It’s a Balancing Act, but McDowell Wins : Yankees: Pitcher gets out of early trouble to post a victory over Angels.

New York Yankee pitcher Jack McDowell had his worst performance against the Angels this season.

He gave up 11 hits in 8 1/3 innings and pretty much dangled throughout Friday’s game. It was a stark contrast to two early games in which he mastered the Angels’ slam-and-bam offense.

The big difference was that Black Jack didn’t go bust this time.

It may not have been a night to remember for McDowell, but the labor pains were worth it. He came away on the up side of a 7-3 victory at Anaheim Stadium.

“I wasn’t quite as sharp this time as I was the other the games against them,” McDowell said. “But I lost both of those, so what the heck.”

McDowell (11-8) was in trouble from the start. The Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first. But McDowell got Chili Davis to hit into a double play, then struck out J.T. Snow.

The second was another walk on the edge. McDowell gave up two runs, one on a passed ball, but hung tough. The Angels had runners on base in every inning but the seventh, but could not deliver the haymaker they have so often this season.

McDowell gave a little here, took a little there to preserve a 4-3 lead from the third inning on.

“It was battle to get through those early innings,” McDowell said. “But I was able to spread the hits out.”

Something he wasn’t able to do in two previous starts against the Angels.

McDowell has been brilliant against them, with nothing to show for it but two losses. He had a 2.70 earned-run average and gave up only nine hits in 16 2/3 innings against a team that leads all of baseball in runs scored and has clubbed more than one pitcher into submission.

But each time the Angels found a way to win.

McDowell had a no-hitter through seven innings against the Angels on May 24. But an infield single by Davis to lead off the eighth started a rally. McDowell left with two outs in the eighth in a 3-1 Angel victory.

Two weeks later, McDowell threw a complete game against the Angels, giving up five hits, but lost, 4-2.

This was nothing new for him. He is 6-8 lifetime against the Angels, despite a respectable 3.49 ERA.

But his two loses this season were part of a bigger problem. They were half of a four-game losing streak, matching McDowell’s career longest. After beating Kansas City in his first start, he went eight starts and nearly two months before getting his second.

“Jack’s an accountable, responsible guy,” Manger Buck Showalter said. “He’s the type of guy you want to jump in a fox hole with.”

Things were so bad for McDowell, and the Yankees, that he was forced to shave his trademark goatee when orders came from above to lose all facial hair. McDowell won his next three starts and six of the next seven.

Now, with the facial hair returning, McDowell has gathered no moss. He was named American League pitcher of the week last week after back-to-back complete games. He shut out Baltimore, 3-0, on three hits, then held a potent Cleveland lineup to two runs in a 3-2 victory.

“I don’t think I had as good a fastball tonight,” McDowell said. “It’s a battle to get through that Angel lineup.”

A battle he won this time.