GANNETT CONTENTONE
Mike Lopresti: Gannett sports columnist
Originally published: October 22, 2009
Angels rally to extend ALCS
By MIKE LOPRESTI, Gannett
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Everyone back on the plane. If the Los Angeles Angels can't stop the New York Yankees, at least they can inconvenience them.
The final answer in the American League will have to come in Yankee Stadium, and didn't fate owe the Angels that, at least? A stirring rally for the home folks Thursday night, and a bucket of cold water in the face of the mighty New Yorkers, when they were really expecting champagne.
This has not been the easiest season in Anaheim. It didn't need to end with the visitors' clubhouse of Angel Stadium having to be power washed after a Yankees celebration.
And to see why the American League Championship Series must now move 2,500 miles east - as the Kendry Morales' go-ahead single flies - we can turn to famous quotes about trials and tribulations. Only great minds from the past can explain a 7-6 win so inexplicable, which ended with the Yankees leaving the bases loaded.
None of these came from the rally monkey, by the way.
"Do not go gentle into that good night." - Dylan Thomas.
The fighter jets on the pre-game fly-by had barely cleared Anaheim air space when it was clear the Angels had no plans to go gentle anywhere. After 12 pitches by Yankee starter A.J. Burnett, they were ahead 4-0.
"You want to try to win it tonight," New York manager Joe Girardi said before the game, "not to give them momentum."
This was probably not what he had in mind.
"Defeat is simply a signal to push onward." - Helen Keller.
Miracle comebacks must be built a game at time, which is the message the Angels manager is trying to get across.
"You have to focus on the process," Mike Scioscia said. "There has to be a focus to bring your level of play where it needs to be to beat a team like the Yankees, and we're capable of doing that."
The process is one extraordinary game closer, anyway. October has several laws of physics, and this one ranks right up there with Newton's law of gravity:
Being down 3-2 in a series is significantly better than being down 4-1.
"Nothing is so exhilarating in life as being shot at with no result." - Winston Churchill.
John Lackey didn't make it out of the sixth inning in losing game 1, but he understood any Angels reprieve Thursday had to start with him
"If I pitch up to my capabilities," he said the day before. "I should be OK."
Way, way, way better than OK.
The Yankees lashed two of his first three pitches for singles, with the middle of the lineup coming up. But neither Mark Teixeira nor Alex Rodriguez nor Hideki Matsui could get the ball out of the infield. Thus exhilarated, Lackey retired 17 of 19 Yankees at one stretch.
"I have had a great many troubles; most of them never happened." - Mark Twain.
Once Lackey was gone in the seventh, the Yankees tore into the Angels bullpen. Six runs, a 6-4 lead. You wouldn't have bet an empty peanut shell on this series lasting past midnight.
They were finished, right?
Wrong.
"A clever person turns big troubles into little ones, and little ones into none at all." - Chinese proverb.
It wasn't so much Angels wit as grit.
Trying get the through the Yankees lineup unscored upon is like trying to walk through a car wash without getting wet. But Lackey managed it until the seventh.
When the Angels should have been knocked groggy by the six-run Yankee explosion, they answered with three of their own.
"The most dangerous thing is illusion." — Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Is there any compelling reason to believe this series could do a complete U-turn?
Probably not. The Yankees have not lost at home this postseason. Waiting to pitch, sooner or later if needed, is C.C. Sabathia. It has been forever since Rodriguez hit a home run. More than 24 hours. He's due.
Still, in a postseason where every series has been a rout, this one now has a clear whiff of uncertainty. Thursday was the kind of victory that can make a team believe. If the Angels win Game 6, it'll be a tense Sunday in the Bronx.
Contact Mike Lopresti at mlopresti@gannett.com
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ABOUT MIKE
Quote: "Of course, I have to say who won. But I'd better say more. If not, I'm useless. They don't need me. I have to give readers something extra than what they've seen on TV. Or why read?"
Favorite sport: college basketball.
Career: Sportswriter, (Richmond, Ind.) Palladium-Item, 1970-1981; Gannett News Service and Gannett ContentOne, since 1982.
First GNS assignment: Super Bowl XVI.
Born: Richmond, Ind.
Ball State University graduate.
Married since 1976.
In the press box
World Series: 27
Final Four: 28
Super Bowl: 26
NBA Finals: 25
Masters: 25
Olympics: 14
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