It was a game in which 280 pitches were thrown, but it was the very last one that decided it.

It was a game in which no pitcher was happy. In tonight’s game, Phil Hughes took the loss, and in postgame interviews put all the blame on his own shoulders, but the Yankees’ six-run uprising in the seventh inning was made necessary by A.J. Burnett’s dismal start out of the gate, and possible by Mike Scioscia yanking his protesting starter with two outs in the seventh only to see his bullpen melt down.

At first blush, it looks like Lackey was the one who was going to struggle. Derek Jeter, suffering from a cold but ever eager to play, singled on the first pitch of the game. Two pitches later, Johnny Damon pulled a ground ball to right for another base hit. But Lackey bore down, caught Teixeira looking, got A-Rod to pop up harmlessly, and then Matsui to ground weakly to first.

Then it was Burnett’s turn on the hill. He walked Chone Figgins on five pitches to start the game, then gave up four consecutive hits within the space of seven more pitches, and not a soft one in the bunch. That’s right, it took only 12 pitches for it to be 4-0 Angels. After that, Burnett got a fly ball and a double play to end the inning, and he settled down, allowing only three hits over the next five innings and striking out three, despite losing his personal catcher in the fifth to a pinch-hitting Jorge Posada. Unfortunately, Lackey got Posada looking for the sixth Yankee K of the night.

Lackey retired Nick Swisher, who has been struggling the whole postseason, on a pop fly to center to start the seventh, then gave up a double to Melky Cabrera. This time Posada worked a walk, ball four coming on a pitch Lackey (and Fox PitchTrax) thought was strike three on the inside corner. Rattled, he then walked Jeter on four straight, but got Damon to fly out.

That was when Scioscia brought out the hook. Lackey was vehement on the mound and reading the word “mine!” on his lips repeatedly was not difficult. But Scioscia took the ball anyway, and handed it to Darren Oliver.

Oliver is a lefty pitcher the Yankees have seen a lot in his lengthy career, since he used to be a starter for Texas, and also passed through Boston briefly. If memory serves, they used to pound him pretty good, leading to the expectation (or perhaps the hope) that pretty soon they would pound him again.

The pounding didn’t go on for long. Teixeira, who had been oh-for-the-postseason with runners in scoring position, doubled on Oliver’s very first pitch to bring in three runs. After an intention walk to A-Rod (c’mon, WHY would you pitch to this guy right now?), lefty Matsui brought Tex in and tied the game with a base hit, and that ended Oliver’s night. On came Kevin Jepsen, who then gave up a double to Robinson Cano, insuring that Oliver earned all three runs from the three batters he had faced, while Oliver allowed all three inherited runners to score–six runs in all.

But the Yankees gave one back right away when Burnett went back to the hill. After the long, long inning, Burnett thought he wasn’t stiff or tired. But he gave up a base hit to Mathis, then walked the number nine hitter, Erick Aybar. Mathis is the guy who hit the game-winner the other night, and he was now three-for-three on the night, prompting me to wonder why Mike Napoli has been in there at all. Probably Napoli is better against lefties in career numbers, and with Sabathia and Pettitte, slated to see more action. But Mathis has been hot. Burnett left the game having put the tying runs on base. He looked just as morose as Lackey as Damaso Marte faced Figgins. Figgins dropped down a tectbook bunt to move the runners up, and then Marte got a ground ball to first from Abreu, which brought in a run.

Out with Marte, who did get two outs but allowed an inherited runner to score, and in with Phil Hughes.

This was not the time to get bat shy, but Hughes faltered, admitting after the game he was “trying to be too fine.” It looked to me more like he just didn’t have control, and so a pitch he said was supposed to be “up and in” was right through the heart of the plate. He walked Torii Hunter, then threw that meatball to Vlad Guerrero, who laced it for the game-tying RBI. Then Kendry Morales did the same thing, making it 7-6 Angels. Hughes struck out Maicer Izturis to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Jered Weaver then pitched the eighth, one two three, including strikeouts of Posada and Jeter, so maybe he was happy, although it probably doesn’t feel great for a starter to come out of the bullpen like that. I’m sure since they won he was happy to contribute.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees went to Joba, who didn’t look that dominating either, giving up a leadoff double to Juan Rivera. He was the guy who finally retired Mathis, though, striking him out, but Erick Aybar got just enough of the bat on the ball to get it through the infield, and with men on the corners and one out, Girardi went to Mo.

