Red Sox Party Is on Hold : AL East:The White Sox defeat Boston, 3-2. The Blue Jays stay alive with a 2-1 victory over the Orioles.

On the 12th anniversary of one of their darkest moments, the lights were flickering again for the Boston Red Sox.

They lost to the Chicago White Sox, 3-2, in 11 innings Tuesday night, blowing a chance to wrap up the American League’s Eastern Division title 12 years after Bucky Dent hit that improbable home run into the net above the left-field wall at Fenway Park to snatch the 1978 division title for the New York Yankees in a one-game playoff.

Now the star-crossed Red Sox, who have lost the only two playoffs in American League history, face the possibility of another. They lead the Toronto Blue Jays, who defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1, by one game on the final day of the regular season.

If Boston fails to hold that lead, they face the Blue Jays in the SkyDome at 1 p.m. PDT Thursday. Roger Clemens will fly to Toronto today to be rested for that possibility.

“I said it would go down to the bitter end, but I hope I’m wrong,” Red Sox Manager Joe Morgan said. “The bitter end would be a playoff.”

Said Dwight Evans: “We’re a little down right now but not out. We know we have a job to do and still feel we’re in the driver’s seat. We’ll battle ‘em tomorrow, and if we have to, we’ll come back Thursday and battle ‘em.”

Tuesday night, when Ozzie Guillen drove in the winning run against Dennis Lamp, who later questioned Morgan’s bullpen deployment, Boston wasted solid pitching, an eighth-inning comeback against Bobby Thigpen, the majors’ save leader, and a chance to save Mike Boddicker (16-8) for Sunday’s second game of the playoff against the Oakland Athletics.

Now the Red Sox must use Boddicker tonight against Alex Fernandez (5-4), the 21-year-old right-hander who was Chicago’s No. 1 June selection out of Miami Dade South Community College.

“I think it tells you what we think of him to start him on the last day of the season with a pennant on the line,” White Sox Manager Jeff Torborg said.

A crowd of 33,917 at Fenway Park was up and on its feet for most of the final innings Tuesday. Guillen pulled a two-out slider from Lamp, the fourth Boston pitcher, into right field to score Ron Karkovice, who had singled with one out and taken second on a single by Robin Ventura.

“He hit a hell of a slider--low and away,” Morgan said of the pitch to Guillen. “I don’t know how he hit it.”

Guillen didn’t say, but he did say the White Sox, with their 94-67 record, the second best in the American League and third best in baseball, have “too much pride to lay down and die for anyone. I think we’ve proven we’re a better team than they (the Red Sox) are all season.”

Several Red Sox relievers, including Jeff Reardon and Larry Andersen, have expressed confusion about their roles and the way Morgan has used them. Lamp joined that unhappy delegation Tuesday night.

“I feel like I let everybody down,” he said. “I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do. I was mentally ready to go in, but physically I only have so much to give. I warmed up in the first, second and fifth innings before I warmed up again in the 10th tonight, and I don’t know if they are even aware that I warmed up several times, too. When the weather is as cold as it was tonight, you have to start over every time you warm up. I mean, it was warm up, cool off, warm up, game over.”

The Red Sox put their leadoff batter on in each of the first four innings, but this is a team with virtually no speed, with no hitter adept at batting second and with a manager who seldom bunts or uses the hit-and-run.

Tuesday night, the Red Sox grounded into three double plays, increasing their major league-leading total to 173 in 161 games.

A wild pitch by Melido Perez, who lasted only 1 1/3 innings in each of his last two starts, gave Boston a run in the first inning after a two-out single by Wade Boggs and double by Ellis Burks. He then permitted only one more hit until the eighth, when Tom Brunansky led off with a double.

At the time, the White Sox led, 2-1, and the call went to Thigpen, who had converted 57 of 64 save opportunities. This time, however, Tony Pena’s sacrifice put pinch-runner Jeff Stone on third, and pinch-hitter Danny Heep’s sacrifice fly tied the score. The Red Sox had two on and two out in the inning, but Boggs grounded out.

Boston also had the bases loaded with two out in the 10th, but Donn Pall got Burks on a fly to right.

Wayne Edwards then pitched the 11th for Chicago, overcoming a two-out single by Kevin Romine when he got Pena to ground into a game-ending force play.

Tom Bolton allowed only one run in six innings as the Boston starter before leaving with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh when Andersen’s wild pitch produced the second run and marred a performance in which he otherwise retired five in a row.