This Time, Yankees Flatten Angels, 4-2

Something about the Bronx seems to bring out the best in the Angels, who have not had a losing record in Yankee Stadium in the past five seasons, remarkable considering New York has been good enough to win four World Series championships in that span.

“We’ve always been a team that’s not going to give in just because we’re playing the Yankees,” Angel center fielder Darin Erstad said. “We’re going to fight harder. Guys on our team seem to thrive in hostile situations.”

Not Friday night. The Angels wilted when it mattered most, while the Yankees elevated their game in a 4-2 victory over the Angels before a crowd of 40,490, bringing an end to Angel pitcher Jarrod Washburn’s eight-game win streak.

Tino Martinez hit a dramatic two-run home run to give the Yankees the lead in the bottom of the seventh, center fielder Bernie Williams made a game-saving diving catch in the eighth, and left-hander Andy Pettitte provided seven strong innings to hand Washburn his first loss since May 8.

And the Angels? The team that won 13 of 17 games to vault into wild-card contention and was coming off its first three-game sweep of the Red Sox in Fenway Park in 27 years suffered through a demoralizing evening in which:

* They failed to score after putting runners on first and third with no outs in the fifth inning and runners on second and third with one out in the eighth. The Angels went two for 11 with runners in scoring position.

* Scott Spiezio got picked off first base with runners on first and second and no outs in the seventh, probably costing the Angels a run in the inning in which they scored their only two runs.

* They committed two errors, one by third baseman Troy Glaus, his first defensive miscue since July 2, and one by second baseman Benji Gil.

“This was fundamentally one of the worst games we’ve played in three weeks, and we paid the price for it,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “We definitely shot ourselves in the foot.”

Washburn was 8-0 with a 2.83 earned-run average in his previous 14 starts, and the left-hander eagerly anticipated his first game in Yankee Stadium. Growing up in Wisconsin, he had been a huge Yankee fan.

Washburn blanked the Yankees on four hits through six innings, and Angel leadoff batter David Eckstein snapped a scoreless tie with a two-out, two-run double off Pettitte in the seventh.

The lead was gone in a New York minute. Derek Jeter doubled off the center-field wall to lead off the bottom of the seventh, Williams doubled Jeter home, and Martinez popped his 25th homer of the season to right-center to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

The Angels threatened in the eighth when Glaus walked, Garret Anderson singled, and both advanced on Adam Kennedy’s sacrifice bunt off reliever Ramiro Mendoza. With the infield back and conceding a run, Tim Salmon flied to shallow left, not deep enough for Glaus to tag. Mendoza walked Spiezio intentionally to load the bases, and up stepped Bengie Molina, who hit .381 (eight for 21) with the bases loaded last season.

Molina blooped a ball to shallow right-center, but Williams, after a long run, sprawled face-first onto the turf and caught the ball just before it would have hit the ground, ending the inning.

Williams remained on the ground for a few moments before returning to the dugout, but Yankee fans, just as they did after Martinez’s homer, would not stop cheering until Williams came out for a curtain call.

“He’s a prime-time player,” Erstad said of Williams. “That was the difference in the game.”

Alfonso Soriano added a solo homer off Angel reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa in the eighth, and Yankee closer Mariano Rivera retired the side in order in the ninth for his 36th save.

Pettitte (12-6) gave up two runs on seven hits in seven innings, striking out nine and walking two. Washburn (9-5) gave up three runs on seven hits in seven innings, striking out two and walking none.

“It would have been nice to keep the streak going, especially here,” Washburn said. “But all streaks come to an end.”

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AL WILD CARD

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W L GB Cleveland 61 47 -- Boston 60 47 1/2 Oakland 59 50 2 1/2 Angels 56 53 5 1/2

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