• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Yankees-Angels Preview

Jul 12, 2009 - 2:20 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

New York (51-35) at Los Angeles (47-37), 3:35 p.m. EDT

Considering the way they were playing, the New York Yankees had reason to believe things would be different on this visit to Angel Stadium. So far, it's looked similar to many of their previous trips there.

The Yankees try to put another disappointing defeat behind them and avoid the three-game sweep in Sunday's series finale against the Angels, who have won seven of the last eight meetings in Anaheim.

New York (51-36) arrived in Anaheim winners of 13 of 15 - including eight in a row on the road - but has blown leads in losing both games.

After overcoming a 5-1 deficit in Friday's 10-6 win, Los Angeles (48-37) rallied from four runs down and scored seven times in the fifth inning in Saturday's 14-8 victory. Mike Napoli hit a go-ahead two-run double in the fifth and added a solo homer in the seventh for the Angels, who improved to 16-5 at home against the Yankees since 2005.

Los Angeles, which leads the majors with 26 comeback wins - one more than New York - has had no trouble scoring runs in its first two games since outfielders Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter went on the disabled list.

"It's real positive because it shows everybody in the clubhouse that we can still put together runs without our two big boys out there," leadoff man Chone Figgins said.

Los Angeles could run into trouble in the finale, though, with CC Sabathia (8-5, 3.70 ERA) taking the hill for New York.

Like most pitchers, Sabathia has struggled at times in the new hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium, but he has been very effective on the road. The left-hander has yielded just two runs and six hits over 14 innings in winning his last two road starts and is 5-1 with a 2.33 ERA in his last seven away from the Bronx.

At Minnesota on Tuesday, Sabathia allowed one run and three hits in seven innings of a 10-2 victory.

"He pitched like his normal self," Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said of Sabathia. "He's one of those guys where you almost expect him to do that every time out."

In his only start of the season against Los Angeles on May 2, Sabathia gave up five runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings of an 8-4 loss. He is 2-1 with a 2.01 ERA in his last three starts at Angel Stadium.

Alex Rodriguez has enjoyed hitting at Angel Stadium, but that hasn't led to many wins for the Yankees.

Rodriguez, who had a solo shot in the opener, hit two of New York's five home runs Saturday and moved into 10th on the all-time list with 570. He is batting .429 (12 for 28) with six home runs and 12 RBIs in eight games in Anaheim since the start of last season, but the Yankees have just one victory in that span.

Rodriguez might have trouble finding his power stroke in the finale, though, as he's just 1 for 18 with a solo homer and 10 strikeouts against John Lackey (3-4, 5.18) since 2006.

Lackey appeared to be on the verge of a third straight solid outing, but things fell apart for him against Texas on Tuesday. After allowing three runs over 15 innings in his previous two starts, Lackey pitched four shutout innings against the Rangers before being pounded for six runs in the fifth. The right-hander exited with two outs in that inning and took the loss in an 8-5 defeat.

Lackey, who will be making his first start of the season against the Yankees, is 1-1 with a 3.25 ERA in five starts versus New York since 2007.