Mo got a rare fly ball from Figgins (I thought surely if Scioscia was going to put on the squeeze, it would have been here, but he decided not to over-manage) into short right. Nick Swisher put on the biggest crow hop I’ve ever seen–more of a pterodactyl hop–and they had to send the runner back to third. Then a harmless fly to center from Abreu, and Mariano had done it again… except it wasn’t a save situation. The only way to make Mo happy would be to score some runs in the top of the ninth and then give him the ball to shut the door.

It almost happened. Almost. Brian Fuentes, the Angels’ closer, came on to get the final three outs. Johnny Damon pulled a laser shot but right into the glove of Morales at first. Teixeira flew out quickly. With two out and no one on, they elected to intentionally walk A-Rod (and Guzman ran for him). THen Fuentes unintentionally walked Matsui (and Gardner ran for him). Then he hit Robinson Cano on the second pitch of the at bat to load the bases.

Bringing up Nick Swisher. Swisher, who has been scuffling, striking out when he should be walking. Maybe even pressing. Swisher chopped a ball right to Figgins at third, who gloved it and stepped on the bag and it seemed like the game was over. But no! It was called foul and Swisher was giving a new lease on life. Could this be one of those magical moments any championship team needs to win? Another changeup, another foul. The count mounted. Soon it was 3-2. Now all it would take is a wild pitch, a hit batter, ball four, any of the above, to tie the game and give the Yankees a chance to bury the Angels for the year. But all it would take is one strike, or one out, to ensure they would live to see at least one more game. Fuentes had pitched horribly, but if he could make this one pitch, all would be erased.

On the seventh and final pitch of the at bat, Fuentes challenged him, a fastball in the middle of the plate, a four-seamer at 91 miles an hour. And Swisher popped it up to short to end the game.

He has homered in three straight postseason games.

He has now tied the record for consecutive postseason games with an RBI at eight. Sharing that record currently with Ryan Howard and Lou Gehrig.

He has 11 RBIs thus far this postseason and a combined ALDS/ALCS average of .407.

He is having the time of his life.

He is Alex Rodriguez, who has finally learned the Jeter knack of being a world beater, just going up there and relishing the chance to do something big.

Jeter is human. So are all the Yankees. Jeter himself got picked off first after a nice Jeterian hit into right to lead off the game. Oops. Jorge Posada forgot how many outs there were and ran off the field, leaving home plate unprotected with a man on third. Nick Swisher got picked off second, according to replays, although the umpire blew the call. The umpires are human, too. Tim McClelland, the veteran ump who called George Brett out for too much pine tar several decades ago, blew two calls at third base tonight, one for the Yankees (ruling only Posada out when both he and Cano had been tagged out) and one against them (Swisher for leaving the bag too early on a sac fly when he actually left right on time).

But right now Alex feels like Superman and the whole team is enjoying the ride on his cape.

One of the Yankees who was scuffling this October, Melky Cabrera, had a big game, going 3-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and four RBIs. He got himself going with a bunt base hit in the third, then had a two-RBI single in the third, walked and scored on Damon’s homer in the 8th, and capped off the night with a two-RBI double in the ninth.

It’s nice to see Johnny break out with homers on back to back days, as well. Earlier in the postseason he didn’t seem to have his good swing going, but he stayed in the game by taking some balls the other way into left. Now he seems to be heating up. Now if only Teixeira will follow suit. He had only one hit tonight, after striking out twice against Kazmir, but in the first inning, the second to last pitch of the at bat he pulled deep into the left field seats, just foul.

Right now the only two players I am still worrying about are Swisher, who still doesn’t seem to be seeing the ball that well, despite working a walk in the third, and Posada, who still seems a little preoccupied, although he had a nice night at the plate, including a double and two walks, and a stolen base. Yes, you read that right, a stolen base… which makes me wonder if he missed a sign (or if Matsui did). Matsui was the only Yankee in tonight’s lineup who did not join the party, never reaching base in any fashion and ending up with the hat trick. He saw the ball well off John Lackey in Game 1, though, so hopefully he will again Thursday night.

