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Angels-Yankees Preview

Sep 14, 2009 - 4:13 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Los Angeles (85-56) at New York (91-52), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The two best teams in the AL meet Monday night when the New York Yankees host the Los Angeles Angels in a makeup game that could help determine home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

New York (92-52) leads the AL East by seven games over Boston while Los Angeles (86-56) is six ahead of Texas in the West. The Yankees hold a five-game lead over the Angels for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and the right to choose whether they want an extra off day in an AL division series.

"We understand what's at stake here," manager Joe Girardi told the Yankees' official Web site Sunday. "That's an important game tomorrow."

This is a makeup game from a May 3 rainout.

The Angels should present a test for the Yankees, who are a major league-best 41-15 since the All-Star break. The Yankees were swept in a three-game set in Anaheim July 10-12 right before the break to fall to 2-4 against Los Angeles.

New York avoided a three-game sweep by Baltimore with a 13-3 win Sunday as Hideki Matsui homered and drove in five runs.

"Obviously, it's not good to go down two games straight and then not be able to come back again and make it three games straight," Matsui said through a translator. "So in that sense, winning today's game was pretty important for us."

The game was more memorable because Girardi and Alex Rodriguez were ejected in the middle of the fifth inning for an argument with umpire Marty Foster.

Los Angeles is starting a seven-game road trip that includes visits to Boston and Texas. The Angels finished a 5-1 homestand with a 3-2 win over the White Sox on Sunday.

"It's going to be an interesting road trip for us," right fielder Bobby Abreu told the Angels' official Web site. "We're going to have to battle."

Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira is 3 for 25 (.120) with no RBIs this year against the Angels. The first baseman played 54 games for Los Angeles in 2008 before signing with New York as a free agent.

Teixeira is one of several Yankees who have not fared well against Jered Weaver (15-5, 3.76 ERA), the Angels starter on Monday. Weaver has enjoyed great success against Teixeira (.158), Nick Swisher (.158), Johnny Damon (.200) and Derek Jeter (.143).

Weaver will try to win his third straight start this month for Los Angeles. Weaver improved to 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA in the first two after allowing two runs over 6 1-3 innings Wednesday in a 6-3 victory over Seattle.

The right-hander is 4-1 with a 5.82 ERA in six starts against the Yankees in his career, including 1-0 with a 5.25 ERA in two this year.

The Yankees will start Joba Chamberlain (8-5, 4.45), who has had his innings limited since he began pitching on regular rest Aug. 25. The right-hander allowed two runs and threw 55 pitches in his third straight three-inning stint Wednesday in a 4-2 win over Tampa Bay.

Chamberlain's lone career start against the Angels was July 10, when he gave up five runs over 4 1-3 innings and did not get a decision in a 10-6 loss.