The standard 37-plus thousand cranks packed the Fenway park to-night, many preoccupied with wire-free communication devices or image-capturing gadgets. Those who did peer diamond-ward noticed that each of the two squads' shooters had aged sufficiently to have sired them.

The lanky villain, "Randy" Johnson, retreated to the look of his younger self, but only in hair-style, as he finds a "mullet-head" to be the most fetching. His fast-ball, however, has put on a few pounds. It's not that the "Big Unit" defecated in the blankets, but his eight-hit performance would have made his old self blush. The two runs, plated on a bouncer and a sacrifice fly ball, were more than enough for the Bostons to take the contest and the series.

The Hub's own Father Time, Wakefield, laid the ol' Chicago on the Desert Men, with help from hometown hero Delcarmen and door-shutter Papelbon, who rescued Hansen in the ninth to preserve the whitewash.

The surprising star would be Wake's personal ball-chaser, Mr. Cash. The specialist hadn't hit a long ball in a dog's age, but earned his currency in the eighth, when he blasted a Bleriot over The Wall, and the spectators atop it. The blow gave some respiratory relief to the Red rooters, who had been witnessing a hair-raiser until that moment.

"Coco" Crisp performed a special feat, knocking three two-baggers, and giving fits to left-fielder "Kooky" Byrnes. His wall-play made it appear he'd rather be surfing Arizona bay than fussing with the physics of fielding Fenway flies. A Bill Hicks routine would not have garnered more guffaws from the gawkers by the "Green Monster" than Kooky's act did on this night.

The first-place Bostons head for Texas to meet the Astro-nomicals this week-end.