LEWISTON – Peter Waite remembers the Bucky Dent home run in 1978. He remembers Bill Buckner’s mishandled grounder in 1986.

There is no way Waite is going out on a limb to predict the Red Sox will win it all this year.

Still, as the Sox easily won Thursday night to clinch a wild-card spot in the American League playoffs, Waite was feeling at least a glimmer of hope.

“I think they’ve got a good chance to go far. But I’ve said that before,” the 47-year-old Lisbon man said. “I’ve said they’re gonna go all the way many, many times. Too many times to count.”

Waite was among dozens at the Blue Goose Tavern on Sabattus Street Thursday night watching the Red Sox trounce the Baltimore Orioles.

Still, to speak of the possibility of a World Series? Unspeakable for most Red Sox fans, accustomed to decades of dashed hopes.

“They could do it, they really could,” said 24-year-old Jason Charron. “They have a great team this year. They just have to click.”

Charron was sitting with his dad, also a Sox fan.

At 46, Marc Charron has been a Sox fan all his life. He’s had his share of heartbreak. But there it was Thursday, that glint of hope Sox fans have clung to for years.

“They clinched a spot. If their bats stay strong and the pitching is there, they’re gonna do well,” Marc Charron said.

But how far will the Red Sox go when they have to play the Oakland Athletics and maybe, the dreaded New York Yankees? Nobody at the Blue Goose Tavern wanted to speculate much.

The rivalry in the big leagues was as much alive at the bar as it is on the playing field.

“This is definitely a Red Sox bar,” Marc Charron said. “We’ve got some Yankees fans here too, but that’s OK. It’s a great rivalry.”

Seated at the end of the bar was a 42-year-old local man named John. John is a Yankees fan.

“The Red Sox have come this far but that’s about as far as they’re gonna go,” he said. “They have no chance of getting beyond the Yankees. They are not going to win the World Series.”

Perhaps wisely, John did not want to provide his last name.

Bad luck from past years has Red Sox fans spooked.

“I’m up for it. I’m ready for it,” said Waite. “But I was up for it in 1986, too. I don’t want to jinx them.”

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