ST. Lestar Jean . LOUIS -- Brett Gardners leaping catch in the 11th inning gave the New York Yankees life. Patient at-bats and their first hit since the fifth inning put them over the top. "I just tried to get back there as fast as I could," Gardner said of his catch at the top of the left field wall that denied Yadier Molina of at least extra bases and perhaps a game-ending two-run homer in the Yankees 6-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in 12 innings Monday. "It was an easy play, just go back and make sure I get the ball in the glove before my back hits the wall." Brian Roberts bases loaded single was the go-ahead hit in a three-run 12th fueled by two walks and a hit batter. The Yankees won for the fourth time in extra innings on the season, three of them in the last six games. "Its a grind," Gardner said. "But weve been playing pretty well and we seem to really stay focused." Pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano and Brendan Ryan each added an RBI for the Yankees, who took the opener of a three-game interleague series for their third straight win. Alfredo Aceves (1-2) worked two scoreless innings and David Robertson earned his 11th save in 12 chances. "At that point, youre just trying to get the guy in," Roberts said. "You need to be selective and find ways to win." Jon Jay had an RBI double in the 12th for the Cardinals, who lost for the third time in 12 games. "Just a really bad day," reliever Randy Choate said. "I felt fine coming in, just didnt have good stuff." A standing-room crowd of 47,311, the third-largest at 9-year-old Busch Stadium, showed up to see an opponent making only its second appearance in St. Louis since losing to the Cardinals in the 1964 World Series. The enthusiasm did not appear to be dampened by a 61-minute weather delay -- for rain that did not materialize -- before the first pitch. Cardinals pitchers retired 20 of 21 batters before the 12th, when Choate (0-2) faced five batters and four reached safely. Five Yankees relievers were stingy, too, permitting two hits in seven innings. "It comes down to doing little things and getting big hits," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "Thats no secret. We had a couple of opportunities to get the big hit. You cant do it all the time." Jacoby Ellsbury got the rally started when he walked to lead off the inning and stole second, a call upheld after Matheny challenged. After coming through, Roberts is 3 for 6 in extra innings. "Another big hit for us," manager Joe Girardi said. "I thought the bottom of the lineup was extremely productive." Molina slammed his helmet in frustration after Gardner came down with his drive at the top of the fence with a runner on and one out in the 11th. Derek Jeter got a standing ovation before his first at-bat, and thousands stood again when he singled, although they also roared when he took a called third strike to end the eighth against Carlos Martinez after Molinas pinpoint throw on Gardner attempting to steal. Michael Wacha dealt with a rain delay for the fourth time in his 11 starts -- total idle time of 4 hours, 52 minutes. After nine pitches the Yankees had the lead, with a walk by Gardner and a single by Jeter setting up Ellsburys RBI single. The first three batters reached in a two-run fifth, too, with Kelly Johnsons RBI single and Gardners sacrifice fly putting the Yankees up 3-1. New York rookie starter Chase Whitley was vulnerable early, too. The Cardinals needed two at-bats to tie it in the first when Matt Carpenter tripled off the right-field wall and Kolten Wong doubled, but they missed a chance for more when Wong overslid third and was caught stealing for the first time in eight attempts this season. Whitley qualified for a win for the first time in three career starts, but left with the bases loaded and none out in the sixth before the Cardinals tied it against Preston Claiborne. Allen Craig had an RBI groundout and Jhonny Peralta followed with a sacrifice fly. Wacha bounced back after taking a foul liner off his elbow while sitting in the dugout his last time out, giving up three runs on four hits in seven innings. He had a season-low two strikeouts, the first against Ellsbury leading off the sixth. NOTES: In a pregame ceremony, Jeter received Stan Musial cuff links and a $10,000 check for the captains Turn 2 Foundation. ... The Cardinals also paid tribute to their 1964 team. ... Whitley is the first Yankees pitcher to make his first three career starts on the road since Ramiro Mendoza made four in a row in 1996. ... Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (5-2, 3.60 ERA) opposes David Phelps (1-1, 3.18) on Tuesday night. Lynn is 1-3 with a 5.08 ERA in six career interleague starts. ... Wacha hasnt permitted more than three runs in any of his starts. Matt Kalil . That led me to go back and look at the years Halladay and Hamels were drafted. Oddly enough, they were both chosen 17th overall in the June draft; Halladay in 1995 and Hamels in 2002. The player drafted immediately ahead of Halladay was pitcher Joe Fontenot by the San Francisco Giants. He was later one of three prospects traded to the Marlins for closer Robb Nen, who went on to save 206 games over the next five years before calling it a career with 314 total saves. Chris Doleman . Skip Jim Armstrong is again leading the foursome with Gaudet at lead and Ina Forrest at second. But there are two newcomers, alternate Mark Ideson and third Dennis Thiessen. He was a Brooklyn kid, an Ivy League graduate, a young man with designs on becoming a lawyer. Joe Paterno reluctantly went to Penn State to coach football and has stayed 61 years. Paterno turned those halting beginnings into a career and an industry that produced hundreds of wins, thousands of good citizens and millions of dollars for causes he believed in. He built a program on his personality and an idea -- that you could achieve big-time success in big-time sports while still getting a good education and without selling your soul. The homespun idea concocted in the Norman Rockwell town of State College by a man affectionately known as "Joe Pa" unravelled this week when a sex-abuse scandal involving his former assistant, Jerry Sandusky, exploded, costing key administrators their jobs and forcing Paternos exit to come far from on his own terms. His legacy -- once seemingly untouchable -- is now in peril. But his record, the raw numbers at least, cannot be touched. The path to a record 409 victories began at 23, when Paterno was coaxed by Rip Engle, his former football coach at Brown, to work with him when Engle moved to become Penn States head coach in 1950. "I had no intention to coach when I got out of Brown," Paterno said in a 2007 interview before being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. "Come to this hick town? From Brooklyn?" Paterno always thought life as a lawyer would be nice. His father, Angelo, thought his son might one day become president. Instead, the gridiron became Paternos home and offers from Al Davis in Oakland and the ownership in New England couldnt root out Paterno from his adopted home in Happy Valley. Three years after turning down Davis, who in 1963 offered to triple his salary to US$18,000 to become the Raiders offensive co-ordinator, Paterno took over as Penn States head coach. When Engle and Paterno arrived, Penn State had gone through three coaches in three years and had an offence made up mostly of walk-ons. Engle never had a losing season at Penn State, but when Paterno took over in 1966, the Lions still were considered "Eastern football" -- inferior to the Alabamas and Oklahomas and Southern Californias that dominated the game in those days. Over the years, though, the program got onto even footing with those power schools. All the while, Paternos fans insisted it was more than simply about football and winning. "He teaches us about really just growing up and being a man," former linebacker Paul Posluszny, now with the NFLs Jacksonville Jaguars, once said. "Besides the football, hes preparing us to be good men in life." Paterno was a frequent speaker on ethics in sports, the self-appointed conscience for a world often infiltrated by scandal and shady characters. He made sure his players went to class. As of 2011, Penn State has had 49 academic All-Americans -- 47 under Paterno -- the third-highest total among FBS institutions. The teams graduation rates are consistently ranked among the best in the Big Ten. In 2010, Penn States 84 per cent rate trailed only Northwesterns 95. In an ESPN special, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said Paterno had been able to "change how you teach ... without changing the values of how you teach." Until this week, hardly anyone questioned Paternos values. "Deep down, I feel Ive had an impact. I dont feel Ive wasted my career," Paterno once said. "If I did, I would have gotten out a long time ago." A year after he began his head coaching career, Paterno began a 30-0-1 streak fuelled by players such as Jack Ham, who went onto fame with the Pittsburgh Steelers. But the Nittany Lions fell short in the polls, finishing No. 2 in 1968 and 1969 despite 11-0 records, and No. 5 in 1973 despite a 12-0 record. In 1969, Texas edged out Penn State for the title with help from an unlikely source: President Richard Nixon declared the Longhorns No. 1 after their bowl game. "Id like to know, how could the president know so little about Watergate in 1973, and so much about college football in 1969?" Paterno said in the aftermath, showing