Williams rallies Yankees past Nationals

WASHINGTON -- It sounded like a home game for the Yankees much of the night, and chants of ``Ber-nie! Ber-nie!" rang throughout RFK Stadium in the ninth inning.

Bernie Williams hit a solo home run in the ninth for his fourth hit, extending a recent personal surge and putting New York ahead to stay in a 7-5 victory over the Washington Nationals last night.

Williams was taken aback by the rousing support on the road. ``It's a little weird. It's a testament to how many great Yankee fans we had coming down here. It was a great feeling."

The Yankees came back from a 5-3 deficit by tying the game with two runs in the eighth off reliever Gary Majewski, and adding two more in the ninth off Nationals closer Chad Cordero (2-2).

Williams hit the first pitch he saw from Cordero, a changeup, for his sixth homer of the season, and Johnny Damon later added a sacrifice fly for the final margin.

For Williams, his 4-for-5 night with a double makes him 9 for 15 with two homers and four doubles in his last four games. Not bad for a 37-year-old reserve playing regularly now because of injuries to Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui.

``He's been such a great player for the 11 years I have been here, especially in situations where you need something to happen," said manager Joe Torre, who served a one-game suspension last night.

Bench coach Lee Mazzilli ran the Yankees, and he was stunned by the crowd's prolonged celebration of Williams's big hit.

``I was telling the guys on the bench, `How many places do you go to a visiting ballpark and fans are asking him to come out?' It kind of gives you goose bumps," Mazzilli said.

It was only the third time in 20 tries the Yankees mounted a comeback for a victory after trailing at the end of seven innings.

``They kept coming," said Washington's Nick Johnson, who hit two doubles.

The rally made a winner of Mariano Rivera (4-3), who got the final five outs. He came into a game that was tied, 5-5, when Kyle Farnsworth left with back spasms after fielding a comebacker from the only batter he faced, Jose Vidro.

The Yankees have won three of four games; the Nationals have lost five in a row.

Those visiting New Yorkers brought out 44,749 fans, the largest crowd to see a game at RFK Stadium since major league baseball returned to the nation's capital last season.