McDowell Is Foiled by Angels : Baseball: Yankee loses no-hitter and game in the eighth inning as California comes back for its sixth straight victory, 3-1.

It doesn’t matter whom or what you throw in front of the Angels these days, they simply toss everything aside as if it were last week’s TV Guide.

Wednesday night, the New York Yankees, considered the top team in the American League, sent their varsity out to face the Angels--Luis Polonia, Wade Boggs, Paul O’Neill and Don Mattingly, who all sat out Tuesday night’s loss, were in the starting lineup.

So was Yankee pitcher Jack McDowell, a major upgrade from Mariano Rivera, who was rocked in his major league debut Tuesday.

But not even that combination was enough to stop the Angels, who used some clutch hits by Greg Myers, Spike Owen and Gary DiSarcina in the eighth inning to pull out a 3-1 victory before an announced crowd of 15,497 in Anaheim Stadium.

The first-place Angels extended their winning streak to six and also enhanced their reputation as the Joe Palooka Bop Bags of baseball--every time you punch them in the gut, they seem to bounce back up.

McDowell stuck it to them pretty good Wednesday, taking a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the eighth inning, just one night after Angel left-hander Chuck Finley flirted with a perfect game. But McDowell lost the no-hitter, the shutout and the game in matter of minutes.

It marked the ninth come-from-behind victory this season for the Angels, who improved to 17-9, equaling their best start after 26 games since 1985. Having won the first two games of a three-game series against the Yankees, the Angels have won six of their eight series in 1995.

The Yankees appeared to have the equalizer in McDowell Wednesday night. The 1993 Cy Young Award winner, who was acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox last December, went virtually untouched for seven innings until Chili Davis opened the eighth with a grounder between first and second.

Mattingly, the Yankee first baseman, dived and missed, and second baseman Pat Kelly, who had kept the no-hitter alive with a spectacular, diving grab of Tony Phillips’ one-hop smash in the fourth, dived and smothered the ball.

Kelly, from his knees, threw a one-hopper to McDowell, who was covering first. The pitcher was able to dig out the ball. But Davis slid in before the throw and was ruled safe.

Myers then lined a double that hit the “6” on the 386-mark at the top of the left-center field wall, scoring Davis to tie the score, 1-1.

Owen, who started at third in place of Eduardo Perez, followed with a liner to right-center, scoring Myers with the go-ahead run. Owen advanced to third when center fielder Bernie Williams’ throw got past the cut-off man and rolled into the Angel dugout.

McDowell struck out Damion Easley, but DiSarcina lined an RBI single to center to give the Angels a 3-1 lead.

Lee Smith, making his 200th American League appearance, replaced reliever Bob Patterson to start the ninth and allowed a one-out double to Mike Stanley. But Smith struck out Williams and got pinch-hitter Danny Tartabull on a tapper back to the mound for his league-leading 11th save.

“The thing that made it all possible was the way Shawn Boskie pitched,” Angel Manager Marcel Lachemann said. “It would have been tough to win if the guy had given up five or six runs.”

Boskie, the right-hander who has been on the Angels’ most steady starters, was overshadowed by McDowell’s bid for a no-hitter--McDowell even appeared to win the crowd over in the seventh when his inning-ending strikeout of Tim Salmon elicited a roar.

But Boskie was outstanding, going 7 1/3 innings, allowing one run on six hits, striking out five and walking one before being replaced by Patterson, who retired the two batters he faced in the eighth.

The Yankees scored their only run in the third when Polonia doubled to left and scored on Boggs’ single to right. They had a runner on third with one out in the second, but Boskie struck out Williams and Kevin Elster to end the inning.

“Our pitching is what gave us hope,” Myers said. “Any time you’re within a run you have a chance, and McDowell still had the pressure on him. He was still strong in the eighth, using all his pitches like Finley was last night. But it’s a tremendous feeling winning this game.”