They’re Keeping It Together

At 7:06 p.m. Saturday, when Derek Jeter stepped to home plate at Angel Stadium, something amazing happened.

He was booed.

At 7:08 p.m., when a corner of the joint erupted in a “Let’s Go Yankees” chant, something bizarre occurred.

They were booed.

At 7:26 p.m., the triple play was completed when Tino Martinez ran underneath a foul fly ball.

And a fan stole it from him.

A team cannot conquer a city without first controlling its own backyard, and so it is that today, the Angels are one stumbling Vladimir Guerrero step closer to headlining Hollywood.

A stadium that was once overrun with New Yorkers during Yankee visits has been indelibly coated in red.

And a team that was once overrun with July angst is coated in cool.

Comfortable in their skin, at home in their crib, at peace with their lineup, and in love with their Figgy, the Angels defeated the Yankees on Saturday for a third consecutive game with a third consecutive comeback.

It was Angels 8, Yankees 6, October coming.

“I really like this team,” said Steve Finley, who has played for a few good ones. “Look around. We’ve got a lot here.”

Look around, indeed, Saturday night being just another typical, special night.

Look at Ervin “Occasionally Magic” Santana, giving up back-to-back bombs in the third inning, none out, he has thrown roughly 1,000 pitches, Mike Scioscia jogs out from the dugout, and what happens?

Instead of pulling him out, the manager pats him on the back.

Santana retires six of the next seven batters and leaves with the lead.

“It’s called growth,” Scioscia said before the game with a smile.

Look at Chone Figgins, the team MVP, starting at third base, his sixth position this season. He draws a walk and scores the tying run in the third, loops a double off the right-field wall in the fourth to score another run.

And maybe none of it as impressive as his charging assist on an inning-ending grounder by Bubba Crosby to strand two.

“The big boys’ job is to drive in runs, but us other guys, we have to do something smaller,” Figgins said.

Now, look at Guerrero. Look, look, look.

He struggles in the first inning, hits a weak double-play grounder, comes up in the third, watches a pitch from Kevin Brown, then ... well, the next pitch dips toward his shoes then soars toward the skies, over the center-field fence just about the time Guerrero’s belt was popping open.

It’s a three-run homer by a guy who crosses home plate while a strap dangles from his waist, and is there anyone in baseball you want to look at more?

“The feeling around here is that these are a bunch of guys who know what they are doing,” Finley said.

The guys who run the team also appear to know what they are doing.

With the trade deadline approaching, here’s hoping they continue to act like it by doing very little.

This is not just coming from me, it’s coming from the Angel clubhouse, which is starkly void of the usual July pleas for help.

These Angels aren’t looking for angels.

A championship, they believe, can be found in a more earthly place.

The mirror.

“They should not mess with what we have here,” reliever Scot Shields said.

There is talk of needing another starter. There was even talk of chasing down San Francisco’s Jason Schmidt.

If it is going to cost them a major leaguer or top prospect, why?

The current playoff rotation of Bartolo Colon, Jarrod Washburn, John Lackey and Paul Byrd is at least equal to the 2002 rotation of Kevin Appier, Ramon Ortiz, Washburn and Lackey.

With this bullpen, they don’t need heroes, they need six innings.

And if they are worried that neither Santana nor injured Kelvim Escobar can get them to October, well, perhaps you’ve heard of a kid named Jered Weaver?

“This team has plugged a lot of holes with a lot of people all year long,” Finley said. “We have depth.”

There is also talk of a needing a left-handed reliever to face the likes of David Ortiz and Jason Giambi in the postseason.

After all, it was righty Esteban Yan who gave up the two-run homer to Giambi in the seventh inning Saturday.

But the thing is, the Angels won in 2002 with their only lefty reliever, Scott Schoeneweis, pitching three innings during the entire postseason.

“If you look at a textbook bullpen, a veteran lefty could be something important,” Scioscia said. “But not at the expense of bringing in any left-handed arm and deleting a right-hander who has a bigger overall role.”

Bigger, as in, before Saturday, lefties were hitting .172 against Shields and .192 against bullpen mate Brendan Donnelly.

This is a bullpen that has earned the chance to stay together.

This is a team that earned the chance to win together.

“Not once has anyone in here talked about picking up any other players,” Darin Erstad said before the game. “Not a word. You never hear any of that. We believe in ourselves.”

Before Saturday’s game, behind the backstop, surrounded by fans shouting the owner’s name, I repeated the no-trade mantra to Arte Moreno.

“I do believe in something called chemistry,” he said, smiling at a house filled with it.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.