Angels-Yankees ALCS Game 3 live in-game updates

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BOTTOM OF THE 11TH (Angels 5, Yankees 4)

David Robertson pitching. Juan Rivera batting. Rivera grounds to short. Morales flies to left. Robertson is removed for Alfredo Aceves. A strange move, since Robertson is pitching well and the Yankees have only two pitchers in the bullpen. Kendrick singles to center. Mathis doubles to left-center, Kendrick scores. Angels win, 5-4!

TOP OF THE 11TH (Angels 4, Yankees 4)

Ervin Santana pitching. Cabrera grounds to second. Jeter flies to center. Francisco Cervelli will hit for Rivera, who was in the lineup because the Yankees had their DH play in the field in the bottom of the 10th. Cervelli strikes out swinging. Angels get another shot at it.

BOTTOM OF THE 10TH (Angels 4, Yankees 4)

Hughes still pitching. Mathis hits a booming leadoff double to left-center. And that will bring Mariano Rivera into the game. Aybar bunts back to Rivera, who throws it in the dirt to third trying to get Mathis. The ball gets by A-Rod but Damon backs up, so Mathis can’t score. First and third, no one out. Figgins is up. He hits a grounder to first. Mathis can’t score, Aybar to second, Figgins out at first. Second and third, one out. Tim McCarver is criticizing Scioscia for not pinch-running Reggie Willits for Mathis. Abreu is walked intentionally, loading the bases with one out for Torii Hunter. A deep fly ball wins Game 3. Joe Girardi brings Jerry Hairston from the DH spot and inserts him into left field for Damon, since Hairston has a much better arm. That also means the pitcher will have to bat for the Yankees if the game continues. Hunter grounds to first, Mathis forced out at home. Two out, bases remain loaded. That brings up Vladimir Guerrero. Can he silence the critics once and for all? Nope. He grounds to first to. Inning is over. We go to the 11th.

TOP OF THE 10TH (Angels 4, Yankees 4)

Jason Bulger pitching now. Posada strikes out swinging. Bulger fell behind 3-0 then made three nice pitches, the last two curveballs, to strike him out. Cano grounds to second. Swisher strikes out swinging.

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH (Angels 4, Yankees 4)

Phil Hughes pitching. Rivera grounds to short. Morales, who has been very quiet the entire postseason, is up. He hits a line drive right at Teixeira at first. Two out. Kendrick, who has a homer and a triple, pops to second. We go to extra innings.

TOP OF THE NINTH (Angels 4, Yankees 4)

Brian Fuentes is in the game. Which could be trouble. He gets a mixed reaction from Angels fans. Damon grounds to second. Teixeira strikes out. Rodriguez is up. Can he homer off Fuentes again? He won’t get the chance, as he is walked intentionally. Two out, bases empty, intentional walk. You don’t see that every day. Hairston will bat for Gardner, who had run for Matsui. Hairston strikes out swinging.

BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH (Angels 4, Yankees 4)

Abreu hits a line drive to the fence in right-center, tries to go to third, then changes his mind and heads back to second, but Jeter takes the cutoff throw and gives it to Teixeira covering second. Teixeria tags out Abreu. That was a combination of some heady defense by the Yankees, particularly Teixeira, and horrible baserunning by Abreu. Hunter strikes out swinging. Guerrero grounds to third. A-Rod throws wide but Teixeira grabs the ball and tags Guerrero for the out. A truly demoralizing inning for the Angels.

TOP OF THE EIGHTH (Angels 4, Yankees 4)

Jeff Mathis is catching. Jepsen is still pitching. Matsui walks. Uh oh. Posada is up. Brett Gardner will run for Matsui. Mike Scioscia calls for a pitchout at the perfect time and Mathis throws Gardner out trying to steal. Posada homers to center, tying the score, 4-4. Cano singles to center. Swisher walks. First and second, one out. Cabrera strikes out swinging. Jeter grounds to the pitcher. Angels escape cheaply enough.

BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH (Angels 4, Yankees 3)

Morales hits a line drive to left that Damon almost overruns, but he reaches up to make the catch in time. And that’s it for Andy Pettitte. Joba Chamberlain pitching. Howie Kendrick triples to right-center. Kendrick hustled all the way from home plate, which is why he ended up at third. He didn’t take time to admire the ball, which almost went out. Izturis, batting for Napoli, flies to deep right, scoring Kendrick. The Angels lead for the first time, 4-3. Aybar hits a shot down the right-field line for a double. Out goes Chamberlain, in comes Damaso Marte, who retires Figgins on a fly ball to right field.

TOP OF THE SEVENTH (Angels 3, Yankees 3)

Jeter strikes out swinging. The Angels fans are finally drowning out the Yankees fans in the stadium. Damon hits a sinking liner to center that Hunter runs in and catches. Two down. Teixeira, one for 12 in the series, walks. Kevin Jepsen replaces Darren Oliver and will pitch to Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod hits a shot at Figgins, who had him played perfectly. Figgins grabs the hard grounder and throws to second for the force to end the inning.

BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH (Angels 3, Yankees 3)

Chone Figgins grounds to short. Figgins is two for 22 in the playoffs this season. Abreu, 0 for 11 in this ALCS, singles to right. Hunter, who needs to make up for that baserunning mistake earlier, represents the tying run at the plate. Man on first, one out. Hunter swinging on the first pitch, flies to right. Why swing at the first pitch when Pettitte has had command problems this inning? Work the count a little. Guerrero is up. He can silence the critics right now. And he does! Guerrero homers to left, tying the score, 3-3. Rivera pops to second. It’s a brand new ball game.

