Ahhhh…I love attending to these type of heart pounding games. Very tired but it was worth it once again.

It has become such common occurrence for the Yankees to win in their
final at-bat that they mark such heroism with a comedic whipped cream
pie to the face during the post-game interview courtesy of A.J.
Burnett.

The victor gets slimed. The television reporter ducks for cover. The
home crowd goes home happy, and the opponents – in this case, the
Angels – leave town devastated.

The Angels found out after 13 innings Saturday what 49,922 fans at
Yankee Stadium seemed to know all along: that the Yankees would
eventually win Game 2 of the American League Championship Series.

This 4-3 Yankee victory lasted 5 hours, 10 minutes and stretched
past 1 a.m. in New York, ending only when the Angels succumbed to
another uncharacteristic miscue.

Jerry Hairston Jr. raced home from second base after Maicer Izturis
threw a grounder by Melky Cabrera past Erick Aybar at shortstop and
into short left field. With one last chance to nail Hairston at home
plate, Chone Figgins couldn’t pick the ball from the slippery turf.
Hairston slid home, popped up, and was promptly tackled by his elated
teammates. Moments later, Burnett struck again.

The loss put the Angels in a 0-2 hole in the ALCS and made for a
difficult plane ride back to Anaheim. Games 3, 4 and 5 will be played
at Angel Stadium, where the weather is temperate and ski masks will no
longer be en vogue.

Although an RBI single by Chone Figgins in the 11th inning gave the
Angels their first lead of the series, Yankees third baseman Alex
Rodriguez homered to lead off the bottom of the inning against Angels
closer Brian Fuentes, who claimed responsibility for the loss.

“I made a lot of good pitches but one bad pitch,” said Fuentes, who
was up 0-2 to Rodriguez. “Unfortunately it cost us the game. I take
full responsibility.”

But equal blame could be pinned on Izturis, who threw wildly to second base when he could have settled for a safe out at first.

Baseball, on this night, meant 13 pitchers, 47 degree weather and,
later, a cold rain that made some pop-ups turn into misadventures. It
marked the 17th walk-off win of the 2009 season and their second in the
playoffs. For the Angels, it was their longest postseason game (by
innings) in franchise history.

By not converting in the latter innings, the Angels wasted a
sterling performance from Joe Saunders, who allowed two runs in seven
innings but could only watch as Fuentes left a two-strike fastball up
in the zone.

“He made a pretty solid pitch to one of the best hitters in the
game,” Saunders said. “That’s what you get when you have a short porch
in right field and a lot of power at the plate.”

In the bottom of the inning, with two Yankees runners on base and
nobody out, Derek Jeter grounded sharply to Saunders, who threw to
second base to begin the 1-6-3 double play, although replays confirmed
that Jeter beat the throw to first base.

Saunders then struck out Johnny Damon with the go-ahead run on third
base, and left the mound pumping his fist and yelling under his breath.

But it would be the Yankees celebrating some two hours later.

“I’m wiped out right now,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “I’m sure I’ll sleep good on that plane.”