off a wry sense of humour that mixed Brooklyn smarts with mid-American sensibility. Elite status finally arrived in the 1980s. The Nittany Lions claimed national titles in 1982, with a 27-23 win over Georgia at the Sugar Bowl, and in 1986, intercepting Miamis Vinny Testaverde five times in a 14-10 win at the Fiesta Bowl. In all, Paterno guided five teams to unbeaten, untied seasons, and hee reached 300 wins faster than any other coach, making himself a legend before his career had even reached its halfway point. Vladimir Ducasse. The Nittany Lions have made several title runs since those 1980s championships, including the 2005 trip to the Orange Bowl and an 11-1 regular-season campaign in 2008 that ended with a spot in the Rose Bowl and a 37-23 loss to USC. Paternos longevity became all the more remarkable as college football transformed into a big-money business. The school estimated there have been at least 888 head coaching changes at FBS schools since Paterno took the job. He is the all-time leader in bowl appearances (37) and wins (24). And he sent more than 250 players to the NFL. On Oct. 29, Penn State beat Illinois 10-7, earning Paterno win No. 409, breaking a tie with Grambling States Eddie Robinson for most in Division I. All he wanted to do, he had said two days earlier, was "hopefully have a little luck and have a little fun doing it. Ive been lucky enough to be around some great athletes." He said the success came because "the good Lord kept me healthy, not because Im better than anybody else. Its because Ive been around a lot longer than anybody else." So long, in fact, that it seemed there was no getting rid of him, even as age and injuries crept up and his famous resistance to modern technology -- tweeting, texting and other so-called must-haves of 21st century recruiting -- made him seem antique. But just as much, it was a string of mediocre seasons in the early 2000s that had fans wondering whether it was finally time for Paterno to step aside. Others questioned how much actual work Paterno did in his later years. He always went out of his way to heap praise on his veteran assistants, especially if an injury or ailment kept him from getting in a players face in practice or demonstrating a technique. "Im not where I want to be, the blazing speed I used to have," he said last month, poking fun at himself. "Its been tough. ... its a pain in the neck, let me put it that way." Paterno cut back on road trips to see recruits. He ended his annual summer caravan across Pennsylvania to exchange handshakes and smiles with alumni and donors. Still, the question persisted: How much longer was he going to coach? It was, until this week, the biggest question to dog him over a coaching career that began when Harry Truman was president. That made him no different from the handful of coaching lifers who stay in the game into their 70s and beyond. "Who knows?" Paterno said with a straight face in October, when he was asked how his latest ailments affected his future. "Maybe Ill go 10 years." A little more than 10 days later, he was announcing his retirement. "This is a tragedy," Paterno said in a statement. "It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more." The terms of his departure could hardly conflict more with the reputation he built in nearly a half-century of turning a quaint program into a powerhouse with instant name recognition. He made it to the big time without losing a sense of where he was -- State College, population 42,000, a picturesque college town smack-dab in the middle of Pennsylvania. Paterno and his wife raised five children in State College. Anybody could ring up his modest ranch home using the number listed in the phone book under "Paterno, Joseph V." That house was the sight of something between a pep rally and a vigil as events unfolded this week. Hundreds of students stood outside chanting his name, paying homage to a coach who brought fame to campus. In the weeks and years before the current drama, former players would parade through his living room, especially on a busy game weekend, for a chance to say "Hello." He was as much a father figure to many of them as a coach. As the events of this week swallowed him up, and many of his most loyal followers were forced to rethink the icons legacy, the coach himself tried as hard as possible to keep the focus on the reason he got into the business. "My goals now," Paterno said in the statement announcing his retirement, "are to keep my commitments to my players and staff and finish the season with dignity and determination. And then I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to help this University." ------ Associated Press Writer Genaro C. Armas in State College, Pa., contributed to this report. ' ' '
