In the end, Kevin Youkilis won the battle but Aaron Cook and the Red Sox won the war.

The White Sox third baseman was shown the love by Red Sox fans and collected three hits while Cook shut down Chicago in a 5-1 win Monday night in what was billed – appropriately – as Youkapalooza at Fenway Park.

“Me and Youk, we grew up in the Cincinnati area,” Cook explained. “We were on the same traveling team for three years – 13, 14, 15. And then we played against each other all through high school. [The game] is pretty much typical of what he’s done against me the whole way through. I was just happy to keep him in the ballpark. In high school, he hit a homer off of me.”

As a matter of fact, Cook was a stand out at Hamilton High and that homer to Youkilis was the only long ball he surrendered in his high school career.

Monday night, Cook allowed just five hits in seven stellar innings. Youkilis had three of them, including two doubles which represented Chicago’s only extra-base hits of the night.

Early on, though, it was all about showing Youk the love.

He received loud cheers during lineup introductions. He shared a Big Papi hug with David Ortiz in warmups (but none with Bobby Valentine). He had his familiar “YOUUUUK” chants. He was given a standing ovation just before his first at-bat in the first inning, tipping his batting helmet in appreciation. And finally, he was given a video tribute on the center field message board before the second inning.

“Place was pretty loud and rockin,” Youkilis said. “It was really cool so I had to just say, ‘Thank you’ to everyone and I wish it could’ve ended better and I wish we could’ve won the game.”