CHICAGO - That's all, folks. The baseball gods had their fun. And like so many Septembers past, they flipped the switch just when Red Sox faithful from Block Island to Bar Harbor once again dropped their guard and allowed themselves to hope against hope that maybe their boys could stage the unfathomable.

It ended at 10:24 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the South Side of Chicago, when lefthander Damaso Marte threw out pinch hitter Carlos Baerga in the final act of a 7-2 victory for the White Sox before 13,102 at Comiskey Park, officially eliminating the Red Sox from playoff contention.

Grady's Little Gang walked off the field to the sound of fireworks and Chicago fans singing, ''Na, na, na, na, hey, hey, goodbye.''

''It's probably going to be a long night tonight,'' said Johnny Damon. ''You try to think of what you could have done as a team to possibly get to the postseason.''

For four straight days, the Sox had been Dead Men Walking. But each time they had defied the gods and found ways to win while the ever-edgy Angels strung one loss after another, leaving the last meal for the Red Sox warming on a hot plate.

''It was a situation where for this thing to happen we had to win 10 in a row and they had to lose eight in a row,'' Little said. ''It's definitely a long shot, but as long as you've still got a pulse, you've got hope.''

No more. The executioner pulled the switch at the unlikeliest of turns, with Boston's Cy Young Award hopeful Derek Lowe controlling his team's fate. The weary Lowe had few bullets left to fight the White Sox, who knocked him around for five runs on six hits and two walks over seven innings before they beat up reliever Dustin Hermanson for good measure in the eighth.

''It was a frustrating way to end the season,'' Lowe said. ''We were still in it, and we had chance, but I just didn't pitch very good.''

Seattle, which rallied to beat Oakland last night, 3-2, is the only team with any hope of catching the Angels in the wild-card hunt.

The chief Chicago villain was rookie third baseman Joe Crede, who homered and singled to knock in four runs against Lowe, who had allowed five or more earned runs only three times in his previous 31 starts this year. But the White Sox also got a big lift from 26-year-old starter Rocky Biddle, who held them to the two runs over five-plus innings before his bullpen silenced the Red Sox the rest of the way.

''I thought we could win out and get the job done,'' Damon said. ''Unfortunately, we have to give the other teams credit. We have to give Chicago credit because they swung the bats well, and we have to give Anaheim credit because they put together a good second half. Unfortunately, we didn't play that well in the second half.''

The Red Sox had chances to score even before Chicago first batted. With two outs in the first inning, Nomar Garciaparra dropped a double down the right-field line, tying Anaheim's Garret Anderson for the league lead with 56 doubles. But Manny Ramirez popped out to end the opportunity.

As for Lowe, he retired the first five batters he faced before he hit a snag in the form of Jeff Liefer. With two outs in the second, Liefer drilled a grounder down the first base line and into the corner for a double. At that, Crede, who was batting .211 with runners in scoring position and two outs, laced a single to right that dropped just in front of the diving Trot Nixon to knock in Liefer with the first run.

The situation grew much more dire in the fourth. It started when Frank Thomas ripped a single to left leading off. He was erased on a fielder's choice that left Magglio Ordonez at first. A batter later, Lowe issued a two-out walk to Liefer. The Cy Young candidate then left a pitch over the plate to Crede, who unleashed a three-run blast to left.

''I left two pitches up, a changeup to Crede and a curveball to Liefer,'' Lowe said, ''and that was basically the ballgame.''

Meanwhile, Biddle thwarted the Red Sox until the fifth. Only then could they muster another threat, when Brian Daubach singled leading off, Jason Varitek singled him to second, and Rey Sanchez loaded the bases by drawing a one-out walk. When Biddle fanned Damon, things looked bleak. They looked even bleaker when Shea Hillenbrand's two-out bouncer headed directly for Jose Valentin's glove at shortstop. But Valentin let the ball scoot past him for an error, allowing Daubach to score an unearned run, making it 4-1.

Yet with the bases still loaded, Garciaparra lined out to third, leaving Boston's back against the wall. But no one was knocking the All-Star shortstop or his mates.

''Nobody is really satisfied with the overall outcome,'' Little said, ''but we're definitely satisfied with the effort and the way they went about their business with their back to the wall the last couple of weeks.''

Ramirez helped the Red Sox eke out another run when he doubled down the left-field line leading off the sixth inning, ending Biddle's outing. With Kelly Wunsch on in relief, Cliff Floyd's ground out to second moved Ramirez to third and Daubach's ground out to second scored him, pulling the Red Sox within 4-2.

But Lowe gave the run back in the seventh when he hung a 3-and-2 breaking ball to Liefer, who launched it into the Red Sox bullpen in right to stake Chicago to a 5-2 lead.

Just then, the scoreboard showed that the Angels, who had trailed the Rangers, 2-1, had tied the score. And soon it hardly mattered, since Ordonez took Hermanson deep to right-center in the eighth to give Chicago a 7-2 advantage, sounding Boston's death knell.

''We had a good year,'' Damon said. ''Unfortunately, some other teams had better years than we did.''

By Bob Hohler of The Boston Globe

This story ran on page C1 of the Boston Globe on 9/26/2002.

Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.