Angels Top the Yankees -- Again

They have won 26 World Series championships and 39 American League pennants, but for all their storied tradition, for all their pinstriped lore, for all their October dominance, the New York Yankees still have not found a way to beat the Angels in a postseason series.

The Angels stuck another pitchfork in the so-called Yankee mystique Monday night, storming back from a two-run deficit for a dramatic 5-3 American League division series victory. The Game 5 showdown was the Angels’ second playoff series win over the Yankees in as many tries.

The Angels were scheduled to fly all night to Chicago to open the AL championship series tonight against the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

Monday, right-hander Ervin Santana, a picture of poise on a tension-filled fall evening, replaced injured starter Bartolo Colon in the second inning. He allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 remarkably calm innings to become the Angels’ second rookie to win a decisive playoff game, joining John Lackey, who won Game 7 of the 2002 World Series.

First baseman Darin Erstad helped Francisco Rodriguez escape a two-on, two-out jam in the ninth inning, diving to stop Hideki Matsui’s grounder to his right and flipping to the Angel closer for the final out. With that, the crowd of 45,133 filled Angel Stadium with a deafening roar as the players celebrated wildly around first base.

The Chicago game will be the Angels’ third in three time zones in as many nights, with about 4,200 air miles in between -- but that hardly curtailed the party in their clubhouse, where the beer and champagne flowed freely.

“This is unbelievable,” said catcher Bengie Molina, who singled in each of the Angels’ two scoring rallies. “Don’t think just because we win, it’s easy. This is not easy. It hasn’t been that way all year. We just keep finding a way.”

They found a way Monday night despite losing their 21-game winner and Cy Young Award candidate, the rock of their rotation, to an inflamed right shoulder, an injury that could sideline Colon for the ALCS.

They found a way despite facing a relentless opponent that features a $203-million payroll, a roster filled with All-Stars and “a lineup filled with cleanup hitters,” as several Angels have referred to the Yankees.

And they found a way despite traveling all night, coast to coast, from New York after a devastating 3-2 loss to the Yankees in Game 4 Sunday night.

“Any time you knock out a team that spends $200 million and you’re the underdog, it feels great,” Angel shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. “We’re pumped up for the next series.”

The Angels are the only team with a winning record (49-48) against the Yankees since the Joe Torre era began in 1996, going 26-22 in Yankee Stadium during that span, and they eliminated the Yankees from the 2002 playoffs en route to their World Series championship.

“Check the numbers when we play against them -- we have the best record,” said Rodriguez, who allowed two-out singles to Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield before closing Monday night’s win. “We don’t see them as the New York Yankees. We just see them as another team. That’s why we do well against them. We play our game.”

Garret Anderson (solo home run) and Adam Kennedy (two-run triple) keyed the Angels’ three-run third inning Monday, and the Angels cashed in on a few breaks during a two-run third, which included Anderson’s sacrifice fly and Erstad’s RBI fielder’s choice, but the key performance came from a rail-thin pitcher who began the season at double-A Arkansas and could finish it as a savior.

When the Angels replaced the 5-foot-11, 260-pound Colon with the 6-2, 160-pound Santana, it was like going from a Colon to a semi-Colon. There was a full count on Robinson Cano, who was leading off the second.

Santana seemed jittery at first, walking Cano, who was thrown out by Molina attempting to steal second, and walking Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada.

Bubba Crosby singled in a run, and Derek Jeter hit a sacrifice fly, but Santana seemed to gain confidence by blowing a 95-mph fastball by Alex Rodriguez for strike three, ending the inning.

Santana, who beat the Yankees twice during a seven-day span in July, then blanked the Yankees on three hits before giving up a leadoff homer to Jeter in the seventh. While he suppressed the Yankees, New York left-hander Randy Johnson, who relieved struggling starter Mike Mussina in the third, tamed the Angels for 4 1/3 shutout innings.

“Hey, that was our secret weapon,” Cabrera said of Santana. “We hadn’t used him in the playoffs, but every time we needed him, he came up big for us this year.”

Santana left to a standing ovation with one out in the seventh, and Kelvim Escobar threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings to set up Rodriguez, who gave up Jeter’s leadoff single before Alex Rodriguez, who hit .133 (two for 15) with no runs batted in during the series, grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. “I played like a dog,” Rodriguez said.

Colon escaped a first-and-third, two-out jam by striking out Matsui with a 95-mph fastball to end the first, but after Cano fouled a ball off in the second, Manager Mike Scioscia and Angel athletic trainer Ned Bergert rushed to the mound.

Colon lobbed one warmup pitch to Molina and said he was OK, but after three more pitches to Cano, Colon was done. As Scioscia headed to the mound, Colon crouched on top of the rubber, distraught, seemingly inconsolable as Erstad patted him on the shoulder.

“When Colon went down,” Angel owner Arte Moreno said, “you could see it was breaking his heart.”

Colon, who is also suffering from a stiff lower back, will be re-evaluated today, but he’s questionable for the next round. The Angels’ pitching problems are exacerbated by the absence of starter Jarrod Washburn because of strep throat, and their bullpen has been taxed over the last two days. Paul Byrd will start Game 1 tonight against Jose Contreras.

Even Scioscia, the eternal optimist, admitted, “We’re a little thin right now.” The White Sox, meanwhile, had three days to rest and reset their rotation after sweeping Boston in the first round.