ANGELS REACH HIGHER GROUND LACKEY'S ENCOURAGING EFFORT IN N.Y. HELPS BOOST L.A. TO SEASON'S APEX ANGELS 3, N.Y. YANKEES 1.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

NEW YORK - This time, John Lackey left the game with the lead and his dignity intact.

A 5 1/3-inning, seven-hit, three-walk effort isn't the sort of outing many pitchers get excited about. But Lackey, the Angels' enigmatic starter, stared down his demons along with a steady parade of New York Yankees All-Stars and emerged with his second victory.

Lackey recorded strikeouts of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada in tight spots and handed a lead to a bullpen that made it stand up, and the Angels got out of town with a 3-1 victory Thursday night and two wins in three games here.

The Angels (13-9) moved four games above .500 for the first time this season and improved to 25-19 since 1996 at Yankee Stadium.

But winning here these days hardly is a Herculean feat. The Yankees (9-13) fell to 6-8 at home, and are a half-game ahead of Tampa Bay for fourth place in the American League East.

Jake Woods, Brendan Donnelly, Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez retired 11 of the 13 batters they faced, with Rodriguez striking out two for his fifth save.

Although Lackey (2-1) was far from dominant, the Angels will gladly accept this outing, because when the towering Texan tries to do too much, he tends to get in trouble.

On Thursday, when things got hot, he stayed within himself and the results reflected that.

``Your instinct is to work harder, to try harder,'' Lackey said. ``Sometimes, that's not the answer. When I got into tough spots I didn't try to go hard. I tried to go to off-speed pitches and maybe it caught them off balance a bit.''

Lackey still struggled with pitch efficiency. He needed 111 pitches to record 16 outs and still has not completed six innings this season.

But Thursday's effort was a contrast to three of his first four starts, when he coughed up five of six leads he had been given. His ERA was 6.64 entering Thursday.

Lackey found trouble immediately, giving up a leadoff walk to Jeter and singles to Tony Womack and Gary Sheffield. But he picked Jeter off first and got help from a stiff breeze that knocked down Hideki Matsui's flyball just shy of the wall in the right-field corner.

``The wind definitely helped me out there,'' he admitted.

Up next was Rodriguez, who had nine hits in his previous 15 at-bats and four homers in nine at-bats. But Lackey froze Rodriguez with a fastball on the outside corner, and the threat was over.

Next inning, same scenario. Two-out walks to Tino Martinez and No. 9 hitter Bubba Crosby brought up Jeter, but Lackey threw a slider Jeter waved at for the final out.

Run-scoring singles by Vladimir Guerrero and Darin Erstad helped the Angels to a 3-0 lead, trimmed to 3-1 on Matsui's double in the fifth. Lackey expended 85 pitches through five innings, then gave up a leadoff single to Jason Giambi in the sixth.

Up came Posada, who worked a full count. But on his final pitch of the night, Lackey threw a changeup low and away that Posada missed. Manager Mike Scioscia sensed the chance to get Lackey out on a positive note.

``It was probably the biggest pitch I threw,'' Lackey said. ``It's nice to have the confidence to go to that pitch in a tough spot.''

Scioscia said it's nice to have his No. 4 starter avoid bouts of frustration in such spots.

``John's trying to focus on the next pitch,'' he said, ``executing the next pitch, not thinking down the road or on what happened before. That's the tool he needs. He was under some pressure tonight and he made some great pitches.''

Rodriguez finished off the night with strikeouts of Jeter and Womack, though the Angels closer's nasty stuff and the Yankees' startling early-season struggles lent an air of inevitability to the ninth inning.

``I love to pitch here,'' Rodriguez said. ``It doesn't make you tougher, but it makes you pumped up. You want to shut the fans' mouths. But sometimes, you're professional, you come in and do your job, and that's it.''

Sounds easy enough, easier than Lackey made it look. Then again, it was hard to argue with the results.

``I'll take one run against that lineup,'' Lackey said.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 4 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Angels' Dallas McPherson, right, is tagged out by the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez trying to reach third base Thursday.

(2) Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez reacts after striking out two of the three batters he faced to record his fifth save of the season Thursday.

Ed Betz/Associated Press

(3) McPHERSON

Box:

(1) ANGELS at MINNESOTA

- Gabe Lacques

(2) GAME RECAP

(3) HOW THE RUNS SCORED

(4) ALMANAC