Angels 5

Yankees 4

ANAHEIM – Bernie Williams’ game-tying, three-run homer off Troy Percival with two out in the eighth inning wiped away the sour taste that had built up in the Yankees’ mouths last night from their repeated failures against Aaron Sele.

The joy lasted one pitch into the home eighth.

That’s when Tim Salmon crushed a homer off Yankee reliever Ramiro Mendoza, sending the Angels to a scintillating 5-4 victory in front of a sold-out Edison Field crowd of 43,619.

After getting blanked by Sele, a pitcher they routinely handle, the Yanks suddenly had a pulse on Williams’ 15th homer – which was also the 222nd of his career, tying him with Don Mattingly for seventh place on the all-time team list.

But then Mendoza (7-3) gave up Salmon’s blast, followed by a double to Garret Anderson.

Mendoza retired Troy Glaus on a grounder to third that didn’t advance Anderson before Yankee manager Joe Torre opted for Mike Stanton, who ended the threat.

But the damage was done, giving the Yankees their third loss in four games.

“I wanted the ball down, but it was in the middle of the plate,” Mendoza said of the fateful pitch – a breaking ball – to Salmon. “I lost the game. It’s disappointing.”

Said Torre: “It was a hanging curveball. He has been up and down with that pitch. He picked a bad time to leave it up. It’s frustrating. We had a chance to steal one.”

For Williams, it was a night of mixed feelings.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said of his homer. “Percival is one of the great closers in the game. It felt great to give the team life, but Salmon is one of the hottest hitters right now.

“A loss is a loss. It doesn’t matter how you lose it.”

After barely laying a glove on Sele through seven inning, the Yankees scored four runs in the eighth and tied the score 4-4. The killer blow was a three-run, two-out homer by Williams off an 0-2 Percival fastball that was clocked at 97 mph.

Nick Johnson’s leadoff single to right in the eighth was the end for Sele. Ben Weber came out of the bullpen and yielded a single to Rondell White. Alfonso Soriano’s hitless streak reached 0-for-11 when he forced White at second as Johnson took third.

Shortstop David Eckstein made a diving stop on Derek Jeter’s grounder up the middle and turned an RBI single into an RBI force out at second.

Lefty Scott Schoenweis was called in for Jason Giambi and Giambi sent Jeter to third with a single to right that snapped a 0-for-10 skid.

Angel manager Mike Scioscia immediately called for flame-throwing Percival to face Williams. He fouled off the first two pitches, the first one clocked at 96; the second at 97 mph before hitting the next pitch over the right-field wall.

Percival was 12-for-12 in save chances against the Yankees and had converted 25 of 27 opportunities this year. He blew a save but gained a win and is 4-1.

The Yankees’ loss didn’t cost them ground in the AL East, as the second-place Red Sox lost to the Rangers and trail by four lengths. The Angels remained three games behind the Mariners in the AL West.

Pitching with the prospect of being sent to the bullpen next week when Roger Clemens returns from the DL, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez went seven innings, allowing four runs and nine hits.

This was the same Sele the Yankees historically beat no matter what uniform he is wearing. They punished him as a Ranger and as a Mariner in the regular season and spanked him in October.

Sele was 5-8 with a 4.21 ERA in 20 career regular season games (all starts) against the Yankees. In ALDS action he was 0-2 with a 5.73 and he was 0-3 with a 4.50.

Sele went seven-plus innings, allowed one run and three hits.

El Duque did his part to keep the Yankees within striking distance in the seventh when he gave up a one-out single to Adam Kennedy and walked No. 9 hitter Jose Molina. That brought up leadoff hitter Eckstein and he popped out. El Duque kept the deficit at 4-0 by getting Darin Erstad on a grounder to Giambi.

The Angels upped their lead from 2-0 to 4-0 in the sixth and it could have been more if not for a dazzling catch by Williams on Troy Glaus’ sacrifice fly.