Winged victory

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Four score and eight years ago, the Chicago White Sox last won a World Series. Five years ago, the New York Yankees won the Subway Series against the Mets and haven't won since. We don't need to tell you which seems like an eternity to George Michael Steinbrenner III.

A year after the Red Sox made a pinata out of pinstriped invincibility with the greatest comeback in postseason history, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim tipped the Yankees over the fault line of failure again last night, beating them, 5-3, in the deciding game of their American League Division Series in Angels Stadium.

The Angels, three years removed from winning their own set of Series rings, rebounded from being swept in the first round by the Red Sox last season and will meet the White Sox in the American League Championship Series beginning tonight in Chicago.

''I'm just terribly disappointed," said a haggard Joe Torre, the Yankee manager whose team recovered from a horrid start to overtake the Red Sox and win the AL East title on the last weekend of the regular season, only to succumb to the Angels, who bounced New York from the Division Series on their way to the World Series three years ago.

''I don't think I've ever been as disappointed. Not in the final score, but it's this ball club. They put all their egos aside and played their butts off. I'm more disapppointed this year than last year. I just felt these guys would find a way to get it done."

Do you believe in magic? Ervin Santana, in the most dramatic relief effort by a rookie of the same name since Earvin ''Magic" Johnson played center in place of an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the Lakers in the NBA Finals a quarter-century ago, rescued the Angels after 21-game winner Bartolo Colon was forced by a sore shoulder to leave while working on the first batter of the second inning.

The 22-year-old Santana, who began the season in Double A, overcame some early nerves -- he walked the first two batters he faced, and gave up two runs -- to hold the Yankees without another run until Derek Jeter homered to open the seventh.

Santana is paid the major league minimum, $316,000, or more than 100 times less than the roughly $35 million Steinbrenner shelled out this summer to Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson, the two aces who demonstrated anew that the Boss's $200 million payroll may be fool's gold.

Mussina, who won Game 1 and remained back on the Left Coast when the series shifted to New York, was the most rested of all participants. But five hours on an airplane probably would have been less exhausting than what Mussina was subjected to by the Angels, who knocked him out after a yield of five runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings.

Spotted the 2-0 lead but perhaps affected by the long wait while Colon came out, Mussina gave up a home run to Garret Anderson to open the second, then was hurt by overzealous right fielder Gary Sheffield, who collided with center fielder Bubba Crosby just when Crosby appeared set to catch Adam Kennedy's drive to deep right-center. The ball caromed off Sheffield and rolled around for a triple as two runs scored, Bengie Molina having reached on a single and Steve Finley on a two-out walk.

''The ball got there at right about impact," said Crosby. ''I don't know whose glove it ricocheted off.

''I asked Sheff, he said he felt that right at the last second he was going to catch it. I thought at the last second I was going to catch it. Halfway there, I didn't know if I was going to catch it or not. It all happened so fast."

Mussina struck out Chone Figgins to end the second, but Orlando Cabrera opened the third with a base hit through the left side. Vladi Guerrero blooped a single to right, sending Cabrera to third, and Cabrera scored on Anderson's sacrifice fly to make it 4-2. Another blooper by Molina sent Guerrero to third, and he scored when Jason Giambi's throw to the plate on Darin Erstad's tapper to first was late.

''I felt good, I was throwing the ball where I wanted to," Mussina said. ''You give up a solo home run, that's going to happen. But it's the balls fisted to right, and the inside-out swings, the balls that drop in, all the small stuff. It's the small stuff that wins the game a lot of times in the postseason, not the three-run home run."

Hideki Matsui reached into the stands to catch Juan Rivera's long foul fly to left, but that would be all for Mussina, who gave way to Johnson. The Big Unit held the Angels scoreless for 4 1/3 innings, pitching out of a second-and-third, one-out jam in the sixth that ended with Cabrera rolling out with the bases loaded.

Santana may have had his finest moment in the fifth, which began when he hit Alex Rodriguez with a pitch and Giambi grounded a single to right, A-Rod stopping at second.

Santana retired Sheffield on a fly to left, induced Matsui to pop to first, and struck out Robinson Cano, who appeared to get a temporary reprieve when the third strike rolled away from Molina and the catcher's throw to first struck the runner. But plate umpire Joe West called Cano out for running inside the baseline.

A-Rod, who had a miserable series (2 for 15, no RBIs), was the last batter Santana faced, and he grounded to short. Santana left to a standing ovation and was replaced by Kelvim Escobar, who promptly gave up a double to Giambi. But Sheffield flied to right and Matsui fouled to Molina.

Jeter led off the ninth with a single off closer Francisco Rodriguez, but K-Rod got the better of A-Rod, who grounded into a double play. Giambi kept Yankee hopes alive by lining a single over the overshifted infield, and Mark Bellhorn entered as a pinch runner.

The Yankees put the tying run on when Sheffield reached on a high chopper to third. To the plate came Matsui, who already had stranded six runners. He fouled off the first two pitches before skidding a ground ball to Erstad's right. The first baseman made a diving stop, then flipped the ball to Rodriguez.

''We're not going to hang our heads," Alex Rodriguez said. ''It's disappointing, because we knew what we were capable of, I know what I was capable of doing to help the team, like I did all year. I didn't get it done, and I'm going to have to look in the mirror."