I have tickets for the games this weekend should it come to that, but honestly I hope they just wrap things up in Anaheim on Thursday. The last trip to the World Series, in 2003, feels like a long time ago. Time to write some new history books, isn’t it, guys?

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P.S. My full recap of tonight’s game will appear in the morning in the Baseball Early Bird newsletter. But it was an easy one to recap. Sabathia had it (8 IP, 1 solo homer, 5 Ks), and Kazmir didn’t (4+, 4 BB, 4 ER) and neither did anyone else in the La-La-Land bullpen, really, as the Yankees got at least one hit off each pitcher, and only Darren Oliver earned no runs. A-Rod and Damon hit homers, Melky had 4 RBIs, Jeter tallied two more hits, and what started out a tight game became a lopsided beating.

The Yankees rode their big horse all the way to the ninth inning, and then handed the ball to the best postseason reliever of all time, while the Angels handed them two gift runs that would be all the ballclub from the Bronx would need to go up 1-0 in the ALCS. The rain stayed away, and although it was a cold weather game, only the wind was really a factor.

Jeter got the scoring started in the first, with one of his patented Jeterian hits to right field. He moved to third when Johnny Damon went the other way to drop a single into left in front of former Yankee Juan Rivera. Mike Scoscia looked like he wanted to bust a vein when Rivera threw the ball in badly, allowing Damon to go to second. John Lackey bore down and got a harmless pop off the bat of Teixeira, but then came Alex Rodriguez.

With his resurgent play this postseason, corwin and I have taken to saying “Here comes that man again,” every time he comes to the plate. Because more often than not, he does something good. This time it was a sac fly to center, scoring Jeter and bringing Matsui to the plate. Matsui popped up, too, but the wind was whipping, perhaps leading to some confusion as the ball dropped untouched on the infield. Damon scored all the way from second to make it 2-0.

The Angels got a run in the fourth when Vlad Guerrero cracked a ball that should have landed in the bullpen, but the wind knocked it down so that it fell on the warning track for a double instead. (My brother texted me from the cheesesteak line at the Stadium to say he thought it was blowing at least 20 mph.) Kendry Morales brought him in with a base hit, but that would be the only run that CC Sabathia would allow. By the end of the night, the Halos tallied only four hits total, Vlad’s double the only extra base hit. CC walked only one and struck out six.

Overall, the heart of the Angels’ order was 2 for 11 on the night with one walk, with Torii Hunter almost beating out a throw to first that had Scoscia out of the dugout to argue. The ball was fielded in front of the mound by Sabathia, who fired to Teixeira, who only got the ball by virtue of a textbook split stretch, where only his tippy toe was touching the bag. Replays on FOX showed the tippy toe. (Tippy toe is a technical term, you know.)

Lackey was good, too, but not as good with his defense faltering behind him. Damon led off the fifth with a double, another hit to the opposite field, and then Matsui knocked him in. In the sixth, with two outs, Melky worked a walk, then moved to second on Lackey’s own throwing error when he threw a pickoff away. Jeter brought him in right away with an RBI hit that ended Lackey’s night. He threw 114 pitches in 5.2 innings, 4 runs, 2 earned, striking out three and walking three.

Meanwhile, CC’s pitch count was at only 80 pitches after six, 98 pitches after seven. The Yankees had a long inning in the seventh, mounting a faux rally as pitcher Scott Bulger walked two and hit a batter to load the bases, only to come back and strike out Nick Swisher. (Swisher has looked off throughout this postseason so far, in that he seems to be swinging at bad pitches–ones he would normally take.) All through the long inning, CC stayed on the bench, his hands in his jacket pockets, waiting to go back out for the 8th. He had a 1-2-3 eighth, ending the night with 115 pitches.

The only reason I would question why it might have been better to go to Hughes in the eighth is that the Yankees plan to pitch Sabathia in game 4 on three days rest, so why push him to his limit? But perhaps it was better to just make sure this one was in the bag.

Which was what Mo Rivera did in his 80th postseason appearance. It took him a batter to shake off the rust, walking Torii Hunter to lead off the inning, but the next three batters went down relatively easily, in yet another postseason save.

Now if only the rain will hold off for Saturday’s game, too, and hopefully the Yankees will have the same result.