Yankees 4
Angels 2
ANAHEIM – Jason Giambi returned from a balky back and Jon Lieber continued to prove the Yankees were very wise to sign him when other teams shied away.
Giambi, who missed the previous two games due to back spasms, crushed a two-run homer and Lieber allowed two runs in seven- plus innings as the Yankees squeaked by the Angels, 4-2, in front of an Angel Stadium crowd of 43,742.
Teams may squawk about George Steinbrenner’s spending habits but they love to see the Yankees in their building because it instantly becomes a cash register. Last night’s gathering was the largest of the season for the Angels.
The victory enabled the Yankees to stay one-half game behind the Red Sox in the AL East.
Lieber, whom the Yankees signed to a $3.5 million deal before last season – even though they knew he would miss the year recovering from Tommy John surgery, improved to 3-1 with his second straight victory.
My job is to let the defense makes the plays and it showed tonight,” said Lieber, who allowed seven hits and two runs in 72/3 innings.
Mariano Rivera recorded the final three outs for his 15th save. Giambi homered off John Lackey in the third when the Yanks erased a 2-1 deficit. It was his ninth homer of the season.
Alex Rodriguez, who tripled and scored ahead of Giambi’s blast, doubled home Bernie Williams from first with two outs in the eighth to stretch the lead to 4-2. Derek Jeter hit balls hard in his first two at-bats but went 0-for-3 and is hitless in 17 at-bats and 1-for-26. He’s batting .187.
Joe Torre was ejected in the sixth for arguing balls and strikes with plate umpire Tim Timmons. It was his first ejection of the season.
“I thought the balls were low,” Torre said. “I was motioning below my ankles, and he threw me out. I was surprised he did it.”
But it was Torre who decided to use right-hander Tom Gordon against the left-handed hitting Jeff DaVanon with a runner on first and two outs in the eighth instead of lefties Felix Heredia and Gabe White. The move worked when DaVanon flied to left on Gordon’s first pitch.
Angel hurlers issued 11 walks and hit a batter. Hideki Matsui’s one-out single in the sixth was followed by Lackey issuing walks to Tony Clark and pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra.
That was the end of Lackey, who was replaced by Kevin Gregg. He faced Jeter with the bases juiced. At 3-2, Gregg missed away and Matsui scored on the walk to give the Yankees a 3-2 edge.
Gregg killed the rally by getting Williams on an infield pop and A-Rod to swing through a 1-2 pitch and strand three. Torre was ejected by Timmons after A-Rod’s at-bat for likely questioning the second strike on A-Rod that seemed low.
Giambi foiled the three- infielders-on-the-right-side shift with a broken bat double over the third-base bag to start the seventh. Gary Sheffield’s grounder to second moved Giambi to third in front of Jorge Posada drawing a walk. Gregg caught Matsui looking at a 1-2 pitch before Clark fanned swinging.
Lieber’s fifth frame started by him taking a Jose Molina liner off his right hip for a single. Molina made third easily when Shane Halter’s ground ball up the middle eluded a diving Miguel Cairo. Lieber jumped ahead of Adam Kennedy, the No. 9 hitter, 1-2, and watched Kennedy serve an RBI single to left that tied the score, 2-2.
