It was the perfect time to make it clear he wants his starting job back.

Cabrera laced an RBI single to right field in the eighth inning and Ramiro Pena followed with a two-run double to stake the Yankees to a 7-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night at the Stadium.

The victory is the Yankees' third straight, and the perfect antidote to the latest Alex Rodriguez controversy to swirl around the team.

Cabrera, who was demoted to the minors in August and beaten out for the starting center field job in the spring by Brett Gardner, has made a compelling case for himself. And Pena ? filling in for Rodriguez at third base ? came through with something the Yankees want more of from A-Rod ? a clutch hit.

Starter A.J. Burnett was not dominant, but gutted out seven innings. He allowed four runs and eight hits.

Mariano Rivera closed out the ninth inning for his fifth save.

The storm that seems to follow Rodriguez everywhere found its way once again to the Bronx, breaking two months of relative calm, even as he continues to rehab his right hip in Tampa.

That did not stop Cabrera, or stop the winning.

But it has left many wondering how the Yankees (12-10) will handle the latest A-Rod circus, and how they will weather the storm of his return ? coming as soon as next week ? and of the release of the book that has unleashed the steroid allegations against him.

Burnett tried to bounce back from Saturday's rough start, in which he blew a 6-0 lead in the 16-11 loss to Boston. He allowed eight runs in the blowout, more than double the runs he yielded in his first three Yankee starts.

"Sometimes as a pitcher you can have a bad game and bounce back and look really good the next time," manager Joe Girardi said. "It's just you had a bad game."

But Burnett had a bad beginning to Thursday's start.

Chone Figgins led off with a triple to left-center field. Maicer Izturis knocked him in with a groundout to short for a 1-0 lead. Former Yankee Bobby Abreu followed with a single, stealing second and then reaching third on a fly-out. But the Angels stranded him there.

The Yankees struck back on Angels starter Anthony Ortega, making his second big-league start.

Mark Teixeira lined a double to deep left-center field with two outs in the first. He scored on Hideki Matsui's RBI single, easily beating Torii Hunter's throw to the plate to tie the game at 1.

But the Angels took back the lead in the second, adding two runs.

Mike Napoli hit a solo shot to right-center on the first pitch of the inning. Howie Kendrick then produced a run ? walking, stealing second and moving to third on former Yankee Juan Rivera's groundout. He scored on Erick Aybar's sacrifice fly to right, which Nick Swisher had to run down in the corner.

Johnny Damon cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third, launching a solo shot to the second deck in right. And the Yankees added two more in the fourth.

Swisher singled with one out, and Pena beat out a two-out infield single. Derek Jeter knocked in Swisher with an opposite-field single to right that got past Abreu, also allowing Pena to score for a 4-3 lead. But Burnett allowed an Aybar hustle double to lead off the fifth and a Figgins RBI single to tie the game at 4.

The Angels were merciless on Jorge Posada's surgically-repaired right shoulder and on Burnett's delivery, stealing three bases in the first four innings. But Posada threw out Figgins trying to steal in the fifth and Napoli trying in the sixth.

E-mail: robertsj@northjersey.com