Yanks Draw Nemesis Instead of Archrival

MINNEAPOLIS -- When Vladimir Guerrero dumped his single to center field off Jonathan Papelbon, a roar -- and a few laughs -- emanated from the Yankees clubhouse at the Metrodome. It was more of the same "Can you believe that?" reaction any baseball fan had at that moment than a "We want the Angels!" cheer.

Because they may not want the Angels.

"They've played us tough because they've been better than us in the past," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told FanHouse as the Yankees held a relatively subdued celebration of their sweep of the Twins.

"We'll find out who's the best now, this year."

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Because the Angels swept the Red Sox, the Yankees won't get their archrivals next.

They'll get their nemeses.

Since 2000, when Mike Scioscia took over as the Angels manager, Anaheim/L.A. is the only AL team with a winning record against the Yankees -- 50-41.

And since 1998, the Angels are the only team to have eliminated the Yankees from the postseason more than once, in the 2002 and 2005 Division Series.

The teams split 10 games this year, and the Angels have not lost a season series to the Yankees since 2003.

Why?

"It's a good question," Angels leadoff man Chone Figgins said. "I don't know.

"It's just one of those things."

There are tangible reasons. What we don't know is if there are intangible ones -- whether the Yankees have some kind of mental block in this rivalry.


"I think sometimes people look at the Angels and don't give them enough credit for how good they are," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "This is a very good team. And they've been a good team for a long time.

"They're beating other teams too, not just us."

Said Scioscia: "You go back six or seven years, it's a whole different group of players, group of matchups. I don't think any of that carries forward. It's this group of guys against that group of guys in the present right now.

"We by no means have dominated those guys. Those guys are tough and we've competed well against them. But they're tough."

"They've played us tough because they've been better than us in the past. We'll find out who's the best now, this year.
-- Yankees GM Brian Cashman Point No. 1 is true enough. The only Angels left from that '05 series are Guerrero, Figgins, Juan Rivera , John Lackey and Ervin Santana. (On the other side, it's Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera.)

But the Angels' style seems to give the Yankees fits.

The most obvious element is the Angels' speed and aggressiveness on the bases. The Yankees of recent vintage have not been good defensive teams, with poor outfield arms. The former seems to be improved this year. But Posada is still not a great thrower from behind the plate, and the Angels have stolen 115 bases in those 91 games since 2000.

"I think there can be teams that give teams struggles," Girardi said. "But it's our job to figure out how you stop those struggles and be creative and do some things, do some different things, to make your club better against them."

The Los Angeles attack is a little more diverse this year, with the power of Torii Hunter, Kendry Morales and Juan Rivera. As Scioscia put it, "This is the best batter's box offense we've had since '02 here. We're doing a lot more in the batter's box this year then we've done in the last six, seven years. ... I think our team is a little less run-and-gun than we had to play before because we have more batter's box offense right now than we've had in a long time."

The Angels have always excelled at putting the ball in play (bottom four in the AL in strikeouts for eight straight seasons), which, when matched with some low-strikeout Yankees rotations, put even more pressure on the defense. Now the Yankees have CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, which could combat that edge, and they can line up their rotation the way they want.

Also, the Angels have not had some of the weaknesses that the Yankees often exploit on other teams: walks, defense and middle relief. But the Angels bullpen this year is not as deep as when Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez were around.

"It's going to come down to who's going to pitch better, who's going to hit in the clutch," Posada said. "Home-field advantage is going to help a little bit. That's a key to the series."

Especially since the Yankees are 7-18 in their past 25 games in Orange County.

This year, they won two of three in their second visit to Anaheim.

"I think this club's very confident," Girardi said. "We won some close games there."

All things considered, it's a fascinating matchup.

"For some reason when we play these guys, it's a high level of competition," said Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick, who has a .426 career average against the Yankees.

"They're a great team, we're a great team, it's almost like a playoff-type atmosphere every time you play them. I think the biggest thing with that type of competition is you just try to go in there and relax. For some reason we just seem to play well against them."

And the Yankees need to find a way to change that, or their 106 wins so far are for naught.

While the champagne was spraying inside the same room that earlier was cheering Guerrero, Girardi said: "We're going to be judged on what we do after this."