Angels Keep Their Heads in 4-3 Victory

When Scott Spiezio took a fastball in the head from New York Yankee pitcher Ted Lilly in the sixth inning Sunday, he really didn’t care whether it was on purpose or not. Spiezio was furious at Lilly, and with the bat still gripped tightly in his right hand, he considered visiting the mound.

But in the midst of that rage, as images of bench-clearing pileups danced in his head, Spiezio chose instead to walk calmly to first base. With the Angels in the hunt for a playoff berth, there was a better way to get even.

So Spiezio kept his cool and instead helped the Angels rally for a 4-3 victory over the Yankees, a win that ended their two-game losing streak in the Bronx.

“When you get hit in the head, you have an instant surge of energy,” Spiezio said. “I’ve been in that situation before and I thought it through.

“When you have a bench-clearing brawl, you have the potential to get people hurt. Right now, we feel like we’ve got a good team and we can make it to the playoffs. If we get guys hurt . . .”

The Angels, 6 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the wild-card race, have enough work ahead of them without any key injuries to make their job tougher.

Ramon Ortiz (10-7) pitched seven strong innings to become the Angels’ first starter to reach double digits in victories since Chuck Finley went 12-11 in 1999. Closer Troy Percival got the final four outs for his 29th save this season and 200th of his career.

Lilly may have earned the respect of his teammates by drilling Spiezio in retaliation for Ortiz hitting Derek Jeter on the hand in the fifth, but that was all.

Of course, Lilly and Yankee Manager Joe Torre denied the pitch to Spiezio was deliberate. “I was trying to throw that ball inside and I got underneath it,” Lilly said. “I was happy that it grazed his helmet. It didn’t hit him flush.”

It was an odd coincidence that Lilly was allowed to remain in the game for just one batter in the sixth. Ramiro Mendoza already had been warming up and Lilly had thrown 105 pitches to that point. Torre explained that he wanted the switch-hitting Spiezio to bat from the right side before bringing in Mendoza, and as soon as Lilly whacked Spiezio, Torre came out to retrieve him.

“That was my plan all along,” Torre said.

The beaning prompted a warning from plate umpire Eric Cooper, but Angel Manager Mike Scioscia wasn’t satisfied. He couldn’t understand why Lilly wasn’t immediately ejected instead of Torre having the luxury of taking him out.

As for Ortiz plunking Jeter in the fifth inning, the circumstances were a little different. Ortiz was ahead in the count 0-and-2 when his fastball shot inside and caught Jeter on the back of his left hand. It is a dangerous spot to get hit--Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius is expected to be out for a month after he was nailed in the same place Wednesday.

But Ortiz insisted that fastball was not on purpose, either.

“That pitch was supposed to be outside, but I rushed with my shoulder and opened up,” Ortiz said. “It took off to the inside corner.”

Said Scioscia: “Our philosophy is we pitch inside aggressively. We’re not about beanballs. We’re not about retaliation. We’re about pitching inside good and hard and using both sides of the plate. Ortiz was trying to throw a fastball and overthrew it to a very good hitter.”

The Yankees, who had an early 2-0 lead, paid for taking out their revenge on Spiezio in the sixth.

Tim Salmon followed with a double off Mendoza and the Angels tied the score on sacrifice flies by Benji Gil and Adam Kennedy.

In the eighth, Spiezio led off with a single, stole second when Alfonso Soriano bobbled the throw and scored the go-ahead run when Bengie Molina blooped a double in front of right fielder Paul O’Neill.

The Angels took a 4-2 lead in the ninth when David Eckstein (three walks, two stolen bases) scored on Soriano’s throwing error on a botched double play.

Spiezio may have needed some aspirin afterward, but he was feeling better than the Yankees. When asked if the incident was over in his mind, Spiezio nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “I want to win tomorrow.”