway that didn't even exist when he was a kid. ``As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone. I can't describe what I felt like emotionally. I don't even remember going around the bases. It's definitely something very exciting knowing that my family was watching. It was very special for me."

This time, there were no calls from Mom to put the bat and glove away and come in for dinner, just tears of joy for her son.

``When I was in my early teens, Mo Vaughn was the big slugger here," said Peña. ``Seeing David Ortiz coming through, now I remember how much the Boston fans embraced a player. And I remember how they were with Mo. Now how they are with David and Manny."

He was greeted at home plate, just as he once acted it out, by a bunch of teammates. Last night they were named Ortiz, Ramírez, Varitek, and Lowell, who had already started the jumping motion as they surrounded the plate while Peña finished the home run trot he probably practiced endlessly for this moment.

``I keep saying it, and I know that it's the truth, it's a blessing for me to be a part of this team," he said. ``To come and be able to contribute like this tonight, I'm overflowing with excitement.

``It's hard to put it into words. They were telling me that my rib cage would hurt because they were punching me so hard, but it doesn't hurt at all. That tells you right there I didn't feel anything.

``It was definitely the most exciting moment of my whole entire career hands down. I've been fortunate enough to hit some home runs to win the game, but not as meaningful as this one. I'm grateful. Very grateful."

Peña, a first-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers out of Northeastern in 1998, was a Yankees farmhand not long ago. In fact, he took his release Aug. 15 from Columbus and joined Pawtucket. He was summoned to Boston Aug. 28 because of a rash of injuries to the major league team.

Peña had entered last night's game in the top of the ninth inning at first base after Kevin Youkilis left for a pinch runner in the eighth after being hit with a Mike McDougal pitch.

It's funny, but Peña has almost given Red Sox Nation hope again. The Sox gained only a half-game in the wild-card race and remain six back with 24 to go. Sounds almost insurmountable, but late last night anything seemed possible.

``I believe looking around that we have all the talent to get back into this," said Peña. ``And that's all we really want to do, to be battling late this month. We have all of the tools necessary.

``Baseball is a game that you cannot predict. You really don't know what's going to happen. We played our hearts out. Here in Boston, we've seen miracles happen. That whole World Series a couple of years ago. That's amazing how we come back. Here I am, including myself. We came back being three games down to the Yankees. Anything is possible, so we can definitely get back into it."

His mother and father watched it at the park. His wife and little daughter were home watching on TV.

``I've had a handful [actually, four] in the big leagues," said Peña, whose last walkoff was June 27, 2004, when he played for the Tigers, a grand slam against Arizona in a 9-5 win. ``I've been in those situations to be able to come through, but this is the best and most exciting moment of my whole career. I just talked to my wife. Very exciting moment for us."

Exciting moment for all of us. One of us had a dream come true. And now some kid in Massachusetts will wake up tomorrow and pretend he is Carlos Peña, hitting the winning home run with the fans cheering and teammates swarming him at home plate.