NEW YORK - Mariano Rivera pitched two innings to make sure the New York Yankees extended their season. Immediately afterward, he was already planning to do it again.

Rivera, Derek Jeter and the Yankees had little time to rejoice Sunday night after scratching out a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels to send the AL playoff series back to California for a decisive fifth game.

New York packed its bags and bolted for the airport - knowing it had much more work to do.

"I'll be ready," Rivera said. "I can't stop. If I have to go two, I have to go two."

Slow-footed catcher Jorge Posada barely beat the tag for the go-ahead run on Jeter's seventh-inning bouncer, and pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra came through with a tying single.

With Yankee Stadium rocking, Rivera retired Vladimir Guerrero for the final out to finish off a six-out save as New York evened the best-of-five series.

"The whole game was a grinder, we did a lot of things well," Posada said. "It doesn't mean anything if we don't go out there and play the way we're supposed to."

After a rainout Saturday postponed Game 4, the teams flew cross-country overnight to play today in Anaheim at 8:15 p.m. Both scheduled pitchers were already waiting out West - Game 1 winner Mike Mussina and Angels ace Bartolo Colon.

"It's a long flight for both teams," Los Angeles outfielder Steve Finley said. "This team is not going to hang its head. We're going to come back tomorrow with the same energy we had today."

Thanks to yet another New York comeback, this first-round series is the only one to go the distance in 2005. The winner Monday faces the Chicago White Sox in the AL championship series.

It also means 37-year-old Bernie Williams has at least one more game left with the Yankees. He can become a free agent after this season - his 15th in New York.

But most important for the Yankees, Rivera said he would be ready again in Game 5 if needed.

"I trust him so much, because I know one thing, above anything else, whether it works or not, you know that he's going out there with the biggest heart in the world," manager Joe Torre said. "He certainly doesn't shy away from the pressure."

Trying to knock New York out of the playoffs for the second time in four seasons, the Angels built a 2-1 series lead on airtight defense and a deep bullpen.

This time, both betrayed them.

With the Yankees trailing 2-1, Robinson Cano reached on an infield single to start the seventh and Posada drew a one-out walk from losing pitcher Scot Shields.

Sierra, batting for No. 9 hitter Bubba Crosby, grounded a sharp single to right and Cano scored standing up despite a strong throw from Guerrero, leaving runners at the corners.

Jeter, at the center of so many big moments for the Yankees, topped a slow bouncer to third, forcing Chone Figgins to charge the ball.

Figgins, who made a couple of outstanding defensive plays earlier in the series, bounced a wide throw to the plate, and Posada skidded in on an aborted slide. Catcher Bengie Molina argued the call, as did Angels manager Mike Scioscia.

But after his teammates viewed a replay and told him what they saw, Molina agreed that Posada was safe.

"It's a tough play. Two strikes, I'm playing back and the guy's going on contact," said Figgins, adding that the ball was a little wet when he tried to get a grip.

Winning pitcher Al Leiter got Darin Erstad to ground into an inning-ending double play in the seventh. With the season on the line, Rivera earned his record 34th career postseason save and second of the series.

"Let me tell you something: It's not easy," he said. "But I trust my pitches and I trust my teammates behind me."

Acquired from Colorado in late July, Shawn Chacon was one of the fill-in starters who helped save the Yankees down the stretch - and he delivered again in his playoff debut.

While Chacon went 10 days between starts, Los Angeles' John Lackey was pitching on only three days' rest. After a no-decision in Game 2, he was told Sunday morning that he would need to step in for scheduled starter Jarrod Washburn, scratched because of a throat infection and fever.

Lackey gave a gutsy effort before 56,226 raucous fans, holding New York hitless until Posada's two-out double in the fifth. Each team managed only four hits in a tight ballgame.

"That was an outstanding performance by John Lackey," Scioscia said. "Unfortunately, Chacon matched him pitch for pitch."

Figgins and Orlando Cabrera hit consecutive RBI doubles with two outs in the sixth to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead. Gary Sheffield had a two-out RBI single in the bottom half.

"I felt like I was still strong, but you can't argue with going to our bullpen," said Lackey, pulled after 5 2-3 innings. "When you hold that lineup down the way we did tonight, you've got to find a way to win."

Notes: Williams received a standing ovation

before each at-bat, with the crowd chanting "Bernie! Bernie!" He finished 0-for-4 and took a curtain call in the eighth. ... Williams also took over in CF in the eighth, leaving the Yankees without a DH. Rivera took the No. 3 spot in the lineup, but never had to hit.