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Angels-Yankees Preview

Apr 13, 2010 - 11:50 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Los Angeles (2-5) at New York (4-2), 1:05 p.m. EDT

The New York Yankees never enjoyed great success in the Bronx against Mike Scioscia's Los Angeles Angels - until the Yankees moved into their new home.

New York looks to add to Los Angeles' woes at the new Yankee Stadium when the teams continue their three-game series Wednesday.

Scioscia's Angels went 24-20 on the road against the Yankees (5-2) from 2000-08. That included four playoff games as Los Angeles eliminated New York in 2002 en route to its lone World Series title and in 2005.

New York, though, is 7-1 in its new ballpark against Los Angeles including three wins in last year's AL Championship Series. The Yankees held on for a 7-5 victory in their home opener Tuesday to drop the Angels to 2-6 for the first time since 1972.

"There's definitely some things we need to clean up the way we're playing ball this week," Scioscia said.

It was a festive occasion as New York picked up its rings for winning the franchise's 27th World Series title in a ceremony that also honored the MVP of that Fall Classic in Hideki Matsui. The Japanese star drove in six runs in a Game 6 win over Philadelphia that clinched the title, and received huge ovations when he was presented with his ring and during his first at-bat.

"He deserves it," captain Derek Jeter said. "He played here for seven years. He played hard. He came to work every day. He's a favorite amongst the players."

Matsui has a penchant for shining in big spots, hitting a grand slam in the Yankees' home opener seven years ago and going deep in his Angels debut last week. He had a miserable return to New York, going 0 for 5 and making the final out after Bobby Abreu's ninth-inning grand slam forced the Yankees to turn to closer Mariano Rivera for the last two outs.

Jeter homered, Jorge Posada had three hits and Andy Pettitte pitched six scoreless innings for New York, which is off to its best start since going 9-1 in 2003.

Javier Vazquez (0-1, 12.71) hopes his home debut in his second stint with the Yankees goes better than his first outing of 2010. He allowed eight runs over 5 2-3 innings last Friday in a 9-3 loss at Tampa Bay.

"The bottom line is, I didn't make my pitches," Vazquez said. "It's disappointing. I wanted to start off on the right foot. I made a lot of mistakes."

The right-hander was an All-Star in his lone season with New York in 2004, but went 4-5 with a 6.92 ERA in his last 14 starts. His final appearance in the Bronx with the Yankees came when he was greeted out of the bullpen by Johnny Damon's grand slam in a 10-3 loss to Boston in Game 7 of the ALCS.

Vazquez is 0-1 with a 2.89 ERA in four career starts against the Angels. He's enjoyed plenty of success facing Torii Hunter, who is 8 for 39 (.205) with 10 strikeouts against him.

Joel Pineiro (0-1, 4.50) will oppose Vazquez after losing his Angels debut. The right-hander gave up three runs over six-plus innings last Thursday in a 10-1 loss to Minnesota.

This will be Pineiro's first start against the Yankees since July 18, 2006, with Seattle. He's 2-3 with a 3.55 ERA in eight career starts against them.

Jeter is 6 for 27 (.222) against Pineiro and Alex Rodriguez is 4 for 27 (.148).