Football
SportsTicker 18y

Napoli's sacrifice fly allows Angels to sneak by Yankees

ANAHEIM, California -- Facing one of his favorite
opponents, Howie Kendrick continued to hit like a veteran.

Kendrick went 4-for-4 with a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning,
helping the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim post a 12-7 victory
over the New York Yankees.

Playing in his first major league season, Kendrick entered
Saturday hitting .563 (9-for-16) against the American League
East Division-leading Yankees. He had no trouble continuing his
success Saturday, reaching base in each of his five plate
appearances.

"I don't know what to say other than I saw a lot of good
fastballs today," Kendrick said. "I have also been feeling
better at the plate and more comfortable."

After ripping a one-out double in the second, Kendrick led off
the fourth with a single and scored two batters later on fellow
rookie Mike Napoli's two-run, two-base hit that gave the Angels
a 5-2 lead. The Yankees battled back to tie it, but Kendrick
opened the sixth with his second career homer, a shot over the
left-center field wall on a 1-1 offering from reliever Brian
Bruney (0-1).

"It's always good to help contribute to a win," Kendrick said.
"I'm always happy to have at least a hit in any game, but four
hits is special."

Kendrick, who also stole a base, singled but was stranded during
a three-run seventh and was walked intentionally during a
three-run rally an inning later. With the impressive effort,
Kendrick raised his average against New York to .650 with a
homer, three RBIs and four runs scored.

The 23-year-old Kendrick was not the only hitter in Anaheim's
lineup to take advantage of some poor pitching by New York.
Vladimir Guerrero finished a homer shy of the cycle, going
3-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored, and Garret Anderson
homered, drove in four runs and scored two others.

The offensive outburst made a winner of Ervin Santana (13-6),
who was anything but impressive. The 23-year-old Dominican
righthander improved to 4-0 lifetime against the Yankees despite
surrendering five runs - four earned - seven hits and three
walks in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five but hit a batter and
uncorked a wild pitch.

"I feel very happy how I pitched today," said Santana, who had
just one win in his previous seven starts. "I had all my
pitches working for me today, but they have really good hitters,
so I just wanted to be patient and make my pitches."

J.C. Romero retired the only batter he faced before Scot Shields
served up a two-run homer by Johnny Damon in the eighth that
drew the Yankees within 9-7. Closer Francisco Rodriguez even
had some trouble, loading the bases in the ninth before retiring
Bernie Williams and Melky Cabrera to nail down his 36th save.

"We wanted to bring in Frankie because we know that no lead is
safe when you're playing the Yankees," said Angels manager Mike
Scioscia, who called upon his closer with two outs in the eighth
and his team ahead by two runs.

New York starter Cory Lidle lasted just 3 2/3 frames, yielding
five runs, nine hits and two walks with just one strikeout.

"I definitely didn't have my best stuff working out there for me
today," said Lidle, who turned in his shortest performance in
five starts with New York. "I got into a lot of trouble today
by falling behind a lot of their batters."

The bullpen was no better as Bruney and Mike Myers allowed a run
apiece, Octavio Dotel surrendered two and Ron Villone was
reached for three.

Orlando Cabrera went 2-for-3 and scored three times for the
Angels, who have won seven of their last nine games and climbed
within five games of the first-place Oakland Athletics in the AL
West.

Jason Giambi had a two-run double while Damon and Williams each
scored twice for New York, which has lost three straight and
four of five.

"The trick when playing the Angels is that you have to get an
early lead on them because when they get the lead, they hold on
to it and keep adding on runs," said Yankees manager Joe Torre,
whose team leads Boston by five games in the AL East.

New York superstar Alex Rodriguez continued to struggle, going
0-for-5 with three strikeouts. The All-Star, who fanned four
times in Friday's loss, has struck out in 11 of his last 15
at-bats.

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