ANGELS FIND A WAY 'LITTLE BALL' SPARKS COMEBACK VICTORY.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

NEW YORK - The irony of the Angels' 5-4 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday afternoon was not lost on anybody in the Angels clubhouse. Not when the little things mean so much.

Tim Salmon hit his Angels-record 224th career home run, which was the 194th of the season by the team, also a record. But what ultimately won the game before a Yankee Stadium crowd of 50,048 on Whitey Ford Day was what Angels manager Mike Scioscia likes to call ``little ball.''

A couple of well-timed stolen bases and a couple of seeing-eye singles gave the Angels the lead. The bullpen held it, with Shigetoshi Hasegawa getting Paul O'Neill on a liner to left for the final out with the potential tying run on second base.

Hasegawa has six saves in six opportunities this season, and is three for three since Troy Percival went to the disabled list.

The Angels left New York for Boston on Sunday night with a split in the four-game series.

``Today it was the way we won,'' Scioscia said. ``We manufactured runs, the bullpen held it. That's what's gratifying. The way we won the ballgame, the way we held the lead.''

It was the Yankees who held a lead in the early innings, as Yankees starter David Cone baffled the Angels hitters with his array of pitches and arm angles. He shut out the Angels on two hits through six innings, but grew tired, having made 96 pitches.

Yankees manager Joe Torre turned to his bullpen to preserve the 3-0 lead his team built against Angels starter Matt Wise. The Angels immediately took advantage as Salmon followed a walk to Mo Vaughn with a two-run homer off Mike Stanton to cut the Yankees' lead to 3-2 in the seventh.

Salmon was happy to see Cone leave the game.

``It's like playing whiffle ball,'' he said. ``You feel he's one step ahead of you because he's got so many pitches and so many arm angles.''

One out later, Torre brought in reliever Jeff Nelson to face Troy Glaus, who walked, and then stole second without a throw. After Bengie Molina struck out for the second out of the inning, Adam Kennedy cued one inside third and into shallow left field for an RBI single that tied the game at 3.

Torre again went to his bullpen, this time for left-hander Randy Choate to face switch-hitter Kevin Stocker. Choate, though, didn't pay enough attention to Kennedy, who got such a good jump he also stole second without a throw.

Then Stocker, down in the count, 0-2, blooped one into right field for an RBI single and a 4-3 Angels lead.

``We're aggressive running the bases,'' Scioscia said. ``Sometimes you can steal some bags. We stole some bags today that helped us win.''

``A.K. (Kennedy) hits the flare, Stocker gets the jam job, you needs those,'' Salmon said. ``It's a testament to our guys' ability to battle.''

Wise (2-1) stuck around long enough to earn the victory, his second in a row. He threw six innings and allowed three runs and six hits, a linescore similar to his first two starts.

``Every start he's had has been almost cloned,'' Scioscia said. ``You can't ask for anything else. He threw strikes, he doesn't scare off and he made pitches.''

Wise focused on staying composed, not easy to do for young players new to Yankee Stadium. ``It was a lot of fun today,'' Wise said. ``My dad (Larry) flew out, and it was probably more fun for him. He might have had a heart attack, though, I'll have to make sure he's all right.''

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Photo: Reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa's sixth save in six chances secured the Angels' win.

Jeff Zelevanski/Associated Press