Angels Win This One in 11
This time, with the Rally Monkey watching, the Angels win in 11
By KURT HELIN
Updated 6:59 PM PDT, Mon, Oct 19, 2009
Back in September, Derek Jeter said it seems like every time the Rally Monkey comes out at Angels Stadium, they seem to score a run on the Yankees.
That pretty much was the case Monday afternoon, as the Angels rallied their way back into the American League Championship Series with a 5-4 11 inning win.
The Angel who seemed to feed the most off of the Rally Monkey was usually light-hitting catcher Jeff Mathis (he hit .211 in the regular season with just eight doubles). He had two doubles in extra innings, including the walk-off game winner in the 11th just over the head of Melky Cabrera that allowed Howie Kendrick to score from first.
This game had several rallies from the Angels.
The Yankees got on top with its first batter of the game when Jered Weaver did not fool Derek Jeter, who hit a 98-mph fastball over the left field wall to give the Yankees a lead. To start the third Alex Rodriguez took another belt-high pitch and knocked it out of the park to left field. In the fifth inning Johnny Damon changed things up, hitting his home run down the right field line.
Suddenly it was 3-0 Yankees and the natives were restless at Angels Stadium — Weaver had prevented the big inning but had been anything but impressive.
The Angles meanwhile, squandered chances. Both the first and second innings the Angels got runners on only to have the inning end on a double play ball. Vladimir Guerrero was so frustrated after the fourth inning (he had walked but been left on base) when he walked back to the dugout, he went after the water cooler.
The Angels did get on the board in the fifth when Kendrick countered with his own solo homer to right. But Yankees Andy Pettitte was not losing his stuff — that homer was sandwiched between two strike outs.
The first rally came in the sixth inning. With one out Bobby Abreu got his first hit of the ALCS with a single, and with two outs Guerrero launched a dramatic two-run home run over the left field wall that tied the game a t 3-3. It also gave Guerrero, who had failed twice with the bases loaded in game two, a measure of redemption. But he’d blow another chance later.
In the seventh, it was Kendrick again — he was the first batter the long-coddled Joba Chamberlain faced, and he promptly tripled. Maicer Izturis came up next and hit a sacrifice fly to put the Angels ahead 4-3 and they were just six outs away from being back in the series.
In the eighth, Angels manager Mike Scioscia did his part to win the game. Hideki Matsui singled then was replaced by the speedy pinch runner Brett Gardner. Everyone in the stadium knew Gardner was going to run, but only Scioscia had the stones to call for a pitch out. And it worked, Gardner was caught stealing. Then Jorge Posada came up and hit a home run — the Yankees fourth solo shot of the game — but New York was tied rather than ahead by a run.
And again they went to extra innings.
In the 10th inning, Mathis led off with a double to left-center. Yankees manager Joe Girardi countered by bringing in Uber-closer Mariano Rivera. Eventually — thanks in part to a Rivera throwing error on a bunt — the Angels had bases loaded and one out. Then Torii Hunter and Guerrero both ground out to first, and you could feel the air rush out of Angels Stadium as the game moved on to the 11th.
But the Rally Monkey never went away, and it worked again. It’s a new series and tomorrow’s game four could rally the Angels back into a tie.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Oct 19, 2009 6:28 PM PDT
You Might Like
You have 2000 characters left
