Losing, winning, losing, winning. That was the tenor of yesterday’s game for the Yankees, who were somewhere between lucky and good, but mostly just fortunate the Angels played the seventh and eighth innings as if they had spent the previous six getting refills from the keg.
Yes, it was ugly for the Yankees – as scoring 10 unearned runs on four errors in their final two at-bats would suggest – but an inspiring comeback, nonetheless.
“We stole one and they tried to steal it back and fortunately for us we ended up winning,” Derek Jeter said after the Yanks’ wacky 14-9 victory at the Stadium for a split of their four-game series with the Angels. The Yankees remained 5½ games behind first-place Tampa Bay in the AL East.
This one had a little of everything, from Xavier Nady’s go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh to Mark Teixeira’s eighth-inning grand slam against Edwar Ramirez – with Mariano Rivera unavailable because of back spasms – to Justin Christian’s base-running heroics for the Yanks a half-inning later.
Appropriately, the Yankees scored their final go-ahead run on an error, the Angels’ third of the eighth inning. Chone Figgins botched Alex Rodriguez’s grounder, a potential inning-ending double play, allowing Melky Cabrera to race home before the Yanks added four more runs for insurance.
The larger issue was Rivera, who felt soreness between his shoulder blades while throwing before the game. It didn’t seem like a big deal to manager Joe Girardi after Ramirez struck out the first two batters in the eighth, but a Figgins single sandwiched between two walks soon had the bases loaded and the dangerous switch-hitter Teixeira coming to bat.
Damaso Marte was ready in the bullpen, but Teixeira was 5-for-6 lifetime against the lefty, making Ramirez seem like the better option. Or maybe not. Teixiera hammered a shot into the right-field seats, putting the Yankees in a 9-8 hole.
Girardi’s reaction?
“Oops,” he said. “When I say ‘Oops,’ I don’t question anything I did, it was just like, ‘Uhhh. I can’t believe it – especially after we get two quick outs.’ Fortunately . . . our guys fought back, and it’s a huge win for us.”
Rivera later said he first noticed soreness in his back on Friday, after allowing the only run in the Yankees’ 1-0 loss to the Angels, but didn’t give it much thought until yesterday’s recurrence.
“I don’t think it’s anything I have to be concerned with or worried about,” said Rivera, who indicated he’s unsure if he’ll be available for tonight’s game at Texas.
After Dan Giese had given his team a chance by completing his third inning of shutout relief behind ineffective starter Darrell Rasner, the Yankees, who trailed 5-0 at one point against John Lackey, took command in the seventh.
Gary Matthews Jr. dropped Jeter’s fly ball to center – a two-base error – and Bobby Abreu’s single tied it. After an A- Rod single, Nady hit a three-run blast into the left-field seats and received a rousing curtain call.
But the Yankees’ eighth inning was even wilder. Ivan Rodriguez, whose solo homer off Lackey in the fifth was the Yanks’ first run, singled against Scot Shields (4-3) and Christian entered as a pinch-runner. With Christian breaking for second, Cabrera hit a grounder that shortstop Erick Aybar booted, and everybody was safe. Then, with the third baseman Figgins playing in, expecting a bunt from Johnny Damon, Christian stole third. Jeff Mathis’ throw sailed into left field, allowing Christian to score the tying run. Figgins’ error on A-Rod‘s grounder then let the go-ahead run score and opened the flood gates. Robinson Cano, Nady and Christian added run-scoring hits.
“Splitting with the Angels, after being down two games, that’s a very good [weekend] for us,” Damon said. “We kept putting together good at-bats, hitting the ball hard and putting pressure on them.”
mpuma@nypost.com