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NEW YORK YANKEES @ LA ANGELS ML & OVER 9
Probable Starting Pitchers: NY Yankees - Mike Mussina (0-0, 0.00) LA Angels - Bartolo Colon (0-0, 0.00)
Three years ago, the Angels took out the Yankees in four games in the Division Series. The two teams meet again in the first round of the playoffs with Los Angeles gaining home field advantage by virtue of a better head-to-head record against the Yankees.
Mike Mussina, who has sparkled in his career against LA, takes the mound for the Yankees in the opener of the best-of-five series at Angel Stadium. Bartolo Colon, a 21-game winner this year, will be on the hill for the Angels.
In 2002, the Angels, buoyed by the majors' top hitting team, scored 31 runs and beat New York in four games. Mike Scioscia would guide his team to the World Series title over San Francisco.
The tide seems to be turned, as the Yankees come into this series sporting the obvious bigger bats in American League home run champion Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and likely Comeback Player of the Year Jason Giambi.
The doubters who had written off the Yankees in early May when they were nine games out of first place in the division, should have known they weren't going to be eight games under .500 (11-19) too long. A team with a payroll in excess of $200 million just doesn't fold the tent, especially when the owner is the most flamboyant in all of sports -- George Steinbrenner.
After the collapse in the ALCS against the Red Sox last year, the Yankees faced more adversity this season, but were able to overcome pitching problems. Journeyman Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon played a big role in helping Joe Torre's team to an eighth consecutive AL East crown, as the Yankees trumped the Red Sox on the final weekend of the season.
The Angels, who only gained home field advantage for this series due to a better head-to-head record versus the Yankees, topped the majors in steals with Chone Figgins leading the way with 62 thefts.
Vladimir Guerrero, who will fall short of his second straight AL MVP, is the biggest threat in an offense that relies more on clutch hits than titanic ones. LA ranked in the bottom third in the majors in homers, and no other player besides Guerrero hit at least 20 home runs.
Instead, the Angels will rely on their ace in Colon, and Francisco Rodriguez, who had 45 saves.
Colon became the sixth Angels pitcher to win 20-or-more games in a season and the first since Nolan Ryan in 1974. Colon won a career-best eight straight decisions from July 21 - September 10.
However, Colon struggled to an 8.44 ERA in two starts this year versus the Yankees. The powerful righty finished the season in shaky form, allowing six runs in one contest and seven earned runs in another over his final four outings.
The one advantage the Yankees have is several of their players know Colon's routine and have locked in on the veteran. Alex Rodriguez is a career .442 hitter with seven homers and 16 RBI in just 43 at-bats against Colon. Derek Jeter has a .344 average against Colon, and Sheffield is 6-for-17 (.353) lifetime against the game one starter.
In fact, A-Rod homered three times against Colon on April 26 this year, a night in which he had 10 RBI.
"I've got to be careful with Alex obviously, but I think whatever happened in the past with Alex is in the past," Colon said. "It's a brand new start and with all of the players, all of the hitters they have."
Mussina had a solid May with a 4-1 mark, but then struggled to a 6.52 ERA over the final two months of the season. There was some question whether he'd be able to make it through the season, although he did miss three weeks with a sore pitching elbow. The righty has a career mark of 14-8 in the regular season against the Angels.
However, Mussina went 1-2 in 2005 against the Angels, who hit .301 against the veteran.
"They don't strike out very much. They put the ball in play," Mussina said. "They use the field. Guys in the middle of the lineup, they can drive the ball."
Game two of this series will also take place at Angel Stadium on Wednesday at 10 p.m. (et). Rookie Chien-Ming Wang is slated to start for the Yankees versus John Lackey, who got the win to close out the 2002 World Series.
I think the Angels win this one with the score going over the total.
Probable Starting Pitchers: NY Yankees - Mike Mussina (0-0, 0.00) LA Angels - Bartolo Colon (0-0, 0.00)
Three years ago, the Angels took out the Yankees in four games in the Division Series. The two teams meet again in the first round of the playoffs with Los Angeles gaining home field advantage by virtue of a better head-to-head record against the Yankees.
Mike Mussina, who has sparkled in his career against LA, takes the mound for the Yankees in the opener of the best-of-five series at Angel Stadium. Bartolo Colon, a 21-game winner this year, will be on the hill for the Angels.
In 2002, the Angels, buoyed by the majors' top hitting team, scored 31 runs and beat New York in four games. Mike Scioscia would guide his team to the World Series title over San Francisco.
The tide seems to be turned, as the Yankees come into this series sporting the obvious bigger bats in American League home run champion Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui and likely Comeback Player of the Year Jason Giambi.
The doubters who had written off the Yankees in early May when they were nine games out of first place in the division, should have known they weren't going to be eight games under .500 (11-19) too long. A team with a payroll in excess of $200 million just doesn't fold the tent, especially when the owner is the most flamboyant in all of sports -- George Steinbrenner.
After the collapse in the ALCS against the Red Sox last year, the Yankees faced more adversity this season, but were able to overcome pitching problems. Journeyman Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon played a big role in helping Joe Torre's team to an eighth consecutive AL East crown, as the Yankees trumped the Red Sox on the final weekend of the season.
The Angels, who only gained home field advantage for this series due to a better head-to-head record versus the Yankees, topped the majors in steals with Chone Figgins leading the way with 62 thefts.
Vladimir Guerrero, who will fall short of his second straight AL MVP, is the biggest threat in an offense that relies more on clutch hits than titanic ones. LA ranked in the bottom third in the majors in homers, and no other player besides Guerrero hit at least 20 home runs.
Instead, the Angels will rely on their ace in Colon, and Francisco Rodriguez, who had 45 saves.
Colon became the sixth Angels pitcher to win 20-or-more games in a season and the first since Nolan Ryan in 1974. Colon won a career-best eight straight decisions from July 21 - September 10.
However, Colon struggled to an 8.44 ERA in two starts this year versus the Yankees. The powerful righty finished the season in shaky form, allowing six runs in one contest and seven earned runs in another over his final four outings.
The one advantage the Yankees have is several of their players know Colon's routine and have locked in on the veteran. Alex Rodriguez is a career .442 hitter with seven homers and 16 RBI in just 43 at-bats against Colon. Derek Jeter has a .344 average against Colon, and Sheffield is 6-for-17 (.353) lifetime against the game one starter.
In fact, A-Rod homered three times against Colon on April 26 this year, a night in which he had 10 RBI.
"I've got to be careful with Alex obviously, but I think whatever happened in the past with Alex is in the past," Colon said. "It's a brand new start and with all of the players, all of the hitters they have."
Mussina had a solid May with a 4-1 mark, but then struggled to a 6.52 ERA over the final two months of the season. There was some question whether he'd be able to make it through the season, although he did miss three weeks with a sore pitching elbow. The righty has a career mark of 14-8 in the regular season against the Angels.
However, Mussina went 1-2 in 2005 against the Angels, who hit .301 against the veteran.
"They don't strike out very much. They put the ball in play," Mussina said. "They use the field. Guys in the middle of the lineup, they can drive the ball."
Game two of this series will also take place at Angel Stadium on Wednesday at 10 p.m. (et). Rookie Chien-Ming Wang is slated to start for the Yankees versus John Lackey, who got the win to close out the 2002 World Series.
I think the Angels win this one with the score going over the total.
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