Jeff Mathis celebrates with Brian Fuentes after the Angels take Game 5

The Yankees were trailing by 1 run, bases loaded, two outs, top of the 9th, and a full count on Nick Swisher. Swisher got under a Fuentes pitch and popped out to Erick Aybar to give the Angels the Game 5 victory. Facing elimination from the 2009 postseason, the Angels didn’t want to go out without a fight. LA’s first five hitters reached and scored four runs in the first inning off A.J. Burnett. In fact they scored four runs before FOX was able to put up the scouting report graphic on Burnett. They held that lead until a very wacky 7th inning that scored the nine of the 13 runs scored.

The Angels tried to give this one away, twice. With two outs in the top of the 7th, Mike Scoscia pulled John Lackey in favor of Darren Oliver. Oliver got beaten around by the Yankees bats.  In Oliver’s defense, he entered the game with six scoreless innings this postseason. He faced three batters; Mark Teixeira doubled, A-Rod intentionally walked and Hideki Matsui singled. Kevin Jepsen relieved Oliver and gave up a 2-RBI triple to Robinson Cano, which put the Yankees ahead 6-4 in the 7th.

Yankees kid pitchers Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain struggled in relief. Hughes replaced Marte in the 7th and proceeded to give up a walk and two singles, giving the Angels a 7-6 lead. Chamberlain faced three hitters in the 8th and gave up two hits. Fortunately for the Yankees, Mariano Rivera worked his magic and didn’t allowed a run.

Angels closer Brian Fuentes was called on to finish this one for the Angels. Fuentes retired Damon then Teixeira with ease. Then the Angels decided to intentionally walk A-Rod for the second time in the game. The move seemed to make Fuentes lose control. He walked Matsui then hit Cano and going full in the count to Nick Swisher.

Kendry Morales, Vlad Guerrero and Torii Hunter provided the offense for LA, tying their highest run output this postseason. Those three combined for 6 RBI, 3 runs, stole a base and went 6-10. John Lackey pitched well for the Angels and was charged with three runs because of Oliver’s competence. This may have been Lackey’s last game as an Angel, and he pitched good enough to win.

Entering Thursday Mark Teixeira started out the ALCS 3-21 and he had a good breakout Thursday by going 2-5 with 3 RBI. A-Rod snapped his 8-game RBI streak and is tied with Ryan Howard and Lou Gehrig for the longest postseason RBI streak.

There were some positive pitching performances from the Yankees. Damaso Marte inherited two baserunners with no outs from A.J. Burnett and left the game with two outs and neither of the runs scoring. Mariano Rivera inherited a runner on first and third from Chamberlain and Rivera induced two flyouts.

The game was really slow for the first six innings, but the final three were some of the most exciting innings in this series.

Next up: Game 6 is Saturday night, first pitch at 7:07 CST. Pitching matchup is Joe Saunders vs. Andy Pettitte.