NEW YORK -- He'd spent the last 24 hours dodging more second-guesses than the U.N. Security Council. So when the eighth inning rolled around Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium, it wasn't as if Mike Scioscia didn't know what the whole world was thinking.

BRING IN PERCIVAL.

	“	If you're looking at what the difference was between last night and tonight, it was just we had different matchups. It was very clear tonight our plan was to get him in there in the eighth inning for Soriano and Jeter. Tonight, the matchups were screaming for Percival to be in there in the eighth inning. ”
		— Mike Scioscia, Angels manager

That's what the whole world was thinking -- well, give or take a few adjectives.

Hey, easy for them to say.

"You know what? I'm not managing for the world," the manager of those pesky Anaheim Angels was saying very late on a Wednesday night turned Thursday morning, after an 8-6 win in Yankee Stadium that evened their AL Division Series at one game apiece. "You have to really know your ball club and understand your ball club."

This is not what you'd call a revolutionary point of view. But it is a point of view your average sports fan has very little interest in this time of year.

For six months, approximately 11 people outside of Anaheim in the entire country even know the Anaheim Angels exist. Then, as soon as the calendar flips to October, everybody with a TV wants to manage them.

But only Mike Scioscia gets to hold that job. And unlike many of the men who make decisions that don't turn out too hot in these games that decide a season's work, at least he doesn't live in a tunnel in which he thinks he owns the only point of view that matters.

So if people want to spend an entire day calling talk shows or berating bartenders about how the idiot manager of the Angels wasn't smart enough to bring in his closer in the eighth inning, great. Mike Scioscia knows that's what makes life worth living and games worth watching and sports worth caring about.

"I'm always an idiot," Scioscia laughed. "There are just different levels."

He admitted he tossed and turned all night after Game 1, trying to switch off that replay machine in his brain. Then he caught enough of the headlines Wednesday morning to know the sportswriters of New York hadn't awarded him their Baseball Genius Du Jour trophy for his handling of his bullpen in the eighth inning Tuesday.

But unlike Arizona's Bob Brenly, whose tolerance for that second-guessing turned him into the angry young manager by the time the World Series pulled out of The Bronx last fall, Scioscia was still displaying actual human qualities Wednesday.

He opened his pregame press conference by jokingly polling the press room to see "who would have brought in (Troy) Percival last night?" Then, when only a few hands went up, he faked indignation.

"Come on," he said. "Evereybody's hands have got to go up."

	Troy Percival Relief Pitcher Anaheim Angels Profile
	2002 SEASON STATISTICS GM W L Sv K ERA 58 4 1 40 68 1.92

Well, we want Mike Scioscia to know that if he's ever in another one of those late-inning jams and he needs our help, we'll be there for him.

He can poll us individually or in groups of 50. He can call us. He can email us. He can come up to the press box if he has a minute. Glad to offer our brilliant assistance.

So what a shock it was that once again Wednesday night, as a wild ball game unfolded before his eyes, he didn't ask.

	Brendan Donnelly Relief Pitcher Anaheim Angels Profile
	2002 SEASON STATISTICS GM W L Sv K ERA 46 1 1 1 54 2.17

First, those amazing Angels blew out to a 4-0 lead against Andy Pettitte in the first three innings. In the process, they became the first team to score on the Yankees in each of the first three innings of a postseason game at Yankee Stadium since the Dodgers did it against Catfish Hunter in Game 2 of the 1977 World Series.

But it's October in Yankee Stadium, so you knew that couldn't last. Back came those Yankees, piecing together rallies until Alfonso Soriano was golfing a sixth-inning home run deep into the ionized night. And up went the Yankees, 5-4.

It looked like this was destined to become the sixth time in the Joe Torre era that the Yankees would get themselves four runs down in a playoff game, then stampede back to win it anyway. But the Angels -- one of the most invigorating and lovable playoff teams of modern times -- didn't get their copy of that script.

One minute, 12 of the 13 previous Angels hitters who had faced Orlando Hernandez had made very quiet outs. The next, Garret Anderson was leading off the eighth inning with a game-tying thunderbolt of a home run over the right-field fence. And five pitches later, Troy Glaus was squashing another home run off El Duque.

They'd just become the second set of opponents ever to hit back-to-back postseason homers at Yankee Stadium. (Tony Gwynn and Greg Vaughn were the others, back in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series.) But more important, they'd just changed everything -- the game, the series and, oh by the way, the managerial options.

So whaddaya know, coincidence of coincidences, it was the eighth inning again. And whaddaya know, the Angels led again. And whaddaya know, it was time for Mike Scioscia to make a decision very similar to the one he'd had to make Tuesday night.

When should he bring in the people's choice himself, Troy Percival?

