It Might Seem Off the Wall, but Angels Catch the Breaks

The baseball gods must have gathered over the weekend and taken pity on the poor, luckless Angels, because supernatural forces sure seemed to be at work during their 4-2 victory over the New York Yankees before a sellout crowd of 55,626 in Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

You want divine intervention?

How about an eighth-inning drive by Chuck Knoblauch that hit the wall behind Angel right fielder Reggie Williams’ glove, nicked his left ear and wound up in his bare hand, a play that should have been run-scoring double but was ruled an out and eventually became an inning-ending double play?

Or Tony Tarasco’s ninth-inning flare to left off Angel closer Troy Percival that bounced about six inches foul with runners on first and third and the Yankees trailing by two runs? Tarasco then popped out.

Or another ninth-inning flare to left with runners on first and third, this one by Yankee designated hitter Chili Davis, that was foul by a foot-and-a-half? Davis walked, but that beat a potential game-tying double.

There was also Angel leadoff batter Darin Erstad’s two-out bloop single that barely reached left-center field, scoring Jeff Huson from second for a key ninth-inning insurance run.

And Yankee catcher Joe Girardi’s throwing error on Huson’s fifth-inning stolen base, which allowed Huson to take third and eventually score when Erstad beat out a two-out, broken-bat grounder between the mound and first.

And Angel center fielder Garret Anderson being ruled safe on a second-inning slow roller to third, even through replays showed he was out by a hair. Anderson scored on Matt Luke’s mammoth home run to the upper deck in right field off Yankee starter David Cone.

“All year long we’ve been getting tough breaks,” Williams said. “Why can’t we get some?”

Good question. After ending a six-game losing streak, in which nothing went right for the Angels, and losing Tim Salmon, Jim Edmonds and Gary DiSarcina to major injuries, the Angels weren’t about to apologize for the manner in which they won.

In fact, they bathed long and leisurely in this pool of good fortune, especially Williams, a career minor leaguer who ignored the timer on his 15 minutes of fame. Williams entertained at least two waves of reporters about his fluke play, which replays clearly showed should have been ruled a hit.

“I caught it all the way,” Williams said. “And I don’t want to see no film, either. All I know is the umpire said double play, inning over.”

With Jorge Posada on first and one out, Knoblauch drove a ball to right off Angel starter and winner Tim Belcher. As Williams backpedaled, he hit the wall.

Williams didn’t catch the ball, but he and the Angels caught a huge break. First-base umpire Mark Johnson was a little late to right field and didn’t get much of an angle to make the call. After the ball hit the wall, it caromed off Williams’ ear and into his chest, where Williams cradled it, bobbled it and finally clutched it.

Posada was so sure the ball hit the wall, he was on his way to third when Johnson called him out. Williams alertly fired to first for the double play, killing the Yankee rally.

“In my mind, I thought I caught the ball, but when I came back to the locker room, I don’t know,” said Williams, who was teased mercilessly by teammates and coaches about his non-catch. “I won’t believe it until I see it, and I don’t watch TV.”

The Angels won’t want to watch replays of the agonizing bottom half of the ninth. Trusty but rusty closer Percival, who hadn’t pitched in a week, walked Bernie Williams and gave up singles to Derek Jeter and Tino Martinez, the latter scoring Williams with the Yankees’ first run off Percival in 21 1/3 innings.

Tarasco, after fouling off four two-strike pitches, popped up with runners on first and third and Davis walked to load the bases. Percival went to a full count on Scott Brosius, but Brosius grounded Percival’s 34th pitch to third, where Troy Glaus fielded it, stepped on the bag and threw to first for the game-ending double play.

“That last inning,” Belcher said, “seemed like a climb up Mt. Everest.”