Angels Shredded by Yankee Ripper

His first home run, a three-run shot in his first at-bat, had more hang time than a Ray Guy punt, eventually clearing the left-center-field wall by a few feet. His second homer, a two-run shot in his second at-bat, traveled on a lower trajectory but landed in the same vicinity as the first.

His third homer, a grand slam in his third at-bat, was a majestic blast that seemed caught between the moon and New York City, a towering drive that cleared the 408-foot mark in straight-away center field by a good 20 feet and crashed into the empty, black bleachers in Yankee Stadium, a section rarely visited by baseballs.

Three home runs and nine runs batted in ... not a bad four innings of work for Alex Rodriguez, the Yankee third baseman and human wrecking ball who demolished the Angels in a 12-4 rout Tuesday night.

But Rodriguez wasn’t done. Though he fell short of an historic four-homer game, a feat accomplished by only 16 players in major league history, Rodriguez added a run-scoring single in the sixth inning and finished with a career-high 10 runs batted in, falling one short of the American League and Yankee record of 11 RBIs in a game, set by Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri in a 25-2 Yankee win over the Philadelphia Athletics on May 24, 1936.

“When I got to first base after that last hit, I was on top of a cloud,” Rodriguez said after the third three-homer game and 11th grand slam of his career. “You definitely don’t want a moment like that to end. You want it to last forever. This is definitely a night I’ll never forget.”

Neither will right-hander Bartolo Colon, who gave up one home run in 27 2/3 innings of his first four starts but was torched for all of Rodriguez’s home runs Tuesday night, all on fastballs up in the strike zone after falling behind in the count.

Rodriguez has a .425 career average (17 for 40) and six homers against Colon, and had the upper hand in each at-bat Tuesday night.

After walking two batters in the first inning, Colon fell behind Rodriguez with a 2-and-1 count before Rodriguez hammered a 2-and-2 fastball for his homer. After another Colon walk in the third, Rodriguez hit a 1-and-0 fastball for his homer.

After second baseman Chone Figgins’ error helped prolong the Yankees’ fourth inning, Colon fell behind Rodriguez, 3-and-1, before Rodriguez shredded a full-count fastball for his grand slam.

“When you get behind you have to go with a fastball, and you know what could come of that,” Colon said through an interpreter. “I have to find a way to change that. It seems whenever I leave something up in the strike zone, he hammers me. It’s been [like that] through the years now. I’ve got to make better pitches and not fall behind.”

Manager Mike Scioscia’s decision to allow Colon to face Rodriguez a third time seemed like an inhumane act. Colon labored through three innings, throwing 71 pitches and walking four, and he walked Hideki Matsui to load the bases for Rodriguez in the fourth. Reliever Kevin Gregg was warm, but Scioscia stuck with his starter.

“I thought Bart had enough in his tank, and if he gets that out, he could have pitched the fifth for us,” Scioscia said. “If his stuff looked like it was falling off the table, that’s one thing, but we were comfortable with him getting through that inning.”

Not as comfortable as Rodriguez was hitting against Colon. The ensuing grand slam drew a rousing standing ovation from a crowd of 36,328 and an equally strong response from the Yankee dugout.

“Your mouth has to drop open when you see something like that,” Manager Joe Torre said. “You have to play the game to understand how that stuff can build. The players become fans and get caught up in it.”

The crowd roared when a reluctant Rodriguez took a curtain call.

“I don’t like that stuff, but Joe pushed me out there,” Rodriguez said. “When he speaks, we listen.”

After his run-scoring single in the sixth, Rodriguez had one more chance at a fourth homer when he led off the eighth against Jake Woods. Rodriguez blistered the ball again, lining out to center field, and had to settle for three homers and 10 RBIs, a record for an Angel opponent and one RBI more than Vladimir Guerrero’s nine-RBI game against Boston on June 2.

Scioscia called Guerrero’s game “the most dominant performance” he’d ever seen. He saw a performance equally -- if not more -- dominant Tuesday night.

“You can’t do much more than Alex did ... that’s a pretty good understatement -- the guy had 10 RBIs,” Scioscia said. “It was a great game by a great player. He had an incredible night. Unfortunately, it came at our expense.”

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Run Producers

Players who have driven in 10 or more runs in a game, since 1900:

*--* Player, Team, Year 12 Jim Bottomley, Cardinals, 1924 12 Mark Whiten, Cardinals, 1993 11 Tony Lazzeri, Yankees, 1936 11 Phil Weintraub, Giants, 1944 10 Rudy York, Red Sox, 1946 10 Walker Cooper, Reds, 1949 10 Norm Zauchin, Red Sox, 1955 10 Reggie Jackson, Athletics, 1969 10 Fred Lynn, Red Sox, 1975 10 Nomar Garciaparra, Red Sox, 1999 10 Alex Rodriguez, Yankees, 2005

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Powerful Move

With three home runs and 10 runs batted in against the Angels on Tuesday, Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez moved into a tie for first in the American League in home runs and RBIs:

HOME RUNS

*--* * Alex Rodriguez New York 7 * Brian Roberts Baltimore 7 * David Ortiz Boston 7 * Paul Konerko Chicago 7 * Manny Ramirez Boston 7 * Mark Teixeira Texas 6 * Miguel Tejada Baltimore 6

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RUNS BATTED IN

*--* * Alex Rodriguez New York 25 * Miguel Tejada Baltimore 25 * Manny Ramirez Boston 25 * Brian Roberts Baltimore 23 * Carl Everett Chicago 19 * Vladimir Guerrero Angels 17

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