It ended at 11:21 p.m., and as Yogi would have said, ''It wasn't over even when it was over.''

No. The Yankees gave it one last shot. While the Red Sox stormed the diamond and belly-bumped and celebrated, the Yankees were still not convinced the game was over. They believed Rickey Henderson had left third base early en route to scoring the winning run on Carlos Baerga's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th. They appealed to the ump while the Sox were still dancing in the infield.

They threw to third. Umpire Mark Hirschbeck signaled ''safe.''

And it was officially over. And the Red Sox were 9-8 winners. And the Sox have beaten the Bronx Bombers five times in six tries this season, with baseball's best pitcher, Derek Lowe, taking the mound this afternoon.

This one could have been disastrous. The Sox routed Roger Clemens, chasing Cy Six in the fourth inning. Boston led, 7-1 and 8-2. It was rowdy in those golden innings.

Then the lead slipped away and it got very quiet at Fenway. The psyche of the Nation is fragile. Suddenly, the game looked like a microcosm of the 1978 Red Sox-Yankee season. Big lead. Blown lead. Yankees win! Yankees win! Yankees win!

No. This is 2002. It is not 1949, 1978, or any of those other years when the Yankees won the mind games and finished first in the standings. This time, the Red Sox seem to have the New Yorkers on the run. If the Sox win again today, it will be Boston 6, New York 1, and we may be getting a visit from the Fat Man before ESPN's crew breaks down tomorrow night.

These Red Sox-Yankee jousts at Fenway have been nothing short of epic. The Sox won three one-run games against the Yanks last month. They lost to a Mike Mussina masterpiece. Thursday, Boston got back on course thanks to Pedro Martinez, and last night the Sox won when a guy who'd been out of the majors since 1999 knocked in his third run of the season.

Epic. Fans never seem to leave their seats. It's an illusion, of course. How can the concession stands, bathrooms, and concourses be full of people if all the fans are stapled to their chairs? It can't be explained. It just is.

The Red Sox are playing without Manny Ramirez, which means they have to do the little things. In the 11th last night, they got a chop hit from 43-year-old Henderson (including a headfirst slide into first base), a scratch single from Shea Hillenbrand, a perfect sac bunt by Trot Nixon, and a two-strike sac fly to center from Baerga.

''It's great to be part of a ball club like this,'' said Baerga. ''We care about each other. We are like a family here. Every day, a different guy steps up and does the job.''

And now they're inside the heads and hearts of the Yankees.

''We knew this wasn't going to be easy,'' said Baerga. ''They kind of scared us a little bit, coming back like that. When you play against the Yankees, they can beat you any time.''

Henderson said his body will be fine today. He doesn't worry about sliding headfirst. It's all technique and he's been doing it for a long time. ''We're going to battle to the last out.''

Jason Varitek, who had been intentionally walked and was standing on first base when Baerga hit the sac fly, said, ''This was a big win. We lost our lead, but didn't lose the game and that was big. When Rickey hustled down the line to start the inning with that hit, you could just start to taste it.''

Another one-run win over the Yankees. A three-game lead (five in the loss column) with Lowe on the mound this afternoon. Very tasty, indeed.

By Dan Shaughnessy of The Boston Globe

This story ran on page E1 of the Boston Globe on 5/25/2002.

Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.