ANGELS ARE O SO GOOD CABRERA'S DOUBLE IS DIFFERENCE; SERIES TIED.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - Orlando Cabrera is both substance and style, is as quick with his wit as he is with his bat, and Wednesday night in a game the Angels had to have, gave the New York Yankees a little reminder of their biggest playoff collapse ever.

Cabrera's two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh snapped a tie and gave the Angels a 4-2 lead in Game 2 of the American League Division Series in front of 45,150 at Angel Stadium. Bengie Molina's solo homer in the eighth upped the Angels' lead to 5-2, giving Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez some breathing room in the ninth.

Rodriguez gave up a towering home run to Jorge Posada but got the final three outs to save the Angels' 5-3 victory, tying the best-of-five series at one game apiece. Game 3 is scheduled for Friday at Yankee Stadium.

Angels starter John Lackey gave up two runs and five hits in 5 2/3 innings and got the usual boost from the bullpen. Scot Shields got a big out to end the sixth, and Kelvim Escobar threw two scoreless innings to get the victory and set up the ninth for Rodriguez, who earned his first post-season save.

The Angels made the most of their seven hits, including a solo homer by Juan Rivera that got the Angels on the scoreboard in the fifth inning.

Cabrera hit .379 for the Red Sox in last season's American League Championship Series, a big part of Boston's comeback from an 0-3 deficit on their way to the World Series title.

Cabrera, a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop who owns his own clothing line and is part-owner of a professional team in his native Columbia, had been quiet in this series, going 1 for 7 before his critical at-bat in the seventh inning Wednesday.

The inning began when Rivera hit a high bouncer to shortstop Derek Jeter. Rivera stumbled coming out of the batter's box, then dived head-first into the first-base bag to beat the throw for an infield single.

Steve Finley sacrificed pinch-runner Jeff DaVanon to second, and when pitcher Chien-Ming Wang's throw to first was wide, Finley was safe as well. Adam Kennedy moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, but Wang got Chone Figgins on a pop to shallow center.

Up stepped Cabrera, who lined Wang's first pitch, a 95-mph fastball up in the strike zone, to center field to score the go-ahead runs.

The Angels trailed 2-1 entering the bottom of the sixth when Yankees starter Wang got yet another ground ball. Of the 15 outs through five innings, 11 came on groundballs. But Cabrera's chopper to third leading off the sixth was different. The ball tipped off the end of third baseman Alex Rodriguez's glove for an error, and the Angels cashed in on it when Molina singled to center with two outs, driving in Cabrera from second and tying the game at 2.

The Yankees held a 1-0 lead going into the fifth inning and got a rally started with Rodriguez's one-out walk. Lackey got ahead in the count to Jason Giambi, 0-2, before Giambi ripped a line drive to right-center.

Center fielder Finley was able to cut off the ball before it got to the wall and quickly fired it to the cutoff man Cabrera, holding Rodriguez at third. But second baseman Kennedy was backing up Cabrera on the play instead of covering second base, and a lumbering Giambi reached second without a play.

Gary Sheffield followed with a chopper to third baseman Figgins, who got the out at first as Rodriguez scored to make it 2-0. Figgins saved a run when he dived and snared Hideki Matsui's sharp grounder that appeared headed down the left-field line. Figgins' throw to first was in the dirt, but first baseman Darin Erstad dug it out to end the inning.

The Angels cut their deficit in half at 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth on Rivera's leadoff homer, the Angels' second of the post-season.

In the sixth, Bernie Williams doubled with one out off Lackey and went to third when Jorge Posada grounded out to first on a nice play by Erstad. Lackey thought he was out of the inning when on 0-2 fastball appeared to clip the inside corner with Tino Martinez at the plate, but it was called ball-one. Martinez eventually walked and Lackey was given the hook in favor of Shields.

Shields, who made 24 pitches while throwing two scoreless innings in Game 1, needed two pitches to retire Derek Jeter on a force play and get out of the inning.

Robinson Cano, whose three-run double sparked the Yankees to their Game 1 victory, got the Yankees started again Wednesday in Game 2. Lackey had retired the first four Yankees he faced before Matsui doubled with one out in the second inning.

Cano, like he did Tuesday, went the other way with a line-drive double down the left-field line, scoring Matsui for a 1-0 lead.

In the early innings, Wang was on his game. Each of the first nine Angels batters hit ground balls, two of them finding a hole and going into the outfield for singles. Thanks to an error by Cano in the second inning, which followed Erstad's single to center, the Angels had a mild scoring threat with runners on first and second and two outs.

But the inning ended as soon as Finley bounced into a 4-6 fielder's choice. Cabrera's popout to shallow right field to end the third marked the first time any Angels hitter hit the ball out of the infield on the fly.

Joe Haakenson, [phone]

joe.haakenson(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Angels' Bengie Molina singles against Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang, scoring Orlando Cabrera in the sixth inning.

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

(2) The Yankees' Jason Giambi breaks his bat while hitting a pitch from Angels starter John Lackey in the first inning of Wednesday's game.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Box:

(1) STORY LINES

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES, BEST-OF-5; SERIES TIED 1-1