TOP OF THE SIXTH (Yankees 3, Angels 1)

Darren Oliver is now pitching, and strikes out Jorge Posada. Cano singles off of Aybar’s glove at short. The ball took a really bad hop, and Cano is rightfully credited with the hit. Joe Buck points out what a great guy Darren Oliver is. Buck has said that about five guys so far this game. Wouldn’t you like them to say jsut one ‘Here’s John Smith. He’s a real jerk. No one likes him.’ Swisher strikes out. Cabrera lines to third.

BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH (Yankees 3, Angels 1)

Morales strikes out swinging. They just showed Scioscia telling Weaver in the dugout that he is done for the day. Weaver tried to talk him out of it, but Scioscia didn’t budge and Weaver went to the clubhouse. Nothing unprofessional, just a competitor who doesn’t want to come out of the game. Howie Kendrick homers to left, narrowing the Yankees’ lead to 3-1. Napoli, trying to homer on every pitch, strikes out swinging. Aybar hits a one-hopper to Rodriguez for the third out.

TOP OF THE FIFTH (Yankees 3, Angels 0)

Jeter flies to left. Damon homers to right to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Teixeira walks. A-Rod flies to the fence in left. Fox is already discussing how the Yankees match up with the Phillies or Dodgers in the World Series. Isn’t this only Game 3? Matsui strikes out swinging.

BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH (Yankees 2, Angels 0)

Abreu flies to left. Hunter singles to left. And then gets picked off of first on a 3-and-1 count. It counts as a caught stealing since Hunter ran to second. Guerrero walks. Rivera flies to left as the Angels run themselves out of a potential big inning.

TOP OF THE FOURTH (Yankees 2, Angels 0)

Alex Rodriguez leads off with a rocket to deep left field to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. A-Rod hit a 3-and-1 changeup about a mile to left. Official estimate was 431 feet, but it looked a lot longer. Matsui walks. Posada singles to center. First and second, none out. Cano grounds to second, forcing Posada. Runners on first and third, one out. Jered Weaver is making a lot of pitches and is not long for this game at this rate. Swisher strikes out swinging on a curveball. Cabrera hit a shallow pop to center but it hung up long enough for shortstop Aybar to run under it and catch it for the third out.

BOTTOM OF THE THIRD (Yankees 1, Angels 0)

Howie Kendrick flies to right. Mike Napoli copies him and flies to right. Erick Aybar singles to center. Well, the Angels can’t ground into a double play this time. The pace of the game really slows down when an Angel reaches base because Pettitte throws over to first so often. Aybar steals second, despite all the throws. Figgins pops to first.

TOP OF THE THIRD (Yankees 1, Angels 0)

Derek Jeter flies out to ball hog Torii Hunter. Damon grounds to second. Hey, Fox just made a ‘Weaver parents are separated’ joke to make you think they are divorcing, when in fact they are just away from each other while visiting their sons (Jeff is with the Dodgers). Yes, divorce jokes are always funny. Teixeira strikes out. Weaver has really settled done since the leadoff homer.

BOTTOM OF THE SECOND (Yankees 1, Angels 0)

Vladimir Guerrero singles to center. And you knew he’d get a hit, because there’s no one on base. He saves his outs for key situations. Juan Rivera grounds into a 6-4 force play. Rivera really hustler up the line and just beat the throw, avoiding the double play. Kendry Morales grounds into a 6-3 double play.

TOP OF THE SECOND (Yankees 1, Angels 0)

Hideki Matsui singles to right on a curveball. Jorge Posada walks. Joe Buck and Tim McCarver NEVER STOP TALKING. McCarver said that Posada is one of the greatest offensive catchers of this or any era. Agree or disagree? Cano hits a slow roller to short, forcing Posada at second. Runners on first and third, one out. Nick Swisher flies to shallow left. Too shallow for the runners to score. Jack Nicholson is at the game, and it looks like he is wearing a Yankees cap. Can his Lakers tickets be revoked? Melky Cabrera grounds to second and Weaver gets out of the jam.

BOTTOM OF THE FIRST (Yankees 1, Angels 0)

Chone Figgins, who seems to only have one hit in his last 100 at-bats, singles up the middle. Pettitte throws to first about 1,000 times, balking on half of them (though the ump doesn’t call it), then gets Bobby Abreu to pop to first. Torii Hunter is up. Pettitte has now thrown to first six times. And Hunter grounds into a 6-4-3 double play.

TOP OF THE FIRST (Yankees 1, Angels 0)

A lot of pressure on Jered Weaver, who looks better since he cut his hair. However, Derek Jeter homers on his third pitch, giving the Yankees a quick 1-0 lead. Then Wevaer makes Johnny Damon look foolish on a couple of breaking balls and strikes him out. Former Angel Mark Teixeira pops it to left-center, Torii Hunter makes the catch as Juan Rivera avoids bumping in to him at the last moment. Alex Rodriguez flies to right-center. Torii Hunter makes the catch. What a ball hog.

Pre-game analysis

The Angels are down 2-0, so a win here is basically a must. Jered Weaver is on the mound for the Angels, and he is up against Andy Pettitte, who has proven to be a big-game pitcher time and time again. The Angels need to get to him early.

If the Yankees score first and take the crowd out of the game, the Angels could be in for a long day.

Maybe the Angels should start showing the Rally Monkey in the first inning today. Anything that will work, they should try.

-- Houston Mitchell

You can follow Diane Pucin’s live commentary on how Fox is handling the coverage of Game 3 here.