From center field in Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, Torii Hunter saw catcher Jeff Mathis call for an 0-and-2 fastball to New York slugger Alex Rodriguez in the 11th inning, with the Angels trying to protect a 3-2 lead in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. Then he saw Mathis set up high and outside.
"I wanted to call timeout," Hunter said. "I saw it and thought, 'Nooooo!' Alex is one of the greatest players in the game. You know he's going to hit that pitch. There's a short porch in right field. . . . We threw two fastballs inside, and he didn't budge. Then we threw one away . . . that was weird."
The result wasn't -- not for those who have watched the Yankees' third baseman, who ranks eighth on baseball's all-time list with 583 home runs, pounce on such mistakes for the last 14 years.
Rodriguez lined the pitch from closer Brian Fuentes over the right-field wall for a tying home run, and the Yankees went on to win, 4-3, in 13 innings to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which resumes with Game 3 today at Angel Stadium.
Only three of the 20 teams that lost the first two games since the LCS was expanded to seven games in 1985 have come back to win the series: the 1985 Royals over the Blue Jays, the 1985 Cardinals over the Dodgers and the 2004 Red Sox over the Yankees.
The Yankees and Angels won't have to deal with harsh weather; clear skies and 70-degree temperatures are forecast after two games in New York were played in cold, windy, sometimes rainy weather.
"That sun is going to feel great," Hunter said. "Now, I can work on my tan again."
But the Angels, who held an optional workout Sunday after an overnight flight from New York, were still dealing with the fallout from a frustrating and sometimes ugly Game 2 loss.
Namely, will they get another clutch hit? Will Vladimir Guerrero ever make solid contact again? Can they play a crisp, error-free game, the way they did so often this season?
And the biggest question: What was Fuentes thinking, throwing such a fat 0-2 pitch to Rodriguez after the Angels had taken the lead on Chone Figgins' run-scoring single in the top of the 11th and with the less-than-immortal Freddy Guzman, Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano following Rodriguez in the Yankees lineup?
"Brian likes to elevate, and that's what he was looking to do," pitching coach Mike Butcher said. "Obviously, he didn't elevate it as much as he wanted to, but I'm not going to second-guess it."
