Deja Youk: Homer wins it in extra innings after Paps blows save

Sox 5, Cards 3 (13)
WP: Lopez (2-0)
LP: Parisi (0-3)
SV: None
HRs: BOS-Youk, 2 (13); STL:None

SUMMARY:
For the second weekend in a row Jonathan Papelbon blew a save with two outs in the 9th against a National League club, and for the second straight Sunday Kevin Youkilis bailed out his dance-impaired teammate with an extra inning homer. This one came with one on in the bottom of the 13th and helped Boston avoid the sweep and remain in first place.

#1 STUNNER: Youk 2-5, 2R, BB, 3BI, 2HR
His second multi-homer game of the season ended with the first walk-off shot of his career, and it's safe to say Paps owes him an expensive steak dinner for the latest save he provided for his closer.

THE BIGGEST LOSER: Rick Ankiel 0-6, 2K
Not only did the ex-pitcher, ex-juicer have a lousy day at the plate, but in the 8th inning the Cards' centerfielder fell after over-running a ball hit by Coco Crisp that wound up as a leadoff triple and allowed the Sox to tie the game.

RECAP:
Wow. This game had more going on than a CGI-laden summer blockbuster.

It was a pitcher's duel as both starters, Joel Pineiro and Jon Lester, threw seven solid innings of two-run ball.

It was a pitcher's nightmare, evidenced by Paps' blown save and Mike Parisi's blown game. Also, Hideki Okajima allowed 5 base runners in 1 2/3 innings and Chris Perez walked three straight batters to force in the go-ahead run in the seventh.

It's was a hitter's heaven, with the two team's combining for 29 hits. Seven players had at least two hits, two guys racked up three knocks, Dustin Pedroia ripped four hits and Aaron Miles tallied five base hits on the day.

It was a hitter's hell, as Ankiel went 0-6, Troy Glaus 0-4, and Jason Varitek and red-hot J.D. Drew both suffered through 0-5 afternoons.

It had highs & lows, "ahhhhs" and groans, and a couple of plays that made you sit and scratch your head.

Did I mention it was delayed by rain for nearly an hour at the start and there were 13 pitchers used today?

Let's just hope there's not a sequel in the near future.

The craziest part about the game was that it started out as an ordinary pitcher's duel, with both St. Louis starter/ex-Sox hurler Pineiro (7IP, 7H, 2ER, 0BB, 1K, 1HR, 81P) and Sox lefty Lester escaping numerous jams early to keep the game scoreless for five innings.

With 29 combined hits and just 8 runs scored, you gotta figure there were a lot of men left on base, which there were, but there were also four double plays, a caught stealing and a runner gunned out at the plate that combined to keep the score down and the pitch count up (362 total) in this game.

In fact in the first four innings the teams hit into three double plays and two fielder's choices which killed a few potential rallies, but the Cards finally broke the seal when they scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth on back-to-back doubles and an RBI single by Ryan Ludwick (1-6, BI).

Lester (7IP, 9H, 2ER, 1BB, 3K, 101P) worked his way out of that situation without any further damage, and Boston sliced the lead in half in the next inning when Youk hit a solo shot over the Monster with two outs in the seventh.

And this is when things started to get wild.

Boston finally got Pineiro, who was signed by the Sox prior to last season and was at one point going be the closer for the club, out of the game when Ankiel misplayed Coco's routine flyball into a leadoff triple to start the eighth.

On came reliever Chris Perez, and soon the St. Louis lead would disappear in a sea of bad pitches.

Julio Lugo worked the count to 3-1 before driving a ball to right to score Coco easily, and thanks to Ankiel's blunder the game was tied at two.

After getting Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out for the second out of the inning, Perez allowed a single to Pedroia (4-5, 2 2Bs, R), and after the Little Big Man stole second, the St. Louis righty walked Drew, Manny and Mike Lowell to force in Pedroia with the go ahead run, 3-2.

Perez did strike out Youk with the bases loaded to end the inning, but needing just three outs and with Paps on the mound it appeared as if the game was over.

Ah, not so fast Faithful.

Last Saturday Papelbon entered the game in Cincinnati with Boston leading the Reds 4-3 when Edwin Encarnacion took the closer deep with two outs and two strikes to send the game into extra innings, where Youk and Coco hit back-to-back jacks in the 10th to win the gaame.

Couldn't happen twice in the span of 8 days, right?

Well, it didn't happen exactly like that, but when Papelbon walked Chris Duncan with two outs it did bring up similar feelings of "not again". After all, it was just paps' fifth bases on balls he had issued this season.

Sure enough pinch hitter Adam Kennedy (3-3, BI) drilled a fat fastball into deep center, and this time it was Coco's turn to misplay the ball as he got a bad jump on it, came in first then went back as the ball helplessly bounced off the base of the wall and Duncan came around to score the tying run.

And the park was shrouded in silence.

Paps (1IP, 1H, 1ER, 1BB, 2K, 19P) bounced back to get Skip Schumaker to ground out to end the inning, but the damaage was done and it was time for the emotional closer to take out his frustrations on his mitt in the dugout.

After the Sox went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th, the next three innings went simialr to the first three - plenty of baserunners, but nobody scoring.

Hideki Okajima took over for Paps in the top of the 10th, and Oki did his best Timlin impersonation when he gave up a single and a walk sandwiched around an out before retiting the last two batters to escape the jam.

Boston, meanwhile, got a leadoff double from Ellsbury in the bottom of the 10th, got him to third on a sac bunt by Pedroia, but left him stranded when Drew struck out and pinch hitter Sean Casey flew out.

Oki (1.2IP, 4H, BB, K, 28P) was no better in the 11th as he allowed singles to Yadier Molina, Kennedy and Aaron Miles (5-6) before Craig Hansen came in and struck out Ludwick to squelch the rally.

The frustrations continued in the bottom of the inning when Lowell (3-5, R, BI, BB) led off with a two bagger and Youk and Coco walked, but Jason Isringhausen struck out Alex Cora and ellsy to squelch that threat.

Is this thing ever gonna fucking end?!

Hansen tossed a 1-2-3 12th before Boston got yet another leadoff double in the bottom of the inning, but Pedroia was nailed at third on a bouncer back to the mound and then casey hit into a double play to sq....ah screw it.

The game finally wrapped up in spectacular fashion in the 13th inning, which was an unlucky frame for St. Louis but proved to be very lucky for Boston.

After Javier Lopez releived Hansen with one out to face Duncan the slumping Cards' first baseman drove a double into deep center, and one pitch later Kennedy lined a single to right that looked like it would plate the go-ahead run.

But as Drew ran in and scooped up the ball, Duncan barrelled around third, and instead of trying to slide under Tek's tag Duncan tried to plow him over. Bad move.

Tek hung on to the ball and applied the tag and a disgruntled Duncan was out at the plate, and two pitches later Schumaker flied out to set up Youk's heroics.

Lowell led off the frame with a single to left and five pitches later Youk unloaded on a Mike Parisi fastball and drilled it over the Monster for a long-awaited walk-off homer, and finally this 5 1/2+ hour (with delay) marathon was over.

So the Sox avoided what would have been the first Fenway sweep since 2006 and enlatged its lead in the east with the Rays loss to the Astros.

Next up is a series with the slumping Diamondbacks, and its safe to say the Sox could use a herculean effort from Josh Beckett so the rest of the staff can get some rest after this wild and wooly affair.

RECORD: 47-31
AL EAST: Up 1 1/2 gms
STREAK: W1
LAST 10: 6-4
UP NEXT: Mon vs. ARI 705 Haren vs. Beckett