YANKS WIN BY A HAIR(STON)!

Bottom of the 13th, and Jerry Hairston Jr., Mr. Super-Utility for the Yankees, gets the word. You're up. Pinch-hitting time after a 5 hour wait, and many, many days since even coming up at all in a real game situation, but he's a pro, and he took it for all it was worth. He lined a hard, clean single in no time flat. Next up, Brett Gardner and a perfect bunt up the first base line. He's out, but he gets Hairston to second. Mission accomplished, thank you, Gritty Gardner. Intentional walk to Cano, the last in a long line throughout the night. Time for the Melk-man to deliver. Alas, a multi-bouncer to deep second base. Should get the Hair to third while mowing down at least one runner. But No! Maicer Izturis unleashes a wild throw to second which flies towards third. Hairston rounds third, flying home, Chone Figgins tries to grab it and mow him down, but he get can't a grip of the ball, and that's the ballgame, folks! Yankees Win! And a nice pie to the face of Jerry Hairston!

That summed up the final half inning of a frustratingly great ALCS Game Two. Another come from behind win from the Yankees, a team that's seemingly always in it no matter who's up. A team that can do it in so many ways, and manager Joe Giradi deftly employing various strategies to get the job done, and now a well deserved break after dealing with cold weather and hard rain from the 9th inning on.

However, five grueling hours earlier, A.J. Burnett started his second post-season game, and for the most part pitched very well, at times looked dominating, but at times wild. None more wild than his "one bad inning": the 5th, where hitting batters and throwing the ball away was the norm leading to 2 game tying runs from the Angels. He bounced back in the 6th, and got one out in the seventh before being pulled after a Robbie Cano error, the first of a couple bad ones for the second baseman. The Yankee bullpen allowed just one run in the next 6 2/3 innings, that one coming on a Figgins double off of Alfredo Aceves in which the Gary Matthews scored on Johnny Damon's weak throwing arm. Otherwise, the staff did the job.

That Figgins RBI would be in the top of the 11th. The Halos would bring in their closer, Brian Fuentes, to close it out and go home tied 1-1. It wasn't to be, as the Yanks' '09 post-season hero came up big once again. On an 0-2 pitch ARod went yard, just clearing the right field fence and Bobby Abreu's leap! Rodriguez would come up again in the very next inning with the bases loaded, but flied out to center instead. He is human after all, but with the Yanks going ahead 2-o in the series, that last at-bat wouldn't even matter. It's the tying homer that fans would ever care about.

While the Yankees won out, you have to applaud Angels starter Joe Saunders for the tremendous effort he brought forth, this after being laid off since October 4th. He had the Yankees guessing most of the night, only coming through twice on a triple and homer by Cano and Derek Jeter, respectively. Their bullpen also pitched well, the only mistake going to their closer.

Mistakes, though, is what has killed the Angels thus far. Maybe you can blame the cold, maybe it's jitters, maybe the Ghosts? Who knows, but you can bet that Mike Scioscia and crew are glad to be heading home for the next three games. The Yankees had their own share of mistakes last night, and since both teams aren't very prone to them, especially in the infield, the weather is most likely the key factor.

Some guys weren't fazed by it, though, like Damon who made some wonderful plays in left field, and he's one of the guys you trust least on the field. And even though he's had a hard time wth the stick so far, his ALDS game-winning homer notwithstanding, Mark Teixeira has saved the Yankees more times than you can count this post-season; last night in particular being on point of way too many clutch fielding plays. Remember this is a team effort, and every contribution helps.

So the teams are California bound, to warmer weather, and probably better playing. Who will heat up? We'll find out tomorrow afternoon.