Tough One to Walk Off for Angels

There was no pirouette off the mound, no violent pumps of the fist, no pounding of the heart and pointing to the sky.

Francisco Rodriguez, the Angel closer whose emotional, post-save celebrations have rubbed a few opponents the wrong way, merely walked off the Yankee Stadium field Saturday, head down, forced to absorb the rare but bitter taste of defeat while the New York Yankees celebrated a pulsating 8-7, come-from-behind victory.

Rodriguez, his mechanics wavering, his release point wandering, walked four of the first five batters he faced in the ninth inning, forcing in one run, and Hideki Matsui smacked a walk-off, two-run double to left-center on Rodriguez’s first-pitch fastball, capping a three-run rally and handing the Angels their fifth loss in six games.

The Angels, whose American League West lead over Oakland fell to 2 1/2 games, took advantage of a key error by new Yankee reliever Alan Embree and Orlando Cabrera’s clutch two-run single to score four runs in the seventh, and Juan Rivera’s two-run homer off reliever Tom Gordon in the eighth gave the Angels a 7-3 lead.

But Angel left-hander Jake Woods gave up a two-run homer to Jason Giambi in the bottom of the eighth, and Rodriguez suffered his fourth blown save -- and second in three days -- as the Angels lost when leading after eight innings for only the third time in 54 games.

“The way you lose games can make or break you, and our character is being tested right now,” said Angel pitcher Paul Byrd, whose performance on three’ days rest -- the right-hander gave up three runs and nine hits in seven innings -- put him in line for a win. “We’ll see what this team is made of.”

Rodriguez was pitching for the third consecutive day, but after needing only six pitches to record his 25th save in the ninth inning Friday night and six pitches to record two outs in the eighth after Giambi’s home run Saturday, he looked fresh entering the ninth.

But the 23-year-old right-hander walked No. 9 hitter Tony Womack to open the inning, and after Womack stole second, Derek Jeter walked. Robinson Cano struck out after failing to bunt, and Rodriguez jumped ahead of Gary Sheffield with an 0-and-2 count.

A wild pitch allowed the runners to advance, and Rodriguez, after thinking he had Sheffield struck out on a check swing, walked the No. 3 hitter to load the bases. Alex Rodriguez walked on four pitches to make it 7-6, and Matsui, who singled ahead of Giambi’s homer in the eighth, came through with the game-winner.

“It was a disaster,” said Rodriguez, who threw 30 pitches in the ninth, 19 of them balls. “I didn’t make any pitches at all. I beat myself. They didn’t beat me.”

Rodriguez didn’t beat himself up, though, which is probably a good sign for a first-year closer who hasn’t dealt with much failure.

“I’m going to have my good days and bad days; today was one of my really bad days,” Rodriguez said. “I have to fight through it and bounce back.”

That rebounding process will have to wait until at least Tuesday. Manager Mike Scioscia said the closer would not pitch today, and the Angels are off Monday. That should give Rodriguez enough time to conduct a thorough post-mortem on Saturday’s loss.

“I have to look at the videotape to see whether I was rushing my delivery or opening my front shoulder,” Rodriguez said. “I felt fine, but I didn’t have any command in the ninth. It’s frustrating when you don’t do your job. It’s worse when you feel like you can’t control your body and arm enough to throw strikes.”

Byrd, starting in place of the injured Jarrod Washburn, had no such control problems; of his 109 pitches, 75 were strikes. He ran into trouble in the second, when Bernie Williams doubled, Womack singled and Jeter lined a two-run double to left-center for a 2-0 lead.

The Angels manufactured a run in the third when Chone Figgins singled, stole second, took third on Cabrera’s ground out and scored on a passed ball, but that was all the Angels could muster off right-hander Shawn Chacon, who gave up four hits in six innings of his Yankee debut after being acquired from Colorado on Thursday.

Williams’ solo homer off Byrd in the sixth made it 3-1, but the Yankee bullpen butchered the game in the seventh. Pinch-hitter Jeff DaVanon walked off Felix Rodriguez to open the inning, and Embree, who signed with the Yankees on Saturday after being released by Boston last week, gave up a single to Adam Kennedy.

Figgins bunted, but Embree bounced his throw past Giambi at first, allowing a run to score and the runners to advance to second and third. Yankee Manager Joe Torre summoned Tom Gordon, who gave up Cabrera’s two-run single to right. Cabrera took third on a balk and scored on Vladimir Guerrero’s groundout to make it 5-3, a lead the Angels extended to 7-3 on Rivera’s homer in the eighth.

“We got some big hits today,” Scioscia said. “It’s a shame we couldn’t cap it off.”