Moose not sharp and offense disappears...Yankees lose 5-1 to Angels

[RLA68]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=250427110

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Angels didn't give Alex Rodriguez many chances for RBI and flashed some power of their own.

Steve Finley and Garret Anderson homered off struggling Mike Mussina, and the Angels limited A-Rod to a solo home run Wednesday night in a 5-1 victory over the New York Yankees.

A night after Rodriguez had three homers off Bartolo Colon and 10 RBI in all, Jarrod Washburn (1-0) and his bullpen allowed A-Rod up to come up with just two runners on.

"When a guy's locked in like that, yeah, of course you're happy to see nobody on base when he comes up," Washburn said.

Rodriguez, who leads the AL with eight homers and 26 RBI, grounded out leading off the second, then homered in the fourth following Hideki Matsui's double-play grounder, his fifth homer in 30 career at-bats against Washburn.

Rodriguez hit a hard single off the glove of third baseman Dallas McPherson with a runner on second base in the sixth. Then with man on in the eighth, he struck out against Scot Shields and threw his bat.

Both teams wasted chances, with the Angels going 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and the Yankees 1-for-9.

"We let some situations get away from us," New York manager Joe Torre said.

Getting a decision for the first time in five starts, Washburn allowed nine hits in 7 2-3 innings and prevented New York from stretching a winning streak to three for the first time this season. The Angels' infield helped him by turning three double plays, including one with the runner in motion, and McPherson made a diving stop on Derek Jeter's grounder, turning it into an inning-ending forceout in the seventh.

"Wash is at his best when he's changing speeds, hitting spots, taking a little bit off, putting a little on, moving the ball in and out, and he was able to do that tonight against a lineup that scored 12 runs last night," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.

Washburn also got some help in the first inning from Anderson. Jeter walked leading off, and Bernie Williams doubled down the left-field line. Anderson picked up the ball and threw to Jose Molina, who blocked the plate and made the tag.

"He took another step in proving he's the best left fielder in the game," Washburn said. "It's a good kind of momentum killer early in the game. This is a not a lineup you want to give any momentum to at all."

Jeter limped back to the dugout after Molina fell on the back of one of his legs, but said he was OK.

If third-base coach Luis Sojo had held Jeter, the Yankees would have had runners at second and third with no outs and Gary Sheffield, Matsui and Rodriguez coming up.

"I think he was a little overaggressive," Torre said of Sojo.

Mussina (1-2), whose ERA climbed to 4.97, allowed 10 hits in seven innings and is giving up hits at an alarming pace, 43 in 29 innings this year.

"That bothers me," he said. "But if you are not pitching well, and you're not as crisp as you want to be, you're going to give up hits."

Finley's homer, which made him 3-for-5 with two homers against Mussina in his career, followed Vladimir Guerrero's leadoff double and Anderson's RBI single.

"I haven't been making the pitches I've been able to in the past," Mussina said. "It'll come. It will get better."

[RLA68]

A lot of people want to tuck April away and forget about it. I do as well but we have to remember that the Angels and RedSox are likely teams we will need to go through to get back to the World Series. Baltimore likely will not stay at the top of the pack but you never know if their pitching hangs on and they make a trade for a decent arm, they have as good of an offense as almost anyone.

A stat was done on Moose's game pitched. The 1st time through the lineup the teams are not even batting .200 but the 2nd time it goes up over .350 and thrid time I think over .400. Moose is not fooling or overpowering anyone the 2nd time and on around. We need him to get right and give us some decent outings especially against good hitting clubs.

Where was the offense? This team should neve score les than 4 runs a game, IMO.