Yankees 6
Angels 2
ANAHEIM – On a night the Yankees sent Raul Mondesi packing for bad behavior, Andy Pettitte showed why they remain the favorite to win the AL East.
In the first game of a crucial six-game West Coast sojourn against the Angels and knowing the Red Sox already had crushed the Rangers, Pettitte was brilliant in leading the Yankees to a 6-2 victory at Edison Field last night.
Suddenly, the cloud of gloom that smothered the Yankees when they dropped two straight to the Red Sox over the weekend in Fenway Park lifted because pitching will decide who wins the AL East, a division the Yankees lead by 1½ games.
On a staff with future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina and David Wells, Pettitte always flies under the radar when it comes to attention. Even Jeff Weaver gets noticed more when he is on the verge of dropping out of the rotation. However, Pettitte’s eighth straight victory improved his record to 13-6 and he leads the staff in victories.
Pettitte, who hasn’t lost since June 8 at Wrigley Field to the Cubs, went eight innings, allowed two runs and nine hits.
Hideki Matsui went 3-for-5, drove in two runs and hit his 11th homer. Derek Jeter had three hits as did Jorge Posada. Robin Ventura had a two-run single.
Alfonso Soriano, who was 2-for-15 in three games against the Red Sox, went 0-for-5 and was the only Yankee starter not to get a hit. The Yankees had a season-high three baserunners thrown out trying to steal. Jason Giambi, Jorge Posada and Karim Garcia were nabbed attempting to swipe second.
The Yankees scored four runs in the first when they chased Angels starter Kevin Appier (7-7). They added another in the third and made it 6-1 in the seventh when Matsui led off with a homer to right.
Garret Anderson’s bases-empty, two-out homer in the eighth reduced Pettitte’s lead to 6-2. It was Anderson’s 24th.
Pettitte answered the Angels’ most serious challenge in the third when the hosts strung together three straight one-out singles to cut the Yankees’ lead to 4-1. But Pettitte responded by getting Darin Erstad to look at a 2-2 pitch and Shawn Wooten to swing through a 2-2 offering.
Pettitte worked around Robb Quinlan’s leadoff double in the fifth and was extracted from possible trouble in the seventh when he induced Quinlan to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play after Eric Owens led off with a single.
Pettitte retired the first seven Angels to start the game before surrendering three consecutive singles to Quinlan, Adam Kennedy and David Eckstein that produced a run and cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-1. Pettitte rebounded to fan Erstad looking for the second out. Kennedy stole third and Eckstein swiped second with Wooten at the plate. Pettitte went to a full count before fanning him with a sinking fastball to end the rally.
After going 6-for-37 (.162) with runners in scoring position in the three games against the Red Sox, the Yankees went 3-for-4 in the clutch in the first inning when they scored four runs and chased Appier. Matsui and Posada had RBI singles and Ventura delivered a two-run single that was the end for Appier who was replaced by Scott Shields.
The Yankees batted around in the inning that ended with Soriano fouling out to third with the bases loaded. Soriano also made the first out of the inning on pop to short left field.