The manager was asked afterward what he thought would have happened if he'd polled The Stadium about then, just the way he'd polled the press room a few hours earlier.

"I did," Scioscia deadpanned. "Didn't you see me? I stepped out (of the dugout) and waved and said, 'Hey, I'd like to poll you.' Just like the old gladiators -- thumbs up, thumbs down, bring him in now or bring him in later?"

"BRING IN PERCIVAL," they screamed -- or at least they would have screamed had they known he cared.

But Mike Scioscia didn't bring in Troy Percival. He brought in the very same set-up man he'd brought in the night before, Ben Weber, to get through as much of the bottom of the Yankees' order in the eighth as he could.

At the same time, though, Scioscia got Percival up and throwing. So it was clear he was going to make sure Percival was ready, for whenever that right moment did come along.

Then a very weird thing happened. Weber got one out, then gave up a single to Nick Johnson, then got what looked like an inning-ending double-play ball from Raul Mondesi.

"Would have been an easy double play," said shortstop David Eckstein. "Adam (Kennedy) catches it, steps on the bag, inning over."

Easy. Except for one thing.

Ben Weber decided to catch the ball himself. Bad idea. He stuck out his bare hand. The baseball deflected off his middle finger. Everybody was safe. And Ben Weber was hurt.

As Scioscia, his infield and his medical staff huddled with Weber on the mound, Percival threw his warmup session into turbo mode. Then, as he saw Weber walk off the field with the trainer, he was just about ready to roar through the gates ... until the word reached him.

Mike Scioscia still wasn't ready for him.

"That's the first time that ever happened to me," Percival said later. "I didn't know what to do. I was 100 percent ready and hot -- and I got my reins pulled back."

So in marched Brendan Donnelly -- the reliever who had given up the game-winning home run the previous game as Percival watched helplessly, not to mention a man who hadn't even been warming up. And Percival could only stomp around the bullpen, looking as if he might rip a few of those nearby monuments in half.

"He's like a raging bull out there," Scioscia said. "He's ready for every challenge. I just thought the challenge I wanted him ready for was facing Soriano and (Derek) Jeter."

But those two weren't up yet. Lefthanded pinch-hitter John Vander Wal was the hitter. There were five outs still to get -- one more than Percival had gotten in any game all year. And Donnelly was a pivotal member of the best bullpen in the American League -- and, by the way, a man who had retired a larger percentage of the first hitters he faced (42 of 46) than any relief pitcher in the league.

"I know 'Pers' can come in there in the eighth," Scioscia said afterward. "But to keep him sharp, it's a bullet you have to save. He can come in there in the eighth. But (physically) he has a limit on how many times you can use him in that role."

So Scioscia saved him for one more hitter. Donnelly then did the job he was supposed to do, the job he didn't do Tuesday. He struck out Vander Wal. And only then did Percival make it in there, with two outs in the eighth.

He was so overhyped by then, he drilled Soriano in the back with his first pitch, loading the bases. But then, with The Stadium rocking and the second-guessers ready to pounce again, Percival won a thrilling duel with Jeter, striking him looking out on a 1-2 flameball that plate ump Doug Eddings decided had nicked the outside corner.

And in the ninth, even though he gave up three hits, Percival finally nailed this down for his first postseason save -- and the Angels' first postseason win since Oct. 11, 1986.

"If I was in there in the eighth last night, who knows what would have happened," Percival mused. "But I never question our leaders. They've made the right moves all year."

Besides, he didn't have to question his leaders. Everyone else in the free world was questioning them for him.

Of course, the rest of the world doesn't take into account that Percival has had both shoulder and elbow troubles in recent years. Or that this year he was also out about a month with an infection in his Achilles tendon.

The rest of the world also doesn't check the stats to account for the fact that somebody besides Percival had to pitch, too, for the Angels to have had the lowest bullpen ERA in the league.

But Mike Scioscia does. So whether you agree with how he's handled these two games or not, at least he has real, tangible reasons for what he did. And he isn't demanding instant execution of anyone who would dare disagree with them.

"You know, last night it's not like we ruled out bringing 'Pers' in there in the eighth inning," Scioscia said. "If we'd had the same matchups as tonight, we would have done it. If you're looking at what the difference was between last night and tonight, it was just we had different matchups. It was very clear tonight our plan was to get him in there in the eighth inning for Soriano and Jeter. Tonight, the matchups were screaming for Percival to be in there in the eighth inning."

The matchups, of course, may not have been the only ones screaming. But that's not important now. What's important is that this time, Mike Scioscia listened.

"OK," the manager said afterward, checking those Gallup polls one last time. "Who thought I should have brought Percival in tonight?"

Uh, outside of everybody, you mean?

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.