Flying high

A-Rod, Hairston spark Yankees to 13th-inning win over Angels

Growing up in Chicago, Jerry Hairston watched Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen celebrate NBA titles. When Hairston finally arrived in the majors, fate placed him on teams that never approached playoff jubilation.

In 984 regular-season games with losing teams in Baltimore, Chicago, Texas and Cincinnati, other than watching highlights Hairston never sniffed October excitement.

That changed when Brian Cashman obtained him at the July 31 trade deadline and last night Hairston finally had his shot at a playoff moment. The speedster scored the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Yankees a 4-3 win over the Angels and a 2-0 lead in the ALCS.

His opportunity was made possible by another big postseason home run from the relaxed and content Alex Rodriguez. Continuing to make the playoffs his personal showcase, Rodriguez led off the 11th with game-tying solo home run to right field on a 0-2 fastball from Angels closer Brian Fuentes.

“There’s no question it was a fun game,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t do much the rest of the night, but I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Rodriguez has three postseason home runs and is 7-for-19 in the playoffs with eight RBIs. Each blast has tied or put the Yankees ahead and it remained an ongoing trend from the regular season when half of his 30 homers had the same impact. Without those home runs, there is no guarantee that the Yankees are in any position to win.

“He’s swinging great,” manager Joe Girardi said. “It’s pretty unbelievable what he’s done for us so far. I talked about it before the playoffs started -– I thought he was in a great place. He’s been huge for us.”

“Even when he got to 0-2,” Hairston said, “that wasn’t an easy pitch. Fuentes is a great closer and to be able to hit that ball to right field, he’s a great player. In those conditions -– what a player."

The latest special moment capped a five-hour, 10 minute contest, in which the teams left a combined 28 men on base and were a combined 3-for-23 with runners in scoring position.

Hairston was the 21st player used by Girardi when he batted for Freddy Guzman to open the bottom of the 13th. He began the winning rally with a single that dropped in front of center fielder Torii Hunter.

After being sacrificed to second by Brett Gardner, the Angels elected to intentionally walk Robinson Cano to face Melky Cabrera. On the first pitch, Cabrera bounced to second baseman Macier Izturis.

"When Melky hit the ball, I was kind of anticipating it might get through," Hairston said. "When our third base coach held me up, I turned my head to see what happens because you never know if the ball gets kicked around."

The unpredictable moment occurred almost instantly.

Izturis made a low throw that skipped past shortstop Erick Aybar and rolled behind third. As Chone Figgins tried to pick it up, he fumbled and Hairston raced home. That touched off another celebration began that culminated with Hairston getting the pie in the face treatment from A.J. Burnett.

"That's the beautiful thing about the playoffs," Derek Jeter said. "It takes 25 guys to win, and you never know when you're going to get that opportunity."

The opportunities in the playoffs seem to be arising from opponents' errors . The Yankees used Minnesota base-running blunders to their advantage and have done the same with surprisingly poor defense by the Angels.

What is no longer surprising are certain pitching performances by the Bombers, especially those delivered by Dave Robertson, whose two playoff appearances have been Houdini acts. Robertson worked out of a self-created bases-loaded no out jam in Game 2 against the Twins and picked up the win when Mark Teixeira homered in the 11th.

The jam was not as serious this time, but it was close. He entered with two outs in the 12th and gave up a double to Jeff Mathis and had runners at first and second for Gary Matthews Jr.

That turned out very well for the right-hander, who continued to use his curveball and fanned Matthews.
There was more adventure in the 13th for Robertson when he had two on with one out but he remained unfazed and retired Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero on groundouts.

Robinson Cano’s RBI triple in the second and Jeter’s solo homer in the third gave the Yankees an early 5-0 lead.

Erick Aybar's RBI single in the fifth off a shaky Burnett cut the lead 2-1. Aybar then scored off a Burnett wild pitch to tie it. The Angels did not score again until Figgins’ RBI single off Alfredo Aceves in the 11th.

ALCS BRIEFS:

--Jeter homered for the 19th time in postseason play and passed ex-Yankees Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle for third-place on the all-time playoff list.

“Jeter is incredible,” Rodriguez said. “He played at such a high level this year and he’s going to be right there in the running for the MVP.”

-- Girardi said that if the game continued past the 13th, Chad Gaudin was available for roughly 75 pitches.

-- Figgins’ RBI single was his first hit in 19 postseason at-bats.