Homers by A-Rod, Thames in ninth beat Boston

Baseball's Team Walk-Off a year ago was without one such win this year. Until last night, that is, and who better than the Red Sox to have it against?

Marcus Thames hit a two-out, two-run homer off Jonathan Papelbon to cap a four-run ninth inning and give the Yankees an 11-9 victory over the Red Sox in front of 48,271 at the Stadium. Thames, per last year's tradition, received a whipped-cream pie to the face as the crowd roared.

"I saw them last year when I was in Detroit," Thames said of the Yankees' 15 walk-off wins in 2009, the most in baseball. "It's an awesome feeling, especially against those guys last year."

Alex Rodriguez played more than a bit part in the gaggle of walk-offs last season - he was involved in driving in the tying or winning runs in six of them - and he was huge last night.

When Thames hit his no-doubt blast to leftfield on Papelbon's first pitch to him, many in the crowd still were standing from Rodriguez's monster two-run shot off Papelbon with one out that tied it at 9. With Brett Gardner, who had doubled to left, on third base, A-Rod jumped on the first pitch he saw from Papelbon and launched it into the Red Sox bullpen.

"I think that's the feeling we had all of last year," Rodriguez said. "No matter what, we feel like we have a chance to win every game at home. We like playing here and until the last out is collected, we feel like we're going to win the game."

Thames' second homer of the year came one pitch after Papelbon hit Francisco Cervelli in the elbow. Thames and A-Rod, who has 20 RBIs in his last 18 games, each had four runs batted in.

The Yankees beat the Red Sox for the 14th time in their last 17 games. But they entered the ninth trailing 9-7, with Phil Hughes helping to blow a 5-0 first-inning lead and the bullpen then coughing up a 7-5 lead.

The Red Sox hit five home runs that accounted for eight of their runs: a three-run homer by J.D. Drew, a go-ahead two-run shot by Kevin Youkilis, two solo blasts by Victor Martinez and a solo homer by David Ortiz.

"It's what you go through a lot when you play the Red Sox," Joe Girardi said of the wild game. "These are the types of games that are played."

Javier Vazquez (2-4) picked up the win in relief, striking out Kevin Youkilis - the only batter he faced - with runners on first and third to end the top of the ninth. Vazquez still is scheduled to start Friday night against the Mets.

Girardi was short in the bullpen, having decided he wouldn't use Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson. With Mariano Rivera his only pitcher left after Vazquez, he would have thrown Vazquez up to 100 pitches, he said. Said Girardi, "Our bullpen's a mess."

Most of the pitchers Girardi threw out there could be described that way, starting with Hughes, who came in unbeaten with a 1.38 ERA. He allowed five runs and six hits in five innings, including the fifth-inning homer by Drew that brought the Red Sox within 6-5.

Fans were not as forgiving of Chan Ho Park, activated earlier in the day, who allowed three runs and four hits in letting a 7-6 lead turn into a 9-7 deficit. Youkilis gave the Sox their first lead of the night with a two-run homer in the eighth that made it 8-7. Then Martinez made it back-to-back blasts.

For Hughes, it should have never reached that point. "Not good," he said. "It was tough. It seemed like they kept on fouling off pitches, a lot of long at-bats. It seemed like I couldn't really put guys away. And then to blow the lead like I did is pretty embarrassing."

Still, it was nothing the first walk-off magic of the season couldn't fix. Or at least push far into the background.