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Angels on losing side of duel in finale
Kazmir's outing marred by one shaky frame against Yanks
By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com
09/23/09 8:46 PM ET
ANAHEIM -- Even the peerless Mariano Rivera has his bad days, as legions of Ichiro Suzuki fans can testify.This was not one of them.
After a sizzling duel in the hot sun on Wednesday between Scott Kazmir and A.J. Burnett went to the bullpens for the finishing touches, the Yankees prevailed, 3-2, in front of 35,760 at Angel Stadium to finish the season series even at five games apiece.
Keeping the Angels' magic number at five for the American League West title and handing New York its first series triumph in Anaheim since 2004, Rivera, the Bronx "Sandman," delivered the final three outs with customary elegance for his 42nd save in 44 chances.
As recently as last Friday, Ichiro went deep to beat him in Seattle, snapping a career-best streak of 36 consecutive saves by Rivera. But the Sandman is back in form, frustrating the Angels for the second successive day after Bobby Abreu opened the ninth with a single.
"The game has to be won or lost before then," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "We certainly put ourselves in a position where we wouldn't have to worry about their closer, but we couldn't get the one hit for a tied game."
Pitching out of the sun into the shadows at home plate, Rivera struck out Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales and retired Juan Rivera on a fly ball to center fielder Brett Gardner.
"Trying to face Mariano Rivera in the shadows -- that's pretty rough," Hunter said, having ducked away at the last instant from an 0-2 fastball in the vicinity of his head. "I didn't see it. I kept my head in there, looking for the spin on the cutter, and almost got smoked. Scary."
Kazmir and Burnett were consistently delivering their heaters in the mid-90s, right up with the temperatures.
Burnett, with 11 strikeouts, came within one of his season high across 5 2/3 innings, while Kazmir made it through six innings yielding three earned runs on six hits and three walks, striking out four.
"I felt like I had my fastball location, but didn't have too much of anything else to back it up," said Kazmir, who managed to hold the Rangers scoreless in Texas last time out with the same thin repertoire.
"With two strikes, especially against lefties, I really need my slider. I didn't have it, and it cost me."
Kazmir once again didn't get much help from his offense, which stranded 13 runners after leaving 12 on the basepaths on Tuesday night in another show closed by Rivera.
A team that came into the game leading the Majors with runners in scoring position at .299 average went 0-for-10 in those situations.
The Angels have collected eight runs in Kazmir's five starts while he's been on the mound.
"Yeah, it's frustrating today," Scioscia said. "It's tough when you have guys out there all day long, and it's going to take one hit, and we couldn't even square it up and get a hit somewhere.
"We need to get back to having quality at-bats with runners in scoring position."
The Angels certainly have acquired the respect of the Yankees' skipper.
"They create runs a lot of different ways," Joe Girardi said, "and they've had a strong rotation for years out here. They've done a very good job. They have a lot of homegrown talent, too, and those guys have done very well."
One rough patch came during the fourth inning, when New York scored three times to mar an otherwise superb effort by Kazmir, whose ERA with the Angels is 2.01 even though he's 1-2 with two no-decisions.
The Yankees collected two doubles, two singles and a walk without making an out. Robinson Cano drove in two runs with a single and Melky Cabrera delivered an RBI double, both with two outs.
One of the outs came when left fielder Juan Rivera shot down Mark Teixeira trying to score from second on Shelley Duncan's single.
"My slider just wasn't tight, wasn't a good pitch," Kazmir said. "I had Cano behind on two strikes and was trying to expand the zone with a fastball, but didn't get it outside enough."
While falling to 6-5 in his career against the Yankees, Kazmir maintained a respectable 2.67 ERA, in part because of his ability to contain Derek Jeter.
After flying out, grounding into a double play and striking out (reaching on a wild pitch) on Wednesday, the Yankees' catalyst is 4-for-36 (.111) lifetime against Kazmir.
The Angels had trouble making contact with Burnett and his extreme heat.
The big right-hander struck out the side in the second and fourth before the Angels finally stirred in the fifth.
Mike Napoli led off with a single and stopped at third when Chone Figgins -- three hits for the second successive game -- raked a 95-mph fastball into the right-field corner for a double.
Abreu's one-out grounder, speared by his protege Cano at second, scored Napoli, but gave Burnett an out.
The Angels made it a one-run game in the sixth, when Gary Matthews Jr. hammered a two-out double to the right-center gap to score Rivera, who'd singled with one out.
Southpaw Damaso Marte was summoned to cool off Figgins, who flied to right to leave two runners stranded.
While Jason Bulger was quieting New York out of the Angels' bullpen, Girardi needed three relievers to get through the seventh. The Angels wasted Erick Aybar's single and Hunter's double when Abreu grounded into a double play and Phil Coke struck out Morales.
The Angels loaded the bases in the eighth against Ian Kennedy with a hit batsman and two walks, but Aybar flied to left.
Darren Oliver shut down the Yanks in the ninth, but the "Sandman" put the Angels to sleep in the shadows.
Lyle Spencer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
