After A Bad Day, Angels Win

When Terry Collins tendered his resignation as Anaheim's manager, he said he hoped the Angels would go out and beat the New York Yankees.

A few hours later, they did, an 8-2 romp Friday night to end a nine-game losing streak.

"It was a difficult situation," former bench coach and interim manager Joe Maddon said of replacing his former boss. "You're talking about somebody you really care about and suddenly he's not there."

Mo Vaughn, whose two-run homer highlighted Anaheim's five-run seventh, said, "If you have any type of heart, you should take responsibility as players."

The Angels had 15 hits and got good pitching against the Yankees, and Vaughn said, "I think everybody was just trying to move on."

Anaheim's Tim Belcher (6-8) pitched 5 1-3 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits, with six strikeouts and one walk.

"It was an emotional day," Belcher said. "It's unfortunate that the manager or the coach always has to take the fall."

"I know when the game started, everybody focused on the game; that's our profession."

The loss snapped a streak of 14 series in which the Yankees won the opening game, a franchise record.

"They always play us tough," said the Yankees' Derek Jeter, who had three hits. "In terms of their manager, I don't know how they were feeling, but they didn't play like anything was wrong with them."

Anaheim had 12 of its 15 hits against Andy Pettitte (12-10), the most he's given up this season. Garret Anderson, Todd Greene and Gary DiSarcina had three hits each for the Angels.

Pettitte, who allowed six runs in six-plus innings with five strikeouts and two walks, lost for only the second time in seven decisions since the July 31 trade deadline. His ERA during that span rose to 2.60.

"When I made some mistakes, they hurt me," Pettitte said. "There were a lot of balls that were right out of our reach, little grounders that were getting through the infield."

DiSarcina's two-run double and Tim Salmon's RBI single accounted for Anaheim's other runs in the seventh.

The Yankees closed to 3-2 in the fifth on Jorge Posada's solo homer with one out, his 12th. But New York, which lost for the third time in four games, left the bases loaded in the seventh when reliever Mark Petkovsek struck out Derek Jeter, who had hit safely his first three times up.

Anaheim took a 3-2 lead with a pair of runs in the third on an RBI single by Anderson and Greene's run-scoring double.

Tino Martinez gave New York the lead with a solo homer in the second inning, but Anaheim came back to tie it when Anderson led off with a single and eventually scored when Ben Molina grounded into a double play.

Collins, who less than two months ago was given a two-year contract extension, announced his resignation at a news conference four hours before the game.

Under Collins this season, the Angels had the majors' worst record, 51-82, and won just 10 of 47 games since the All-Star break.

New York's Darryl Strawberry, who went 0-for-2 against Oakland on Thursday in his first game back from colon cancer and a drug suspension, pinch-hit in the ninth and walked.

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