The fans stood throughout his at-bat in the fourth as he worked the count full against Colon. New York manager Joe Torre said “everybody in the dugout became a fan,” hoping for that third homer.

Rodriguez fouled off a pitch before hitting a drive off the front of the center-field bleachers, just beyond the 408-foot sign.

“It was a fun matchup ... bases loaded, the fans going crazy,” Rodriguez said.

While Rodriguez walked to the plate in the eighth inning for his final at-bat, Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra,” played dramatically over the public address system. Rodriguez hit a hard liner to center and was again greeted with loud applause from the fans, who then began a quick run for the exits with the Yankees leading 12-3. Rodriguez was given the ninth inning off.

Rodriguez’s performance overshadowed Carl Pavano’s first win in pinstripes. He pitched effectively for seven innings, often falling behind in the count but only getting into real trouble against a potent Angels lineup in the third when he walked two and gave up an RBI single to Vladimir Guerrero and run-scoring grounder to Garret Anderson.

Pavano (2-2), whose previous victory was at Toronto last week, gave up three runs and seven hits.

“When there’s runs on the board or not, I’ve got to make my pitches and stick to my plan,” said Pavano, who was disappointed by two walks he gave up in the third.

Colon had allowed just one run in 15 innings over two starts. Each of Rodriguez’s home runs followed bouts of wildness; Colon walked five in 3 2-3 innings and gave up 10 runs — five earned. Giving up the longball has always been a problem for Colon, but he had allowed just one in 27 2-3 innings through his first four starts.

“I made mistakes,” Colon said. “As good a hitter as he is, he took advantage of those mistakes. He was not chasing. He was sitting on my fastball very well.”

Bernie Williams had an RBI grounder on one of Chone Figgins’ two errors in the fourth and Jorge Posada added an RBI groundout for New York.

Notes: Rodriguez has 388 homers, putting him in 46th place on the career list. ... After stealing two bases Tuesday, the Angels have 11 stolen bases in last five games. ... Rodriguez hit two home runs and had six RBIs on April 18.

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