Washburn New Yankee Clipper

They are the Bronx Bombers. The mere sight of those New York Yankee pinstripes, the mere mention of names such as Jeter and Clemens and Giambi, the mere thought of playing the perennial champions of the game strikes fear in every city they go.

Every city, it seems, but Anaheim.

In three of the last four years, the Yankees have been world champions. Last season, they got as far as the seventh game of the World Series before losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yet over that four-year span, the Angels have a 22-17 record against the Yankees, the only team with a winning record against them over that period.

The Angels picked up their 22nd win Thursday night at Edison Field, beating the Yankees, 2-1, in front of a sellout crowd of 42,897 to break a two-game losing streak. They did it with solid pitching and spectacular defense.

“Having to play 162 games against the Yankees would be no picnic,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said.

Maybe not, but over the last four years, it has been more feast than famine.

Angel left-hander Jarrod Washburn, coming off a loss that ended his 12-game winning streak, got back in the win column Thursday, improving to 13-3.

“After two tough [team] losses, it’s good to win, particularly against a team of that caliber,” said Washburn, who held the Yankees to a run and four hits in seven innings. “[Yankee starter Jeff] Weaver has always been tough on us, so I knew I had to be extra sharp. I don’t think I was as good as I can be, but I was good enough, and I had some huge plays behind me.”

The win gave the Angels a one-game lead over Boston in the American League wild-card race and kept them two back of Seattle in the AL West.

Washburn was perfect through three innings, retiring all nine men he faced. The perfect game ended in the fourth when Alfonso Soriano, the first batter, walked on a 3-2 pitch.

That had to bring a smile to the face of Yankee Manager Joe Torre since it was only the 18th time Soriano, his leadoff hitter, has walked in 103 games, and one of those was intentional.

“He’s aggressive,” Torre said. “This guy comes up wanting to be on second, but he doesn’t want to walk and steal second. He wants to double.”

Washburn’s no-hitter ended three batters later when Bernie Williams singled to right, sending Soriano to third. But there he remained when Washburn struck out Jorge Posada to end the inning.

Unlike Washburn, Weaver had a rocky start, surrendering an Angel run in the first inning. With one out, Darin Erstad walked, went to third on Tim Salmon’s single to center and scored on Garret Anderson’s sacrifice fly to deep right for his team-leading 80th run batted in.

The Angels’ second run came on Brad Fullmer’s leadoff homer in the fourth inning, his 11th home run of the season coming on a 1-2 pitch off Weaver.

That’s all Washburn had to work with, along with his assortment of pitches and an assortment of impressive fielding plays.

In the fourth inning with one out and Soriano aboard, Jason Giambi hit a fly ball to right that Salmon lost in the lights. He spread his arms wide, palms up, indicating he had no idea where the ball was. But just in time, Salmon located it, recovered and sprinted over to catch it in right-center. Williams followed with a single.

In the sixth inning with two out and Jeter aboard, Williams hit a sharp grounder that appeared headed for right field. It never got that far thanks to second baseman Adam Kennedy, who dived to his left, stretched out his body, snared the ball, then pulled himself up and threw from his knees, first baseman Scott Spiezio finishing the spectacular play by digging the ball out of the dirt.

In the seventh inning with two on and two out, the Yankees having scored their only run on an RBI single by Ron Coomer, Soriano hit a hot grounder to third that Troy Glaus fielded, then spun around before getting a force on Coomer.

Scioscia had stuck with Washburn in that seventh-inning situation, allowing him to continue after the Yankees had put two runners aboard with one out. Washburn responded by getting Chris Widger on a fly ball and Soriano on the grounder to Glaus.

But in the eighth, needing three more outs to get to Troy Percival, Scioscia did so by committee, employing Brendan Donnelly, Scott Schoeneweis and Ben Weber.

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*--* Second Bests MVP candidate Alfonso Soriano leads the AL in hits, total bases, stolen bases, doubles, at-bats, and extra-base hits. Below is a look at how Soriano compares with other second basemen who have had MVP seasons. (Soriano’s numbers are projected): AVG HR RBI H 2B R SB Alfonso Soriano, 2002 Yankees 315 43 106 229 62 136 47 Jeff Kent, 2000 Giants 334 33 125 196 41 114 12 Ryne Sandberg, 1984 Cubs 314 19 84 200 36 114 32 Joe Morgan, 1976 Reds 320 27 111 151 30 113 60 Joe Morgan, 1975 Reds 327 17 94 163 27 107 67 Nellie Fox, 1959 White Sox 306 2 70 191 34 84 5 Jackie Robinson, 1949 Dodgers 342 16 124 203 38 122 37 Joe Gordon, 1942 Yankees 322 18 103 173 29 88 12 Charlie Gehringer, 1937 Tigers 371 14 96 209 40 133 11 Frankie Frisch, 1931 Cardinals 311 4 82 161 24 96 28

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