It wouldn't matter if the Yanks had Walter Johnson in his prime going against Jeff Weaver in his gopher-ball throwing worst: if Weaver wore an Angels uniform, he'd pitch a gem and their hitters would tee off on the Big Train. That's what it feels like to play Anaheim.
You knew it was over when Brian Bruney came in. That was Girardi waving the white flag.
Yankee hitters grounded into two double-plays and went 0-3 with RISP. The Angels, of course, went 3-7 (.429) with RISP and didn't hit into any DP's.
Pettitte rebounded nicely from a poor first frame when he allowed two runs (both scoring after two outs, of course), but it was ultimately fruitless. The Yankees cannot beat the Angels, and there's no rational reason for it. Please don't say it's Anaheim's aggressive baserunning. They attempted one steal in this game (and he was gunned down); Michael Kay relayed a stat: the Angels have a 72% stolen base success rate over the last several years against the Yanks. That is right about average for MLB. The Angels are neither helping nor hurting themselves with all those steals, so it ain't that... Their pitchers aren't particularly good. The Yankees staff has a better ERA, ERA+ and more Ks this year. It ain't their hitting, which, while good, trails the Yankees by 40 runs and and in OPS+ by 15 points (105 vs. 120). In addition, the Yanks even have a better defense. I don't f'ing get it.
At least the Red Sox lost (and in glorious, six-run-lead-blowing fashion), so the magic number drops to eight. But Texas won so the playoff magic number remains at one.