Andy's Angels Atrocity

The demonic Angels continue to haunt the New York Yankees in Anaheim. Bronx Bombers’ starter, Andy Pettitte, was reluctantly rocked by a rallying Angels team on Saturday afternoon in California. The unfriendly West Coast loss saw the Yankees fall two games behind the Boston Red Sox in the A.L. East. Boston hammered the hapless Kansas City Royals 15-9 last night, as John Smoltz picked up his first win as a Red Sox hurler.
The pesky Anaheim offense got the better of Pettitte in a seven run fifth inning. Pettitte was pulled from the game rashly after being roughed up. Mike Napoli knocked a nifty go-ahead double off New York reliever, Dave Robertson, in the fifth, and added a solo shot in the seventh for the Angels. The Yankees clubbed a season-high five long balls, including two each by Alex Rodriguez and the newest Bomber, Eric Hinske. Still, the Yankees were defeated by the grind-it-out home team.
Pettitte turned in a subpar mound performance and failed to go the distance to salvage an overused Bomber bullpen. New York’s magnificent southpaw was provided a four run cushion, but could not sustain the advantage against the team’s Achilles heal opponent. The Yankees were vaulted into a first place tie before heading out to SoCal to face their nemesis. But, the curse of the Angels that plagued Joe Torre has also hampered current New York skipper, Joe Girardi. Anaheim has 24 runs in the first two games against the flattened New Yorkers. The stubborn Angels’ base running was no match for the defensively depleted Bombers and the stadium caused more headaches yesterday.
Pettitte was brilliant through three scoreless innings until the fated fifth frame. The Angels administered a 14-8 comeback victory on their mindless way of spanking the Yanks even without sluggers Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter. Anaheim leads the majors in come-from-behind wins with 26, one more than the Yankees. The Angels punished Yankee pitchers for 16 hits, counting the seven by Pettitte. The 37 year old did not survive past the fifth because of the big blow off Brandon Wood’s bat. Wood, a Triple A prospect recalled on Friday, socked a two run homer with no outs. Howie Kendrick capped off the inning with a single, good for two more Angel tallies.
Former Yankees outfielder, Bobby Abreu, candidly contributed three RBIs against his old team. Jared Weaver started on the hill for the Angels. Weaver surrendered Rodriguez’s 569th career blast in the first. Arod would dish out a second serving later in the game to place the All-star third baseman 10th on the all-time homerun list. Hinske, an acquisition from Pittsburgh last week, homered in the second inning, his second as a Bomber. Robinson Cano extended the Yankees lead in the fourth inning to 4-0 when his single resulted in two runs. Hinske smacked his second shot in the seventh off Darren Oliver. Jason Bulger, pitching in relief for the Angels, issued Arod’s second tater, and Hideki Matsui reverberated as the very next batter.
The Yankees cut the Angels lead to two when Hinske lined out to second with the tying run at the plate. New York inched as close as they could manage before the Angels offense exploded for a second time. Anaheim tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the eighth off Phil Coke to put the afternoon out of reach for the Yankees. Pettitte took the upsetting loss, enduring his second straight. The left-hander’s 2009 stands at 8-5 and his ERA at 5.94 in his last four outings. Saturday was Arod’s first multihomer gem of the year. The Yankees are just 7-17 in Anaheim the past five seasons. Friday night Joba Chamberlain and the Yankees were on the losing side because the Angels staged a comeback from a 5-1 deficit. The opening game was perhaps a microcosm of the way things are headed as the Bombers close out the series today.

Parting points: Song of the day- “Angel of Mine”- Monica