"Kevin Youkilis, usually among the leaders in pitches per plate appearance, was the chosen one yesterday.

When Houston Astros manager Brad Mills opted to intentionally walk Red Sox hitter Adrian Gonzalez yesterday with two runners already aboard and two outs in the ninth inning of a 1-1 game, it was with the thought that reliever Mark Melancon would produce an out from Youkilis.

The gambit failed, as Youkilis never took a swing at five pitches from Melancon, the fourth was a called strike and the fifth was ball No. 4, as Youkilis walked to force in the winning run.

Just another patient plate appearance for Youkilis.

"Same as always, just try to get good pitch to hit," said Youkilis about his approach. "The guy's got good stuff, his command is not the greatest in the world, but I just tried to stay in the zone and try to get a pitch to hit. I didn't get one, other than on 3-0, when I had the take sign. I just went up there, didn't swing at balls and took four balls."

Manager Terry Francona thought Mills' decision was right, but he liked his team's odds in that situation.

"We were talking about it in the dugout — that's the nice thing about having a good lineup," said Mills' good friend, Francona. "When you have good hitters, you always talk about if they want to walk somebody, make them pay. Youk got a walk, but the guy's hitting .360. That's a tough decision."

Youkilis was not surprised by the decision."