Major League Baseball

Angels got more than just a win in Game 3

Published Oct. 20, 2009 6:27 a.m. ET

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Ken Rosenthal

Walking underneath Angels Stadium an hour after the
game, I passed several Angels players as they strolled toward the
ballpark exit.

First, injured reliever Scot Shields, who told me his heart was still
pumping. Then, right fielder Bobby Abreu, who beamed as he explained
how the Angels did not quit. Finally, right-hander Ervin Santana, the
loser of Game 2 and winner of Game 3, who offered his usual shy smile
and said, "pretty nice."


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This is what the Angels needed — not just a victory, but a catharsis.
Maybe now, after rallying from a 3-0 deficit to defeat the Yankees in
11 innings, 5-4, the Angels finally will regain their confidence,
their mojo and everything else they had lost in the New York cold.

"I'm so excited right now," center fielder Torii Hunter had said
earlier in the clubhouse, "I'm at a loss for words."

Understand, the Angels still face difficult odds, trailing the
American League Championship Series, two games to one. But if Monday's
victory does not liberate them, nothing will.

The Angels pressed for two games and a good part of a third,
committing fielding blunders, baserunning mistakes and various other
sins.

Now, they can breathe.

"It was like, 'Yes, no, yes, no, YES!" left-hander Joe Saunders said,
moving his arm as if it were a rollercoaster to describe the wildly
shifting emotions.

No! Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon hitting solo shots to
give the Yankees a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning.

No! Hunter getting picked off first base, Abreu getting caught off
second, right-hander Kevin Jepsen allowing a game-tying homer by Jorge
Posada in the eighth.

No! The Angels failing to score off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in
the 10th after getting runners on first and third with none out.

Saunders said it was harder for him to watch Game 3 than it was for
him to pitch Game 2. But in the end, thanks to Jeff Mathis, a catcher
with a career batting/on-base/slugging line of .200-.277-.320, the
Angels finally produced an exclamation point of their own.

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