Huge win for the Yankees last night as they beat the Angels 4-2 out in Anaheim to take a 1-0 lead in the Division Series. Mike Mussina–the good, if diminished version–gave the Yanks 5.2 scoreless innings, more than they had any right to expect, the team put together two two-out rallies, and suddenly the Yanks have swiped back the home field advantage they’ve spent too much time whining about Buck Showalter having taken from them.

Despite his 21-8, 3.48 ERA season, Bartolo Colon hasn’t had a lot of success against the Yanks, particularly as an Angel. Most memorably, he yielded three home runs to Alex Rodriguez on April 26, a game I had the pleasure to attend. In two years with Anaheim, he’s put up an 8.64 ERA against them in three starts, yielding a whopping nine homers in 16.2 innings.

When Colon struck out Rodriguez on a low two-seam fastball for the second out of the first inning, it looked like it might be a long night for the Yankees. Even when they managed three two-out singles in a row, he was pouring the ball into the zone for first-pitch strikes. But Robnson Cano’s two-strike, bases-clearing double–over the head of the glacially slow Garrett Anderson–changed the complexion of the game very early, allowing Mussina to take the mound with a generous lead.

Moose threw ball one to the first three hitters, but only Orlando Cabrera, who singled, could capitalize. The Angels hitters’ game plans seemed to be to get a good look at Mussina the first time through by taking pitches, but he was getting enough of the plate with his breaking stuff that the Angels ended up looking at looked at six strikes in the inning; even Vlad Guerrero, who hardly takes any pitch, watched two go by before grounding back to Moose.

The Yanks mounted another two out rally after Bernie Williams and Bubba Crosby both struck out; a Derek Jeter single, a painful-looking plunk in the back ribs of A-Rod and then a Jason Giambi double pushed the score to 4-0. The Angels had a chance to push back with a two-out rally of their own, but when Steve Finley’s shot into the rightfield corner bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, former Yankee Juan Rivera, who had singled just before Finley, was forced to stop at third. Huge. Adam Kennedy flied out to end the threat.

That Finley was even in the lineup against Mussina was surprising; in fact, Mike Scioscia’s lineup was questionable on many fronts. Finley had a thorougly miserable season, hitting just .222/.271/.374 and it took a lot of late-season work just to get those numbers that shiny. The lefty centerfielder hasn’t shown much of a platoon split in recent years (.252/.312/.452 vs. southpaws from 2002-2004, as compared to .268/.334/.468 against righties), but he was hopeless against them in 2005, hitting just .201/.252/.347 compared to .271/.317/.441 vs. lefties. Better for Scioscia to sit Finley in favor of playing the versatile Chone Figgins in centerfield and the rookie Maicer Izturis (.264/.316/.368) at third.

Bu the biggest mistake I saw in Scioscia was not including rookie Casey Kotchman in the lineup. Kotchman crushed righties to the tune of .286/.355/.551. Playing him at first base would have provided more power than Darin Erstad (.291/.337/.396 vs. righties) though admittedly not as much Special Veteran Sauce. Playing him at DH would have allowed Juan Rivera to play leftfield while Anderson (.261/.290/.429 vs. righties, and no great shakes healthwise) sat. Erstad and Anderson were big parts of Scioscia’s 2002 World Championship season, and he appears to be beholden to them at the expense of fielding the best lineup.

Anyway, after Finley’s double, Mussina allowed just one Angels hitter out of the next 12 to reach base. With two outs in the fifth, he gave up a single to Vlad Guerrero on an 0-2 pitch, and Joe Torre took the ball from him.

I began hyperventilating as Torre summoned Al Leiter to face Darin Erstad; bringing in a lefty to face Erstad (.244/.298/.316 against southpaws) was the right move except that the Yanks lack any decent ones out of the bullpen, as I’m sure you’ve heard Screamin’ Jay Jaffe rant about before (Jay is going to talk about himself in the third person for awhile, just to see what it feels like).

Leiter, of course, threw ball one. But he came back to get two strikes ina row on Erstad, the second of which he chased low and away. It apparently was a busted hit-and-run; Jorge Posada threw down to second, and though it appeared Derek Jeter actually missed the tag, he prevented the ump from getting a clear view, and sold the call adequately. Inning over, Leiter off the hook. Huge.

