Angels vs. Yankees ALCS Game 4 live in-game updates

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FINAL SCORE: Yankees 10, Angels 1

Yankees find a way to eliminate controversy and second-guessing of Joe Girardi’s strategic moves: hammer Angels pitching for 13 hits and 10 runs. Now the Angels find themselves in the same leaky boat as the Dodgers: down in the LCS, three games to one. Dreams of a Freeway Series might not make it out of Game 5.

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH INNING (Yankees 10, Angels 1)

Chad Gaudin now pitching for the Yankees. Television camera scans the Angels dugout. Gloom City. Guerrero flies to right. Rivera flies to center. Gary Matthews, batting for Kendrick, grounds to second.

TOP OF THE NINTH INNING (Yankees 10, Angels 1)

Rodriguez doubles to left-center. In five plate appearances, Rodriguez has homered, singled, doubled and walked. He now has five home runs and 11 RBI this postseason. Has he done enough to quiet his Can’t-Do-It-In-October critics? Posada flies to right. Rodriguez tags, reaches third, and when Abreu’s wild throw skitters past Figgins, Rodriguez scores. Matsui, the only Yankee not to reach base tonight, makes it 0-for-5 with his third strikeout. Cano walks. Gardner singles to center, Cano stopping at second. Cabrera doubles into the right-field corner, Cano and Gardner scoring. Jeter grounds to third.

BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH INNING (Yankees 7, Angels 1)

Figgins grounds to short. A leadoff dynamo who scored 114 runs during the regular season, Figgins is only 2-for-28 with one run during this postseason. Abreu strikes out. On Sabathia’s 101st pitch of the night, Hunter grounds to short. The Angels are one inning away from joining the Dodgers -- down 3-1 in the league championship series.

TOP OF THE EIGHTH INNING (Yankees 7, Angels 1)

Swisher is hit in the foot by a pitch. Brett Gardner runs for Swisher. With Cabrera at bat, Gardner is caught stealing. Cabrera walks. Matt Palmer replaces Santana as the Angels pitcher. Jeter hits a high infield chopper that Aybar grabs with his bare hand and fires to first for the out. Cabrera takes second on the play. Damon hits a two-run home run to right field. Buck calls it a 400-foot home run. Teixeira pops to second.

BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH INNING (Yankees 5, Angels 1)

Graphic shows that Sabathia is a diehard Oakland Raiders and Golden State Warriors fan. So that’s it: He takes out his frustration against American League hitters. Right away, he strikes out Morales and Napoli. Aybar grounds to first. A 1-2-3 inning for Sabathia, who has thrown 92 pitches.

TOP OF THE SEVENTH INNING (Yankees 5, Angels 1)

Posada strikes out. This is news. For the first time tonight, the Yankees leadoff hitter doesn’t reach base. Matsui grounds to second. Cano strikes out. Another good inning for Santana.

BOTTOM OF THE SIXTH INNING (Yankees 5, Angels 1)

Hunter walks on a full-count pitch. Guerrero singles to right, Hunter moving to second. Rivera grounds into a 6-3 double play, Hunter taking third. Kendrick lines to first. Angels waste a two-men-on, none-out opportunity.

TOP OF THE SIXTH INNING (Yankees 5, Angels 1)

Ervin Santana now pitching for the Angels. New pitcher, same result. Jeter singles to center. Six innings, six Yankees leadoff hitters reach base. Damon grounds to first, Jeter taking second. Teixeira grounds to second, Jeter moving to third. Rodriguez strikes out on a full-count pitch. That’s his first out in four at-bats.

BOTTOM OF THE FIFTH INNING (Yankees 5, Angels 1)

Kendrick grounds to second. Morales homers to center field. That breaks a streak of 10 consecutive Angels retired by Sabathia. A very sullen home crowd finally has something to cheer about. Napoli singles down the third base line. Aybar, after fouling off four pitches, singles to center, Napoli stopping at second. Figgins forces Aybar at second, Napoli moving to third. Abreu flies to center.

TOP OF THE FIFTH INNING (Yankees 5, Angels 0)

Teixeira hits a sharp single to left. For the fifth time in five innings, the Yankees put the leadoff hitter on base. That`s it for Kazmir. Television camera catches a frustrated Kazmir trudging up the ramp to the clubhouse and throwing his glove to the ground. Jason Bulger replaces Kazmir and immediately yields a home run to left field to Rodriguez. Two-run homer, Yankees lead, 5-0. Posada walks. Bulger is on a quick hook. Two batters, and he’s done. He is replaced by Darren Oliver. As Matsui strikes out, Posada steals second. Cano hits a deep fly to center; it’s going to hit the fence but Hunter decoys that he is going to catch it. Posada straddles second base, waiting to tag. Sure enough, the ball hits the fence, and Posada can only move to third on a double by Cano. Swisher taps back to Oliver, who throws to Napoli, who runs Posada back to third base, which will soon be occupied by Cano. Napoli tags both runners, both runners appear to be off the base, but McClelland rules Cano safe at third. Angels come up on the short end of that decision. In the end, it doesn’t hurt them as Cabrera ends the inning by forcing Swisher at second.

