They brought threat to a crashing halt

It was a meeting of two solid guys. Jason Varitek, 6 feet 2 inches, 230 pounds. Chris Duncan, 6-5, 230 pounds.

And, with the game on the line, it just might have been one of the biggest plays of a very long game yesterday, one that ended as a 5-3 win for the Red Sox.

With one out in the 13th inning, and Javier Lopez on the mound, Duncan doubled off the Wall. That brought Adam Kennedy to the plate. Kennedy lined a single to right, the ball taking an easy path to J.D. Drew. ("I guess the only contribution I had is that it got to him kind of hard," Lopez joked.)

And Drew knew just what do with it.

"It was just an instinctive play," Drew said. "Catch the ball and throw it. Try to make the best throw you can. At that point I wasn't completely sure they were going to send him, but I was a little bit surprised they did. You just want to make a good, strong, accurate throw there to give Tek a chance to make a play. That was quite a collision, but Tek held on and we got out of it."

Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo had sent Duncan, perhaps not the fleetest of runners, testing Drew's arm. He clearly passed, the ball arriving at Varitek with Duncan still about 10 feet up the third base line. That gave Varitek enough time to set up, getting down under Duncan and making the tag.

"With J.D.'s arm and Duncan on second - if it was a burner it might not have been a play - but J.D. got off a good throw," Varitek said. "I had just enough time to kind of get a little bit lower."

Lopez got Skip Schumaker to fly out to center and the Sox were out of the inning, just in time to stage their comeback in the bottom half.

"[Varitek] blocked the plate. [Duncan] tried to knock it loose," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "Varitek's a tough competitor, so is Chris. He tried to knock him over. I assume Varitek didn't have a problem with it . . . J.D. made a perfect throw."

Lester on roll

Varitek said he was particularly impressed with Jon Lester yesterday. Lester, though he wasn't part of the decision, went 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. He struck out three and walked one, throwing 101 pitches.

"He threw the ball today as well as he has," Varitek said. "He's learning. He's learning both sides of the plate. He's learning how to become more complete. That's such a big, big part for him . . . He's grown, he's become a big boy over the past year, since he's gotten his strength back."

Lester has now pitched at least seven innings in three straight starts (a career high). In that time, he's 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA, allowing just four earned runs in 21 1/3 innings. Expanding the focus, Lester is 5-1 with a 2.13 ERA over his last 11 outings, allowing three runs or fewer in each of them, the longest streak for a Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martínez (16 games) in 2002 and 2003.

Ortiz coming along

While David Ortiz certainly isn't going to jeopardize the rest of his season by returning from the disabled list prematurely, there are good signs regarding the progress of his left wrist as he tries to come back without surgery from a torn tendon sheath. Ortiz was walking around the clubhouse yesterday after getting his treatment without his brace. He acknowledged that something as simple as pulling on his pants without the brace wouldn't have been possible not long ago.

"I've still got a little bit of inflammation right there," Ortiz said, pointing to his wrist. "So I guess in like a week if I keep doing what I'm doing, I'm going to be up to [swinging a bat]. That inflammation gets in my way. [But] the clicking that I used to have is not there anymore. It's gone."

When Ortiz injured the wrist, doctors said that if the clicking (the tendon coming in and out of the sheath) stopped, there was a chance for a recovery with no long-term effects. That seems to be the direction in which he's progressing, though he wasn't always so confident.

Manager Terry Francona said yesterday that it might be 7-10 days before Ortiz picks up a bat. It's a timeline that Ortiz seems to agree with. But he insists that he's not going to hurry back.

"Believe me, I'm not going to play until I'm ready to play," Ortiz said. "I'm going to take my time. We've been playing good, so I don't have to rush. It doesn't matter what I do, you know? If I rush and get hurt again, it's going to be not good."

Tek-nical difficulties

Varitek extended his hitless streak to 24 at-bats yesterday. He's also 11 for 80 (.138) over his last 22 games, after going 0 for 5 yesterday . . . Francona reiterated yesterday that despite his horrific outing Saturday, Daisuke Matsuzaka is on target to make his next start for the Sox, Friday in Houston . . . There was no update on Bartolo Colon (back spasms). Colon will have to be cleared by the medical people in order to start a throwing program, but that hasn't happened yet, so the team is in a holding pattern . . . With the Diamondbacks coming into town today, it marks a reunion for some former members of the Red Sox front office. Both general manager Josh Byrnes and assistant GM Peter Woodfork formerly worked under Theo Epstein in Boston. Asked if he still keeps in touch with them, Francona said, "It's hard during the year to pick up the phone and talk to people, but I get rather hilarious messages from time to time from those two. I'll get those 2 o'clock in the morning messages that have a hidden meaning or something. They're great guys. It shouldn't be a shock that their organization is in great shape." . . . Yadier Molina had an iffy moment in the field, when Jacoby Ellsbury nearly collided with him at first base on a bunt attempt in the sixth inning, suggesting that Molina probably ought to stay behind the plate. (It was his seventh career appearance, first start, at first base.) . . . Cardinals second baseman/shortstop Aaron Miles tied a career high with five hits . . . Coco Crisp and Ellsbury each had stellar catches in consecutive innings, Ellsbury's coming on a diving play in left in the fourth, Crisp's up against the wall in the fifth . . . La Russa made an interesting decision in the 10th inning. With the hottest hitter in the majors at the plate, one out in the inning and Ellsbury on third base, La Russa chose not to walk Drew. It was, perhaps, the obvious move in the situation, setting up the double play, especially with rookie Brandon Moss on deck. But La Russa gambled, a choice that ended with a checked-swing strikeout of Drew. The Cardinals ultimately got out of the inning unscathed.