Leiter stuck around to finish off Erstad the next inning, then Tanyon Sturtze came on, apparently for the sole purpose of allowing Bengie Molina to take him over the wall. Sturtze is cooked; his velocity is off, his durability is shot, and frankly, I thought Torre had the right idea when he was warming up Aaron Small in the sixth. Bumped from the rotation by experience rather than any performance shortcoming, Small is a fresher arm at this stage of the season, and I’d rather see him than Sturtze or Felix Rodriguez in the sixth or seventh. In any event, Torre brining in a rested Tom Gordon was even better; Gordon got the next four outs to hand the baton to Mariano Rivera.

Mo didn’t have an easy inning; Robinson Cano made two plays which nearly negated his offensive contributions. After Anderson flied out and Guerrero took a rare walk, Vlad stole second. Erstad chopped one which bounced high in front of the plate and then just in front of Cano, who tried to backhand the ball rather than getting in front of it to keep it in the infield. Guerrero raced around to score, bringing the tying run to the plate in Molina. Now, Molina has a three-run homer off of Rivera under his belt from a game last May (I was at that game but left during the second rain delay and watched the end from home), but he runs like a burly catcher; Joe Sheehan calls him the slowest player in baseball and he may be right.

When Molina grounded to Jeter at short, it looked as though the game might end on a double play. Jeter went into the hole and made a fine play throwing across his body to Cano, but the second baseman hesitated on the pivot, and Molina was safe, keeping the game alive. Kotchman pinch-hit for Rivera, a move Sheehan assailed:

Then Scioscia compounded his error by sending up Kotchman for Juan Rivera. This made no sense whatsoever; if Juan Rivera is the player you want starting the game at DH against Mussina, he’s the player you want batting against Mariano Rivera in the ninth. Scioscia has been managing in the AL for five years; he has to be aware that Rivera chews up left-handed batters but is a bit more susceptible to righties, especially righties with some pop. If you’re determined to get Kotchman an at-bat, have him hit for DP Concentrate a batter earlier. Using him for Juan Rivera probably decreased the Angels’ chances of winning the game, chances that dropped to zero when Kotchman popped weakly to Alex Rodriguez.

We’re 163 games into the season, and if you haven’t yet figured out who your best players are, you’re not likely to get religion now. The Angels desperately need Kotchman’s bat in the lineup, even if it means upsetting guys with higher salaries and more service time. Scioscia, a good manager in many respects, has to work through his loyalty issues and put his best lineup on the field.

What he said. Thus the Yankees stole the first game of the series, and having done so, I like their chances more than I did a day ago. The Angels may have depth and versatility, but if it’s not deployed correctly, it doesn’t do much good.

It’s a 10 PM game tonight here on the East Coast, which means I’ll probably be watching from a bar with Nick instead of puttering around with my TiVo, my wireless headphones, and my laptop. Chien-Ming Wang faces John Lackey, who had a very good season, striking out 199 batters with a 2.8 K/BB ratio and a 3.44 ERA. At 26, Lackey’s already a seasoned veteran, having started Game Seven of the 2002 World Series as a rookie. he’s been on a roll since the All-Star break, with a 2.57 ERA and an 8-1 record. He’s had a bit of success against the Yanks this year (2.53 ERA in 11.2 innings), but they’ve beaten him pretty soundly in the past (6.34 in 38.1 innings); I think you have to throw the latter data out the window because he’s definitely coming into his own this year. BP’s Support Neutral stats show Lackey as the 10th-best pitcher in the AL this year, 5.5 wins above replacement level. Colon was second at 6.7, while the top Yankee starter, Randy Johnson, finished sandwiched between Lackey and tentative Game Four starter Jarrod Washburn.

Facing another righty in Wang, the key for the Angels is whether Scioscia makes some adjustments, particularly getting Kotchman’s bat in the lineup. If he doesn’t, you have to like the Yanks’ chances all the more.

The critical point I would make about the Yanks is that with Wang on the mound, the defense (Robbie Cano, I’m looking in your direction) needs to be on its best behavior. The Angels beat the Yanks in the Division Series three years ago by putting the ball in play against a shaky defense to the point of madness, and while the Yanks are better with the leather now, they can ill afford to give anybody an extra out here and there.