Defense has always been an Angel strong point and something that they have used numerous times to win ballgames. But today, it was the sudden lapse in that quality that lost them the game. With four errors total, three of them in the disastrous eighth inning, the Angels saw their starting five to nothing lead drain out.

Starting pitcher John Lackey cruised through the first three innings smoothly.  But from the fourth on, his command left him and he started giving up hits. Reliever Jose Arredondo came in to pitch after Lackey came out of the game, but gave up a three run homerun and more hits for the Yankees to put them on top 8-5. But not all was in the pitcher’s gloves in this one. Aybar, Matthews, and Figgins all allowed the Yanks extra outs with crucial errors, on which they capitalized.

On the bright side of the Angel loss, Mark Teixiera finally got some magic. He hit a grandslam in the eighth to right field when Willits and Aybar managed to walk to load the bases. That put the Angels back on top 9-8 final time. They didn’t score again in the ninth to put a W in the Yankees win column and an L in their loss.