With their Rally Monkey doing his best work in years, the Angels sent the AL championship series back to New York.
Kendry Morales drove in the go-ahead
run with a two-out single in the seventh inning, and the Angels
responded to the Yankees’ six-run comeback moments earlier for a 7-6
win Thursday night that trimmed New York’s lead in the ALCS to 3-2.
Vladimir Guerrero‘s single tied it in
the seventh for the Angels, who somehow didn’t surrender after blowing
a 4-0 lead. New York struck immediately after manager Mike Scioscia
removed ace John Lackey, with Robinson Cano capping the rally with a
two-run triple.
The Game 5 theatrics continued right
up to the final pitch, when Angels closer Brian Fuentes retired Nick
Swisher on a full-count popup with the bases loaded.
“My hair is falling out,” said
shaved-headed Angels outfielder Torii Hunter, who had a two-run single
in Los Angeles’ four-run first inning. “We’re having a little fun, man.
Everybody thought we were down.”
Game 6 is Saturday night at Yankee
Stadium, with Andy Pettitte facing Los Angeles’ Joe Saunders. Also in
the forecast: a huge rainstorm.
When Cano put New York up 6-4,
everything in somber Angel Stadium pointed to a clinching victory and a
40th AL pennant for the Yankees.
Instead, the Angels showed off the
knack for late-game comebacks they’ve possessed ever since their run to
their only championship in 2002, when the beloved Rally Monkey began
appearing in the late innings on their scoreboard and in plush form in
the stands.
“It’s a missed opportunity, but we
still have another game,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ve
bounced back from tough losses all year long. We’ve had it happen to us
before and been able to get off the carpet.”
Although two games in the Bronx —
and shutdown starter CC Sabathia — still stand in the Angels’ way, the
collapse raised the slightest echoes of what happened to the Yankees’
last big lead in an ALCS. The Red Sox famously rallied from an 0-3
deficit in 2004, making a late rally to win Game 4 before finishing off
the biggest comeback in baseball history in seven games.
Only six teams have rallied from a
3-1 deficit to win a league championship series — most recently in
2007, when Boston came back against Sabathia and Cleveland on the way
to a title. Including the World Series, 11 of 70 teams that fell into a
3-1 hole have made the comeback.
Lackey cruised through the first six
innings after Los Angeles scored four in the first, and the ace reacted
with audible disappointment when Scioscia pulled him. Reliever Darren
Oliver yielded a three-run double to Mark Teixeira on his first pitch,
and Hideki Matsui added a tying single.
But the Angels added another comeback to a season full of them.
Jeff Mathis and Erick Aybar reached
base to chase A.J. Burnett, the big-money free agent who’s still
winless in three postseason starts. After Mathis scored on Bobby
Abreu‘s RBI groundout, Guerrero’s dribbling single against reliever
Phil Hughes eluded a diving Derek Jeter to tie it — and Morales put the
Angels ahead with the latest clutch hit of his breakout season.
“That’s not a forgiving team over
there,” Scioscia said. “They hit pretty quick in that inning with six
runs, and we bounced back and answered with three. In the dugout
between innings, guys were still pumped up. Just some real good
hitting.”
Jered Weaver, who started Game 3 for
the Angels, pitched a hitless eighth before Fuentes barely escaped the
ninth. After two quick outs, he intentionally walked Alex Rodriguez
with nobody on base before walking Matsui and hitting Cano with a pitch
to load the bases for the slumping Swisher, who battled Fuentes for
seven pitches before popping out.
Hunter and Guerrero drove home runs
in the first inning, and Lackey shut out the Yankees into the seventh
with masterful six-hit ball — but Scioscia pulled him with the bases
loaded and two outs in the seventh after 104 pitches.
“C’mon, Scioscia. This is mine!” Lackey said when Scioscia emerged to remove him. “This is mine!”
Lackey left to a standing ovation with a tip of his cap — and the Yankees probably were cheering, too.
Teixeira, 3-for-21 in the ALCS at
that point, cleared the bases. Matsui tied it before Cano drove home
Rodriguez and Matsui with a triple on his 27th birthday off reliever
Kevin Jepsen.
Incredibly, it wasn’t over — and
Burnett shared the blame with his bullpen. Altogether, the seventh
inning featured nine runs and 63 pitches over nearly 45 minutes.
Notes
In the latest instance of
questionable umpiring in a postseason chock-full of it, Johnny Damon
appeared to beat Lackey to first base on a bang-bang play to end the
third inning, but Dale Scott ruled him out. … Wearing a Yankees cap,
actor Kurt Russell was at Angel Stadium more than two hours early to
watch batting practice. … Angels C Jeff Mathis, the Game 3 hero with
an 11th-inning RBI double, set an Angels playoff record with hits in
six straight at-bats. He had a single in the second inning, a double in
the fifth and another single in the seventh. He finally struck out in
the eighth.