Angels Have to Stop at Third

Eight outs away from the first four-game sweep of the New York Yankees in the 45-year history of their franchise, the Angels let the Bronx Bombers up for air Sunday.

An infield single by Alex Rodriguez in the seventh inning, a too-fat fastball that Hideki Matsui ripped for a two-run home run, and the Yankees were on their way to a 4-1 victory in Angel Stadium, salvaging the final game of a series the Angels had dominated with clutch hitting, solid starting pitching and spectacular relief.

Afterward, the Angels had a little trouble sorting out their feelings.

“Any time you take three of four games from that team, you’re doing something right,� said Jarrod Washburn, who threw six shutout innings before giving up three runs in the seventh.

But the Angels couldn’t feel too good about themselves, because despite winning three of four from the Yankees, they lost ground in the American League West to Oakland, which pulled to within 5 1/2 games of the Angels after completing a four-game sweep of Texas.

And when you win three games against the Yankees and can sweep a four-game set for the first time in 39 tries dating to 1961, well, you get a little greedy.

“You want the sweep,� Angel first baseman Darin Erstad said.

Erstad could have pushed the Angels toward that sweep when he came up in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and second, one out and his team trailing, 3-1.

On deck was Vladimir Guerrero, whose grand slam Thursday and three-run homer Saturday keyed Angel victories. All Erstad had to do to give Guerrero another shot at a game-altering hit was to stay out of a double play, something Erstad had done in 386 of 389 at-bats this season.

But on a full-count pitch, with the runners moving, Erstad tapped a grounder right to the third base bag, where Rodriguez fielded the ball, stepped on third and threw to first for an easy double play.

“That doesn’t happen very often,� said Erstad, the third-toughest AL player to double up before Sunday. “It was just a bad time to hit the ball in that spot.�

The Angels put two on with one out in the eighth, when Guerrero singled and Steve Finley walked against reliever Tom Gordon. Yankee Manager Joe Torre summoned Mariano Rivera, the first time this season the Yankee closer had entered a game with the tying runs on base.

Rivera, who had converted his previous 24 save opportunities, giving up one run in 25 innings, turned Maicer Izturis’ comebacker into an inning-ending, 1-6-3 double play. Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth for his 25th save, preserving the win for Mike Mussina, who gave up one run and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

Despite the loss, the Angels have measured up well against the Yankees, winning five of seven games this season and going 48-46 against them since 1996. But Angel Manager Mike Scioscia did not consider this a benchmark series.

“You can take some consolation if you pitch well against them, because they’re as high-powered as an offense can get,� Scioscia said. “But the fact we won three of four doesn’t mean we must be a good team.

“The Yankees are a good team, and we feel we’re a good team. If we lost a couple more games, we weren’t going to feel we couldn’t play with them. By the same token, winning three of four doesn’t send any message to those guys.�

Not that the Yankees would need one.

“They always play us tough,� Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter said of the Angels. “They don’t strike out much, they put the ball in play and have a great bullpen. It’s pretty much always the same story.�

The Angels scored in the first inning when Chone Figgins, who had three hits, walked, stole second, took third on Erstad’s groundout and came home on Guerrero’s groundout.

The way Washburn was pitching, it appeared that lead might hold up, especially after Angel right fielder Juan Rivera threw out Robinson Cano at the plate when Cano tried to tag and score on Rodriguez’s fly to medium right in the fourth inning.

But the Yankees rallied in the seventh when Rodriguez reached on an infield single and Matsui hammered Washburn’s 1-and-0 fastball into the right-center-field seats for a 2-1 New York lead.

“It was supposed to be a fastball away,� Washburn said. “I left it over the middle.�

Washburn hit Jason Giambi with a pitch, then Giambi took third on Jorge Posada’s single and scored on Tino Martinez’s fielder’s choice. The Yankees added insurance on Martinez’s run-scoring double in the eighth.