"The pitch that Mariano Rivera will ride into the Hall of Fame breaks violently into left-handed hitters.

Shattered bats fly through the infield and hitters shake their hands as if stung by a family of bees after being victimized by the cut fastball that has been Rivera's calling card forever.

And when the cutter doesn't cut? Well, it's rare, but it happened last night when Rivera's signature pitch did not break in on Bobby Abreu's hands and the former Yankee drove a two-run homer into the right-field seats in the ninth inning to lift the Angels to a 6-4 victory over the Yankees in front of 46,466 at the Stadium.

"The pitch didn't get there enough," Rivera said of the first homer he has allowed to a left-handed batter this year in 75 at-bats. "It was not in enough."

It was the second consecutive game in which Rivera failed in a late-inning situation. On Sunday night in Boston, he blew his fifth save by allowing a run in the ninth inning of a game the Red Sox won 3-2 in 10 innings.

Rivera, 41, has been so good for so long that when he doesn't perform in back-to-back games, panic smothers the Yankees. Yet Rivera never offers a hint of concern."