After tying the game in the sixth inning, the Angels got runs in the eighth and ninth innings and held off a New York rally in the final frame. With Derek Jeter on first representing the tying run, Percival struck out Bernie Williams to give Anaheim its first win in three games at Yankee Stadium.

Ted Lilly was not at his best but pitched out of bases-loaded jams in the first and fourth innings to keep the Angels off the scoreboard through the first five innings. After loading the bases in the first with no outs, Lilly got the next three hitters in order to escape the inning unharmed, something that Yankees Manager Joe Torre thinks will help the youngster in the long run.

"The experience is going to be a real plus for him, the first inning especially. Bases loaded, no one out and he gets through the middle of that batting order and gets out of it," Torre said. "He was good. He threw a lot of pitches early, but he was able to battle himself out of jams. That's another step forward for him. I thought overall, he pitched very well."

With a 2-0 lead, Torre left Lilly in the game to start the sixth in order to force Scott Spiezio to bat right-handed against the southpaw. Lilly's first pitch hit Spiezio in the helmet, prompting home-plate umpire Eric Cooper to warn both benches. Anaheim starter Ramon Ortiz had hit Jeter in the left hand with a pitch in the fifth inning, creating speculation that Lilly's pitch was thrown in retaliation.

Torre, who said he was planning on removing Lilly after Spiezio's at-bat regardless of the outcome, brought in Ramiro Mendoza. While Torre made the pitching change, Angels Manager Mike Scoscia came out of his dugout to discuss the play with Cooper.

"I wanted to know what he thought the intent was," Scoscia said. "There's times to issue warnings, but if the umpire thought he was throwing directly at a hitter, he should be ejected."

"It would have been his last batter either way," Torre said. "What did he want, to throw him out of the game? I took him out anyway, so if that's what he wanted, he got it.

"Because someone gets hit in the head, doesn't mean it's on purpose," Torre added. "When you pitch in off the plate, you have to throw it from the belt up, because down and in, they'll kill you. If we could throw the ball where we wanted to, we wouldn't see any of these 10-9 games."

Lilly denied going after Spiezio, saying that the pitch just got away from him.

"I was trying to throw that ball inside and I got underneath it. Putting a guy on to start the inning wasn't what I wanted to do," Lilly said. "I'm not just going out there to drill guys because Jeter got hit. As pitchers, we don't want to put people on base or have accidents happen and guys get hurt."

The hit batsman ended up costing the Yankees, as Mendoza gave up Tim Salmon's second double of the game, putting runners at second and third with no outs. After sacrifice flies by Benji Gil and Adam Kennedy each plated a run, the game was tied 2-2 and Lilly was stuck with another no-decision, his 11th in 18 starts.

"I really didn't make that many pitches. I wasn't very consistent, so I'm not happy with that," said Lilly, who was charged with one run on four hits and four walks. "I'm not happy to contribute five innings to the club today. I get four days of rest, and I feel I should be able to go deeper into games. I got into some jams and made the pitches when I had to make them."

Though Ortiz had given up two runs in the third on RBI hits by Jeter and Williams, he settled in to shut the Yankees down through the next four innings. The Yankees' best scoring chance came in the sixth, when Tino Martinez led off with a double but was stranded on third base when Enrique Wilson grounded out to shortstop. Ortiz went seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and one walk. He struck out six as he upped his record to 10-7.

The Angels took a 3-2 lead in the eighth, getting a big two-out double from Bengie Molina to score Spiezio, who had led off with a single.

Anaheim added an important insurance run in the ninth against Jay Witasick, who walked leadoff man David Eckstein to start the inning. After Darin Erstad singled to put runners at first and second, Troy Glaus hit a grounder to third base, which Wilson gunned to Soriano at second to force Erstad out. But Soriano, trying to complete the double play at first, threw the ball away to allow Eckstein to score to increase the lead to 4-2.

"He shouldn't have tried to throw to first base. He had no chance, but he's learning a position," Torre said of Soriano. "The leadoff walk will haunt you most times. They score about 85 percent of the time, and that's a killer, especially when you have Percival to deal with in the ninth inning. That hurt us more than anything."

Percival, who was trying for his 200th career save, had gotten the final out of the eighth inning. After quickly retiring the first two batters in the ninth, Chuck Knoblauch doubled to bring the tying run to the plate. Jeter singled to cut the lead to 4-3, but Percival blew Williams away with his fastball, preserving the win for the Angels.

"I do this with anybody that's at the plate. I challenge everybody. I'm trying to put it where I don't think they're looking for it," said Percival, who got his 29th save. "That last at-bat was drawing everything that I had. You've got the tying run on base, and Bernie, who can go deep at any time. It's pretty exciting."

After two come-from-behind wins in two days against Anaheim, some in the New York clubhouse said they were expecting another Bronx miracle.

"Any time you've done something in the past, you feel as though you can do it again," Jeter said. "We had an opportunity in the ninth inning, but Percival's a great closer and he got Bernie."

"Every time the middle of your order gets up there, you expect something good to happen. Today was no different," Torre said. "We had some opportunities that we didn't cash in. We got good pitching overall, but we let one get away."

Mendoza took the loss, falling to 7-3.

Jeter, who remained in the game after being hit in the fifth, had X-rays taken after the game, revealing no damage to the hand. While Jeter didn't know for sure whether Lilly had thrown at Spiezio on purpose, he said that it's all part of the game.

"Any time someone gets hit, you never know if it's on purpose," said Jeter, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. "I don't know if the guy hit me on purpose; you'd have to ask him. He'll probably say he didn't do it. I don't know many pitchers that will say they did. Lilly came back and protected me, so you appreciate that."

Paul O'Neill, who tied a career high with his 20th stolen base of the season, said that despite the loss, the Yankees have to just look ahead to their next game.

"We're trying to win games," O'Neill said. "Tomorrow's another day and we have a chance to win three out of four from a pretty good team. That's what we're looking forward to doing."