Angels Avoid Elimination, Rally In Game Five

NFL News - October 23rd, 2009 - Written by John

The Los Angeles Angels splurged for four runs in the first inning, then rallied for three runs in the seventh to avoid elimination at the hands of their nemesis. They sent the ALCS back to New York with a 7-6 win on Thursday with their furious comeback, sparked by a familiar face from the last time they went to the World Series, when fans whipped out the rally monkey in a game with three lead changes.

"Anything is possible, man," Angels outfielder Torii Hunter said on ESPN.com. "Baseball is a crazy game, man. You see some crazy things. Every time you come to the game, you've probably been to 1,000 games, and you see something different every year."

Brian Fuentes picked up the save. He was able to tame the Yankees lineup that came back to load the bases in the top of the ninth with Nick Swisher working a full-count. Fuentes got out of the jam by forcing a pop-out to give the Angels only their second win in their last nine ALCS games.

The Los Angeles rally was necessary, however, when New York made a successful comeback earlier in the game. The Yankees fell back 4-0 without recording a single out in the first inning for the first time in franchise history. Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero and Kendry Morales each had run-scoring hits. Angels' starter John Lackey did the rest of the work for six innings, striking out seven and rarely allowing a base runner. But the wheels finally came off in the seventh when he finally ran into major turbulance and he was lifted in favor of Darren Oliver. His first batter, Mark Teixeira ripped a three-run double to make it 4-3 and Hideki Matsui then tied it with an RBI single.

It still wasn't over.

Robinson Cano continued to swing a hot bat and gave his team their first lead of the night when he drilled a pitch into right center for the second triple of the inning, sending Alex Rodriguez and Matsui home and it appeared the Yankees had all but punched their ticket to the World Series.

But those aspirations were quelled as quickly as they were formed. The Angels bounced back in the bottom half of the frame and it was Guerrero and Morales again who did the damage. Following a Bobby Abreu ground out that chased home Jeff Mathis, the pair each hit singles with runners in scoring position to tie it at 6-6 and then take the one-run lead they didn't relinquish.

"That's not a forgiving team over there," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "They hit pretty quick in that inning with six runs, and we bounced back and answered with three. In the dugout between innings, guys were still pumped up. Just some real good hitting."

The series now head back to the bronx, a place the Angels have never won an ALCS game. And with playoff-seasoned lefty Andy Pettitte on the mound, their fight seems to have only started.

"It was definitely a do-or-die situation," said Lackey. "Now we've got one more game to go, and hopefully we'll make it to the next one. The guys showed a lot of character tonight, for sure. Having the rough seventh inning and then coming right back and scoring three runs showed a lot about our team." It's games like these that make MLB Betting so much fun, to learn more about betting on these games check out our page all about the MLB Betting Odds

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