ANAHEIM, Calif. — He has produced more victories for the Angels than any other manager.

He is the only one to ever guide this franchise to a World Series title.
He has lifted a team few people outside Orange County took seriously to the point where it is relevant nearly every fall.
Mike Scioscia has given the Angels plenty.
On Thursday night, the Angels gave him something back — his rear end, slightly singed but intact.
By scoring three runs in the seventh inning, by rebounding for an improbable 7-6 season-saving victory, by coming through when Scioscia didn’t, the Angels prevented their manager from having his fanny ripped to confetti today.
One miserable decision buried by one marvelous rally.
“A lot of hair-pulling was going on, I think,” said Jered Weaver, a starting pitcher who pitched in relief in a Game 5 that had enough turns for five games. “It was a crazy night, for sure.”
In this postseason, Scioscia’s hitters haven’t always hit enough, his defenders sometimes have played as if armed with spatulas and, when it really mattered Thursday, his lefty reliever pitched like a righty talk-show host.
So, naturally, he finally had a moment of his own against the Yankees.
With your season gasping, your very survival hanging by a thread, you don’t take the ball from your best pitcher.
But that’s what Scioscia did in the seventh inning, removing John Lackey with the Angels leading 4-0 and the ace begging to remain in the game.
Afterward Scioscia explained that his decision was driven by the desire to force Mark Teixeira to bat right-handed rather than left-handed.
He said he acted on the advice of his head, not his heart. Well, sometimes the gut knows best. Scrap the book. Go with the belly.
“He might have had enough to get in there and get Tex out,” Scioscia said of Lackey, who had been brilliant for 62/3 innings. “But I thought to turn him around at that point was the move. Obviously, it didn’t work.”
Left-hander Darren Oliver entered, allowed a three-run double to Teixeira, intentionally walked Alex Rodriguez and surrendered a score-tying RBI single to Hideki Matsui.
No, the move didn’t work. Spectacularly it didn’t work.
“Any time he’s taken out of the game, he doesn’t want to come out,” catcher Jeff Mathis said of Lackey, who was visible, well, discouraged by Scioscia’s decision. “That’s just him. You know, he’s a bulldog.”
And then, almost tragically the pitching change didn’t work. Reliever Kevin Jepsen gave up a two-run double to Robinson Cano.
Angels 4-0 became Yankees 6-4 in a flash of chaos and sudden quiet.
“In the bullpen, it was pretty silent,” Angels closer Brian Fuentes said. “We were all looking at each other like, ’What just happened?’ They (the Yankees) came alive real fast.”
At that moment, the scoring decision was E-manager, the Angels appeared to be E-liminated and the proper response felt like E-gads!
“These guys — ’bam bam’ — with the good offense that they have, they came back,” center fielder Torii
Hunter said. “When they got the sixth run, man, I was out there deflated, you know, ... off.”
When he returned to the dugout, Hunter did what ticked off ballplayers do — whether it’s Little
League or the American League Championship Series. He threw his glove.
True, Lackey contributed to his own demise by spitting up his composure in the seventh. After giving up a one-out double to Melky Cabrera, Lackey thought he had struck out Jorge Posada with a 3-2 fastball.
Instead, plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth ruled the pitch ball four, and Lackey reacted like a man who just found out his dog had been elected President. His body language — arms spread wide, head tossed back — screamed “What the heck!” or something worse.
Lackey then walked the next Yankee, too, Derek Jeter. On four pitches.
“When you fall behind 2-0 in that situation, you have to be careful,” he said. “You still don’t want to give in.”
Lackey did, however, collect his senses in time to retire Johnny Damon on the fly ball. Two out, bases loaded.
Still unconvinced — or in his mind more convinced than ever — Scioscia removed Lackey in favor of Oliver.
Now, let’s give the manager credit for another pitching move. During that seventh inning Yankee rally, Scioscia called for Weaver, who might start Game 7 if there is one, to begin warming up.
“It was sort of a ’just-in-case thing,”’ Weaver said. “He wanted to give me time to get ready. Since the inning ended up taking 45 minutes, I was good and loose.”
When the Angels immediately responded with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, Weaver was summoned and produced a gigantic two-strikeout, 11-pitch eighth inning, setting up another Fuentes’ breathless ninth.
“We battle,” Hunter said. “Our backs are against the wall, man. We’re just kicking, punching, scratching, doing whatever we’ve got to do to get off that wall.”
And, in Game 5, whatever they had to do to get their manager’s backside safely back to New York.