The Angels dropped the second game to the Yankees to split the series and hold their magic number at two before tomorrow’s day game rubber match.
Maybe the lineup was thrown off by not having the usual Chone Figgins batting leadoff, but the Angels were held to one run on seven hits. Yankees starter Alfredo Aceves, making just his third big league start, shut out the Angels through five and only gave up five hits in his seven innings. They managed to avoid the shutout in the sixth, with Garret Anderson singling, taking third on Teixeira’s double, and scoring on Vlad’s groundout.
Ervin Santana was tagged for six runs, five earned, before leaving in the seventh inning. A run scored in the second before A-Rod took Santana deep with a three-run homerun in the sixth after Matthews misfielded a ball in center, who replaced Torii Hunter. Santana was lifted in the seventh after surrendering a two-run homerun to Johnny Damon. The Yankees touched home again in the ninth with a solo homerun off Speier.
Jered Weaver’s starts continued to be pushed back, and such is the case for tomorrow’s rubber match. Instead, Dustin Moseley will get the nod and hopes to recover from his last four-run 1 1/3 inning outing. He will face Andy Pettitte, who is 13-12 but winless since August 20.
