K-Rod wins Jeter duel

As he sat in the clubhouse, his arm wrapped in ice and his heart beating ever more rapidly, John Lackey watched the kind of moment fans live for.

Mano a mano, the best closer in baseball against the most legendary clutch hitter. Bottom of the ninth inning, two out, tying run on third base.

“I almost puked,” Lackey said.

Derek Jeter flied out, the last act of a suspenseful nine-pitch at-bat. Francisco Rodriguez got the out, preserving a 4-3 victory for Lackey and the Angels and completing a three-game sweep at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees slumbered through the weekend, but the crowd awoke in the ninth inning.

Surely Jeter would save the day. The fans rose to their feet, rocking the creaky stadium and chanting, “De-rek Je-ter! De-rek Je-ter!”

They revere Jeter here, as a true Yankee, not a mercenary who came here for the fat check. Surely “Captain Clutch” would deliver.

Not this time. Not this season.

“Of course they’re expecting Jeter to get a base hit,” Rodriguez said. “I’m expecting to get him out.”

Jeter flied out. The Angels are a season-high 11 games above .500, the Yankees a season-low six games under .500. Since Manager Joe Torre joined the Yankees in 1995, the Angels are the only team with a winning record against them, at 58-52.

“Part of that is because we have great pitching,” interim manager Ron Roenicke said. “Great pitching always does well against a great offensive team.”

Lackey did well, again, becoming baseball’s first eight-game winner. He scattered two runs and five hits over eight innings; his 2.36 earned-run average ranks second in the league.

The swing-first, ask-questions-later Angels scored three times in the seventh inning, unusually. They got one hit, a sacrifice fly and four walks, including consecutive bases-loaded walks to free swingers Willy Aybar and Chone Figgins.

Aybar had what Rodriguez called “the at-bat of the game.” As a pinch-hitter, he fouled off the first two pitches and still walked during an 11-pitch at-bat that included seven foul balls.

The Angels entrusted a 4-2 lead to Rodriguez in the ninth inning, with Jeter due up fifth. But Bobby Abreu walked, pinch-hitter Jorge Posada singled and pinch-hitter Johnny Damon advanced the runners with a groundout. Melky Cabrera’s sacrifice fly scored Abreu, closing the gap to 4-3, with Posada taking third.

So here came Jeter, and with him a reputation as the game’s best clutch hitter. With men in scoring position, he was batting .488 this season, tops in the majors. With men in scoring position and two out, he was batting .609.

“I was a little nervous,” Roenicke said.

In nine previous appearances against Rodriguez, Jeter had reached base six times, on four hits and two walks.

Ball one, then two strikes, then a slider in the dirt on which catcher Mike Napoli saved a run with a terrific body block of the ball. Then a foul on a 97-mph fastball, ball three, two fouls on 96-mph fastballs and, finally, a fly ball to deep center.

Rodriguez pumped his fist, screamed and pumped again. It had been quite a moment -- two of baseball’s best, one against the other.

“It can’t get better than that,” Angels shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. “I was like a fan there.”

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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Yankee killers

The Angels swept New York in a three-game series for the 13th time (sixth in New York). A closer look at the Angels versus the Yankees, who come to Anaheim for a three-game series Aug. 20-22:

The Angels won the season series in 2006, 6-4.

* The Angels have claimed the last three season series versus New York, last losing a season series in 2003 (3-6).

* Since 1996, the Angels lead the series, 58-52, and are the only team in the Joe Torre era with a winning record against the Yankees.

* Including postseason play, the Angels are 64-55 since 1996, eliminating the Yankees from the playoffs twice in last five seasons.

* The Angels have won 11 of their last 16 in the Bronx and are 31-23 at Yankee Stadium since 1996 (0-1 at Shea Stadium).

* The Yankees have a 311-256 overall record against the Angels.

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Source: Angels