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OAKLAND -- Ramon Hernandez was thrilled. And scared.

"When I turned around, I saw my team coming, and I saw all of them were jumping all over me," the Oakland Athletics catcher said, and all he did was stun every person watching -- and, most importantly, the entire Boston Red Sox contingent -- by dropping a game-winning, bases-loaded, 12th-inning bunt.

Scheduled Game 3 starter Derek Lowe takes the loss in the 12th inning.(AP)

Eric Chavez was thrilled. And overwhelmed.

"That was the best game I've ever been involved in," said Chavez, and all he did was save the A's with a diving stop of Gabe Kapler's screaming bouncer down the third-base line with two out and two on in the top of the 12th, pick himself up and out-sprint Manny Ramirez to the third-base bag to end the inning.

Then, all he did was swipe third base with two out in the bottom of the 12th, setting events in motion that led to Hernandez's bunt that sealed Oakland's 5-4 late-night house party that opened this series with a flourish.

Ken Macha was excited. And, let's be honest -- a little stunned.

"A's win," the Oakland manager exclaimed. "With a bunt."

With a bunt? After Pedro Martinez vs. Tim Hudson? After 12 innings, four hours and 37 minutes, 435 pitches, 36 players and about a zillion deep breaths?

There they go again, those heart-wrenching Boston Red Sox, moving to within one out of a smiling, soft landing before letting another October classic slip away.

(For the masochists among you, forget the one out business and go with this: The Red Sox were two strikes away from slipping a series-opening win into their back pockets before slipping, period, to begin the long, arduous road toward playing catch-up with Oakland.)

Yes, there they go again, cooperating enough on an October night to thrill everybody but themselves.

The beginning of the end came during a whispered conversation between third-base coach Ron Washington and Chavez. It was after Chavez stole third with two out in the 12th. It was after Scott Hatteberg took second against an indifferent Boston defense. And it was after the Red Sox decided to intentionally walk Terrence Long because, well, because Derek Lowe -- who was summoned to relieve, and we'll get to that in a moment -- fares better against right-handers than against lefties and because the Red Sox wanted to set up a potential final out at any base.

"To be honest, the whole thing was Wash," Chavez said. "He told me, 'If (Boston third baseman Bill Mueller) takes a couple of steps backward, I'm going to give him the bunt sign.' Before Ramon even stepped to the plate, he told me that."

Mueller took a couple of steps back.

On a 0-and-1 count, Washington gave Hernandez the bunt sign.

The catcher pushed a perfect bunt down the line, far enough past Lowe but not so far that it rolled anywhere near Mueller.

The Red Sox had no idea what hit them.

"Of course not," catcher Jason Varitek said. "Things had to be just right. The way it hit off the plate, he did his job.

"Derek Lowe is a pretty good athlete on the mound. A lot of things had to go right there."

Lowe is good, but to be blindsided?

"It took me by complete surprise," Lowe said. "Even if I knew he was bunting, I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it. He bunted perfectly down the line. The count was 0-1, who would have thought that he'd bunt there? It was a gamble."

To the A's, only one thing right there was a gamble.

"Bunting is not the problem," Chavez said, laughing. "The problem is Ramon running to first. The bunt is the easy part."

Hernandez did admit that, yes, that trip down the line did seem to take an eternity.

"I was running hard, but it felt like I was running slow," he said. "I wanted to get to first. I was really trying to get down the line as hard as I could, because I know I'm not very fast."

It took some doing, of course, for the Red Sox to even get themselves into that predicament. But they have a way of showing up at the most unexpected places in October.

Martinez wasn't unhittable, but he brought his entire package of guts to this one. That was evident in the seventh, when, protecting a 4-3 lead with two out and two on, he walked Erubiel Durazo to load the bases after a tough 11-pitch at-bat before inducing Chavez to pop foul to the catcher to end the inning. It took Martinez 33 pitches to make it through the seventh inning, but he wasn't backing down.

"To come back emotionally and make pitches to Chavez...." Varitek marveled.

Mike Timlin took over and pitched a perfect eighth, but trouble lurked in the ninth. With one out, closer Byung-Hyun Kim walked Billy McMillon on four pitches, then hit Chris Singleton. After he fanned Mark Ellis for the second out, Boston manager Grady Little yanked him so lefty Alan Embree could face the left-handed Durazo.

Let's just say this given Kim's star-crossed postseason history: If this game were a couple of days ago, he probably would have sailed through untouched. But being that the calendar just flipped to Oct. 1, well, you've got to wonder now about Kim and October.

Durazo poked a 1-1 pitch for a soft RBI single to left to knot the game at 4-4. In the dugout, Kim's steely glare could have frozen several lakes.

Whether Little sufficiently eroded Kim's confidence to render him ineffective later in this series, we'll see. A similar situation occurred a couple of weeks ago against Cleveland, and Kim came back from that.

"It was solely the percentage of left-handers," Little said.

The way things went, Boston could be dealing with the fallout of this game for the rest of the series.

Such as:

• Martinez threw 130 pitches (his season-high had been 128, twice), which threatens to knock him out of Game 4 Sunday and push him back to a potential Game 5. "We'll make that decision later on," Little said. "Anything is possible."

• Lowe made his first relief appearance since 2001, and he wound up throwing 42 pitches over 1 2/3 innings. Is that enough to prevent him from starting Game 3 on Saturday as planned?

"Not at all," Little said. "He was going to work two innings. He'll be fine to start Saturday."

Said Lowe, when asked if it might prevent him from starting Saturday: "No."

The A's certainly were surprised to see the scheduled Game 3 starter trotting in to start the 11th.

"That's just weird," Chavez said. "Hopefully, it works out for us."

This game dragged on so long, with so many twists and turns, that an early hero, Todd Walker, was long gone by the game's conclusion. Walker went 4-for-5 with two home runs and three RBI to help put Boston ahead 4-3 going into the ninth inning. Then he was removed for a defensive replacement and nearly forgotten by all but his teammates in the post-midnight madness.

Someone asked Chavez if he'd still be calling it the best game he has ever been involved in if he were on the losing side.

"Yeah," Chavez said without hesitation. "Yeah, absolutely. I think if you ask those guys, they're probably down, but there were a lot of big performances. That was just a great baseball game. It was fun to be a part of."

The Red Sox found it difficult to agree completely, but ....

"It's just amazing how many of these games this team has been involved in to get here," Varitek said. "We have to turn 'em around the next day. That's what we have to do."

Said Lowe: "(Chavez) made that fantastic play (defensively on Kapler in the 12th). I think it's a little lopsided, as far as the best game ever played because we were (two) pitches away from winning that game in the ninth inning, and to have them come back....

"You've got to go through games like this, I guess. You obviously have to talk about it. But it's such a quick turnaround. The guys have to take a quick nap and be ready to play again Thursday."

It will be easier for some than for others.

"This is unbelievable," said Chavez, several minutes after the entire A's dugout had emptied and rushed Hernandez in shallow right-field to celebrate. "It really feels like when we battle, we've always fallen short in the postseason. But tonight, we didn't."

As the clock closed in on 1 a.m. PT, everybody said it was going to be tough to get to sleep any time soon with all of that adrenalin coursing through their veins. Chavez figured maybe a couple of glasses of milk would help, Lowe mentioned the quick nap.

"Both teams are going to be tired when they come out tomorrow," Macha said. "The Red Sox are a tremendous team. They're a grinding team. As you can see from us, we grind it out, too.

"We had two outs in the ninth inning and Durazo came up with a big hit. You're going to have two teams going out and grinding it out again. As far as I'm concerned, both teams will be as intense as they were today."