Cabrera Pops in the Clutch

It wasn’t the loss to the New York Yankees in the first game of the American League division series that disgusted Angel shortstop Orlando Cabrera; it was the manner in which the Angels lost, taking so many pitches from Yankee starter Mike Mussina that they became passive at the plate.

“We were trying to be a team that we’re not,” Cabrera said. “We’re a really aggressive team, hitting, fielding and running the bases, but we did not show that. We took so many pitches.... We’re not a walking team, we’re a hitting team.”

Cabrera drove that point home in the seventh inning Wednesday night, whacking Chien-Ming Wang’s first pitch into left-center field for a two-out, two-run, tie-breaking single to lead the Angels to a 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the Yankees in Game 2 at Angel Stadium.

Bengie Molina, promoted to the fifth spot in the order, had a night worthy of a curtain call, which the Angel catcher received after his eighth-inning home run to left provided a little extra cushion for closer Francisco Rodriguez, who yielded a leadoff home run to Jorge Posada in the ninth before closing out the win.

Third baseman Chone Figgins made a momentum-turning defensive play in the top of the fifth, a spectacular backhand diving stop of Hideki Matsui’s shot down the line with a runner on third that prevented a 2-0 Yankee lead from growing to 3-0.

Juan Rivera homered in the bottom of the fifth to awaken a dormant Angel offense, and Molina’s game-tying, two-out, run-scoring single in the sixth, a rally that began with a rare error by Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez, breathed life back into the Angels’ championship hopes.

Relievers Scot Shields and Kelvim Escobar kept those hopes alive, Shields replacing starter John Lackey with runners on first and third and getting Derek Jeter to ground to second to end the sixth, and Escobar throwing two hitless innings to gain the win, as the Angels evened the best-of-five series, one game apiece.

Had the Angels lost, they would have been down, 2-0, with the daunting task of facing Yankee ace Randy Johnson in Game 3 Friday night in Yankee Stadium. Instead, the Angels and the Yankees are even, with momentum on the Angels’ side.

“The mood in here is definitely a lot different than [Tuesday night], but Friday is a new day,” Shields said. “The Yankees have been around for a while. They’re good at turning the page. Momentum only takes you so far. We’ve got to come back Friday ready to go.”

The Angels seemed flat in Game 1, but it was the Yankees who looked flat-footed in Game 2, committing three errors, two that were very costly.

Rodriguez took his eye off Cabrera’s routine chopper to open the sixth, the ball nicking off his glove, and Cabrera later scored on Molina’s hit for a 2-2 tie.

Then in the seventh, after Rivera’s rumbling, stumbling dash to first on a chopper off the plate, Steve Finley dropped a bunt toward the mound.

But Wang’s throw pulled second baseman Robinson Cano off the bag, putting runners on first and second with no out. Adam Kennedy’s bunt advanced pinch-runner Jeff DaVanon and Finley, and it appeared Wang might escape the jam when Figgins flied to shallow center, DaVanon holding at third.

But Cabrera, who spent most of this season failing to live up to the expectations of a David Eckstein-loving fan base, won over a whole new batch of Angel admirers when he ripped Wang’s first offering for his hit, giving the Angels a 4-2 lead.

“That was important, because it was the first time I came up with men on base in the series,” Cabrera said. “It looked like [Wang] was kind of tired because in the Figgins at-bat, everything was up. I took advantage of that. I was looking for something up, and he gave it to me.”

Figgins, the speedy leadoff batter who was supposed to ignite the Angel offense in this series, is now hitless in eight at-bats with three strikeouts, but he found another way to contribute Wednesday night.

Alex Rodriguez called Figgins’ fifth-inning defensive gem to rob Matsui “one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen,” and Figgins got an assist from first baseman Darin Erstad, who dug out Figgins’ one-hop throw.

“It was unbelievable,” Molina said of Figgins’ diving grab. “It looked like the ball was past him when he got it.”

Figgins and Erstad then teamed up on the last play of the game, Figgins snagging Rodriguez’s chopper on an in-between hop and firing another long, one-hop throw to first, which Erstad caught to end the game.

Asked his secret to digging out such throws, Erstad said, “I just close my eyes, and hopefully they go into my glove.”