ANAHEIM – Alfonso Soriano twisted and turned, trying to find a comfortable position on the Yankees’ red-eye charter flight here Wednesday night after an 8-6 loss to the Angels in Game 2 of the ALDS.
Planes weren’t designed for a good night’s sleep, and it certainly didn’t help that Soriano had to keep an ice pack pressed against his left shoulder blade. That’s where Angels’ nasty-boy closer Troy Percival drilled Soriano with a 97 mph fastball in the eighth inning.
“After he hit me, I think, ‘My shoulder is broken. I have no feeling,’ ” Soriano told The Post. “Today, I have too much feeling.”
Soriano said he was so sore yesterday he couldn’t raise his left arm high enough to wipe the sweat from his brow with his wristband. Instead, he had to use his right hand to reach the left sleeve of his jersey.
Soriano, arguably the Yankees’ MVP after hitting 39 homers, took batting practice yesterday at Edison Field and said he felt OK. The Yankees know their second baseman and catalyst is in more pain than he’s letting on.
“He’s a tough kid,” Joe Torre said. “[Derek] Jeter and him are pretty much the same way when it comes to injuries. They’ll say, ‘What are you talking about?’ “
Soriano himself said he wasn’t sure if Percival, who had not hit a batter all year, was trying to send a message. That’s highly unlikely.
Hitting Soriano loaded the bases with two outs in a 7-5 game and brought Jeter, one of the most successful hitters in postseason history, to the plate. Percival got Jeter looking on an outside pitch that Jeter thought was off the plate.
“I was trying to come in on him,” Percival said of the pitch that hit Soriano. “I was trying to stand him up. The pitch just got away from me. With a hitter leaning over like that, you don’t have to miss too much, especially at that velocity.”
At that velocity, Percival left Soriano doubled over in pain. Soriano said yesterday he was experiencing more soreness than swelling. He showed no stiffness taking batting practice and will be at the top of the lineup tonight, but he won’t be 100 percent.
Soriano has been terrific in the first two games. He drew a two-out walk in the eighth inning of Game 1 that ignited a four-run rally which gave the Yanks an 8-5 win. In Game 2 he smacked a two-run homer that gave the Yanks a 5-4 lead.
“He’s all muscle and bone so he’s gonna feel it a great deal,” catcher Jorge Posada said.
Which could be a great disadvantage for the Yankees.