Nady's 6 RBI Lead Yanks Past Angels

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
LA Angels	2	1	0	2	0	0	0	4	0		9	11	4
N.Y. Yankees	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	6	X		14	14	0

What a ballgame in the Bronx today. It was by far the best win of the season, and it was also the most important.

But let's start with something not so great, and that's Darrell Rasner's pitching performance. He was facing a very good team, and they sure looked like it, making him pay for every mistake he made. In four innings he allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks, he also struck out a batter.

With the way Ian Kennedy is pitching in AAA I would be very surprised to see Rasner on the mound when his turn comes up this Friday.

Dan Giese pitched well in relief. He threw three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit, walked two, and struck out three. You have to give him a lot of credit, he kept the Yankees in the game.

But even with Giese's performance you had to feel that this game was destined for the loss column with the Angels up 5-0, especially with John Lackey on the mound. But the Yankees offense wasn't ready to give up that easily.

The Yankees got on the board with Ivan Rodriguez's first homer as a Yankee, a solo shot in the 5th.

They added three more in the 6th on a two-run ground-rule double by Xavier Nady, and a RBI ground out by Wilson Betemit.

Bobby Abreu made up for a terrible base running blunder a few innings earlier when he singled home the tying run in the 7th. The Yankees added three more in the inning on an Xavier Nady three-run homer, and the Yankees had an 8-5 lead.

After coming all the way back from five runs down to take an 8-5 lead Edwar Ramirez came in to pitch the 8th. Things started off well as he retired the first two batters he faced, but then he fell apart. He allowed a walk, a single, and then another walk and the Angels had the bases loaded and Mark Teixeira coming to the plate. Why Ramirez remained in the game is a mystery to me, to be honest he probably should have been removed when he allowed the second man to reach. But he did stay in the game, and on the second pitch Teixeira saw he lined a grand slam into the seats in right to give the Angels a brief 9-8 lead.

I say brief because the Yankees came right back in the bottom half of the inning with six runs of their own. With 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Johnny Damon was up. Everyone expected a bunt, including 3rd baseman Chone Figgins who was in on the grass playing for it. But Joe Girardi showed me the type of managing I've been waiting for all year, and had him pull the bat back and double-steal. Figgins had to rush to cover 3rd, and couldn't get there in time to save Jeff Mathis' errant throw, so the ball sailed into left field and the Yanks tied the game. It was a great, great call by Girardi, the throw would have had to literally be perfect for Figgins to make the play.

I should also add the two other very good moves by Girardi that inning; a batter earlier with Melky up, Girardi pinch ran for Pudge with Justin Christian and had him running on a 3-2 count, if the runner wasn't going Melky's grounder is an easy 6-6-3 double play, but he was, giving the Angels only one play, but Aybar bobbled it and everyone was safe. Girardi made his third great call of the inning with 1st and 3rd and Derek Jeter up. He had Damon run on the 1-2 pitch and because of that the Angels couldn't turn a DP on Jeter's hard grounder. So instead of a runner on 3rd and two out, it was 2nd and 3rd with one out. There's a chance they wouldn't have turned two anyway because they wanted to hold the runner at third, but the ball was hit so hard that I think they had a chance without the runner scoring.

Two batters later Alex Rodriguez was up with the bases loaded, one out, and the score now tied at nine. He hit what probably should have been an inning ending 5-4-3 double play, but Figgins, bobbled it, everyone was safe, and the Yanks regained the lead 10-9. Robinson Cano followed with a two-run single, Nady and Justin Christian both followed with RBI singles of their own and the Yanks had a 14-9 lead. Nady's RBI was his 6th of the game, a career high.

Nady has really turned it around after going 1 for his first 11 as a Yankee. He is now hitting .385 (10-for-26) with 3 HR and 10 RBI in Pinstripes.

The Yankees comeback today was helped out by four Angels errors (Figgins, Matthews, Mathis, Aybar). For a team that plays as well as the Angels do, you have to take advantage of any mistakes they make, and the Yankees were successful every time today and scored 9 unearned runs.

Jose Veras came on to finish off the ballgame and pitched a scoreless 9th. Mariano Rivera was unavailable due to back stiffness. He's day-to-day and will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rasner	4.0	7	5	5	3	1	0	5.23
Giese	3.0	1	0	0	2	3	0	2.51
Ramirez (BS, 2)(W, 3-0)	1.0	2	4	4	2	2	1	3.20
Veras	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2.63

ANGELS PITCHING

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, DH	4	1	1	0	1	0	0	.315
Jeter, SS	3	2	1	0	1	0	2	.282
Abreu, RF	4	3	3	1	1	1	1	.290
Rodriguez, A, 3B	4	3	1	1	1	2	3	.324
Giambi, 1B	3	0	0	0	1	0	5	.249
Cano, 2B	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	.262
Nady, LF	5	1	4	6	0	0	3	.334
Betemit, 2B	4	0	0	1	0	0	2	.250
Sexson, 1B	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.223
Rodriguez, I, C	3	1	2	1	1	0	0	.296
1-Christian, PR	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	.296
Molina, C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.237
Cabrera, CF	5	1	0	0	0	1	4	.243
Totals	38	14	14	13	6	5	22
1-Ran for Rodriguez, I in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Nady (29, Lackey). HR: Rodriguez, I (6, 5th inning off Lackey, 0 on, 1 out), Nady (16, 7th inning off Arredondo, 2 on, 2 out). TB: Damon; Jeter; Abreu 3; Rodriguez, A; Cano; Nady 8; Rodriguez, I 5; Christian. RBI: Rodriguez, I (33), Nady 6 (67), Betemit (18), Abreu (76), Rodriguez, A (67), Cano 2 (52), Christian (6). 2-out RBI: Nady 3; Christian. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rodriguez, A; Cabrera 2. S: Jeter. GIDP: Betemit. Team LOB: 7. BASERUNNING SB: Cabrera (9, 2nd base off Shields/Mathis), Christian (5, 3rd base off Shields/Mathis).

ANGELS OFFENSE

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Xavier Nady (4-for-5, HR, 2B, 6 RBI, R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Dan Giese (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, and he kept the Yankees in the game)

The Yankees start a big ten game road trip tomorrow as the head to Texas for four games with the Rangers. Joba Chamberlain will get the start for the Yankees, and he will face Rangers' starter Vicente Padilla. First Pitch: 8:05 p.m. - TV: YES - Radio: WCBS 880.