Captain goes deep on Jackie's night

Captain goes deep on Jackie's night

Andrew Savulich/ New York Daily News

Derek Jeter watches his 3-run home run sail out of Yankees Stadium in the 4th inning.

YANKEES 11, LA ANGELS 5

The series finale of Yankees- Angels ended lopsidedly in an 11-5 Yanks victory and played for most of Sunday night like it came straigh t out of a script by Bronx Bomber Productions.

The Yanks offense broke out of its latest funk with runners in scoring position and got impressive homers from Derek Jeter and Raul Ibanez. Ivan Nova appeared poised to continue his remarkable winning streak, all on Jackie Robinson Day with new Jet phenomenon Tim Tebow and Miami Heat star Dwayne Wade watching from the stands. The only thing missing was Mariano Rivera, the one active player grandfathered in to still wear Robinsons No. 42 on his jersey.

Luckily for the Yanks, they didnt need their closer, though it seemed inevitable as they slowly let the Angels back into the game after building an early seven-run lead and a mellow evening at the Stadium developed late, though ultimately fleeting, tension.

The Angels put the tying run on base in the seventh inning when Rafael Soriano lost control of the inning and got yanked with the bases loaded and was booed. David Robertson got the final o ut of the inning, helping to preserve a win that gave the Yanks the series in front of 41,055.

Still, it wasnt pretty. While Nova won his 14th consecutive regular season decision, tying him with Whitey Ford and Steve Sundra for the second-longest by a Yankee since 1920, he was shaky.

Nova (2-0) gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings, striking out eight and walking two. He could not handle the bottom third of the Angels order - Mark Trumbo, Maicer Izturis and Chris Iannetta, who combined to go 5-for-7 against him with two homers, two doubles, four RBI and both walks.

The Yankees built an 8-1 lead after four innings thanks to some key hits by previously-dormant members of their attack and a three-run blast by Jeter, who has been their best hitter this young season.

The Yankees had mostly struggled hitting with runners in scoring position through their first eight games. Entering last nights game, they were hitting .2 00 in such situations, 23rd in the majors, enough to make any Yankee fan wince, especially if they recalled last Octobers RISP drought in the playoffs against the Tigers.

Nonetheless, Joe Girardi and the rest of the Yanks preached patience, citing the long season, a small sample size and swaggering talent on the roster.

And on Sunday night, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Jeter served a reminder that the Yanks probably wont rank among baseballs worst in any offensive category for long.

That trio had started the season a collective 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position. A-Rod (RBI single) and Teixeira (RBI double) had important blows in a four-run third inning to knock out Angels starter Jerome Williams and Jeter jacked his second homer of the season, an opposite-field shot off reliever Hisanori Takahashi, the ex-Met, in the fourth.

After the Angels sliced into their big lead, the Yankees tacked on a run in the seventh on an RBI single by Nick Swisher, who earlier had a sac fly. Swisher leads the Yankees with 11 RBI.

Ibanez followed with a mammoth two-run homer into the suite-level deck in right field, just under the uppermost level. The shot came off another ex-Met, Jason Isringhausen. It was Ibanezs second homer of the season and it capped a 2-for-4 night that also included an RBI single in the second.

Robertson, who threw 1.1 scoreless innings before giving way to Boone Logan for the final frame, got the dangerous Trumbo to fly to right to end the seventh, ending the Angels last best chance.