BOTTOM OF THE FOURTH INNING (Yankees 3, Angels 0)

The Angels caught a big break on the Swisher-out call; can they take advantage? The quick answer is no. Hunter strikes out. Guerrero and Rivera ground to third. Sabathia has retired the last eight batters he’s faced, thrown a total of 38 pitches so far. What’s that about pitching on only three days’ rest?

TOP OF THE FOURTH INNING (Yankees 3, Angels 0)

Rodriguez singles to center. For the fourth time in as many innings, the Yankees get the leadoff hitter on base. Posada doubles down the right-field line, Rodriguez moving to third. Matsui strikes out. Cano hits a grounder to second, Rodriguez breaks for home, Angels second baseman Kendrick throws home, but his throw is high and Rodriguez is safe with a slide. Yankees lead, 1-0. Cano is safe at first on the fielder’s choice, Posada moving to third. Swisher walks to load the bases. Cabrera singles through the left side of the infield, Posada and Cano scoring, Cano just ahead of the tag. Kazmir tries to pick off Swisher at second. Aybar takes the throw and makes the tag, but the second base umpire rules Swisher safe. Angels don’t protest, but replays show Swisher was out. Jeter walks to load the bases. Damon flies to center, Swisher tagging and scoring -- except third base umpire Tim McClelland rules that Swisher left the base too soon and is out. Replays show Swisher did not leave too soon. Age-old baseball axiom: The breaks even out in the end.

BOTTOM OF THE THIRD INNING (Angels 0, Yankees 0)

Erick Aybar is tagged out by Teixeira on a bunt attempt. Figgins hits a comebacker to Sabathia. McCarver says `’Sabathia looks so comfortable. He looks like he could pitch 20 innings.’ At this pace, he might have to. Abreu strikes out.

TOP OF THE THIRD INNING (Angels 0, Yankees 0)

Melky Cabrera lays down a perfect first-pitch bunt; there is no throw and Cabrera is safe on an infield single. Jeter flies deep to right. Damon forces Cabrera at second. Teixeira steps up to the plate. Kazmir falls behind, 2-0; Kazmir has already thrown 50 pitches. At 2-2, Kazmir uncorks a wild pitch, Damon moving to second. Teixeira strikes out on a full-count pitch.

BOTTOM OF THE SECOND INNING (Angels 0, Yankees 0)

Juan Rivera hits a high chopper to short and barely beats the throw for an infield single. Howie Kendrick grounds to first, Rivera advancing to second. Kendry Morales lines to right. Mike Napoli grounds to short.

TOP OF THE SECOND INNING (Angels 0, Yankees 0)

Alex Rodriguez, taking a .125 career batting average against Kazmir to the plate, walks. For the second inning in a row, Kazmir allows the leadoff hitter to reach base. With Jorge Posada at bat, Rodriguez steals second. Posada walks. That prompts Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher to walk, to the mound, to discuss things with Kazmir. Kazmir falls behind Hideki Matsui, 2-0, and Fox commentator Joe Buck says he doesn’t like Kazmir`s ‘body language, his pace.’ You have to agree with him. If Kazmir continues at this pace, walking every Yankees hitter, this game will never end. Finally, Matsui gets a pitch to hit and pops it to short. Robinson Cano also pops to short. After fouling a pitch back, Nick Swisher is shown smelling his bat. Why? Is the wood really burning? Fox analyst Tim McCarver says ‘Some batters do that. I don’t know why.’ That’s worth a headline: Tim McCarver does not know everything. Swisher flies to right.

BOTTOM OF THE FIRST INNING (Angels 0, Yankees 0)

Chone Figgins lines to short. Bobby Abreu walks on four pitches. Torii Hunter flies to right. Vladimir Guerrero grounds to third.

TOP OF THE FIRST INNING (Angels 0, Yankees 0)

Derek Jeter leads off against Scott Kasmir with an opposite-field single to right. Jeter attempts to steal second, Kazmir guesses right and throws to first to begin a rundown that eventually retires Jeter. Johnny Damon hits a broken-bat grounder to first. Mark Teixeira hits two long flies that slice foul. He makes Kazmir work, the Angels pitcher throwing nine pitches before striking out Teixeira.

-- Mike Penner

PRE-GAME

Game 4 between the Angels and Yankees. CC Sabathia vs Scott Kazmir. Some view it as a must win for the Angels. Either way, they are going to have to beat Sabathia at least once in this series to advance.

Will both the local teams fall behind 3-1 in their respective series? Are visions of a Freeway Series slowly evaporating?

Mike Penner will have his live in-game coverage here later.

You can follow Diane Pucin’s live commentary on how Fox is handling the telecast here.