VENUE: Angel Stadium of Anaheim
Joe Torre was never a huge fan of interleague play from his days managing the New York Yankees in the Subway Series. Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia, however, certainly enjoyed playing against NL clubs last season - particularly the Dodgers.
Torre will manage the Dodgers in his first Freeway Series on Friday night when they visit Scioscia's Angels in the opener of a three-game set.
In his 12 years managing the Yankees, Torre grew to dislike playing the New York Mets in the regular season, as he felt his generally stronger club had little to gain and much to lose in the always-hyped encounters. He also felt the regular season matchups lost meaning after the teams met in the 2000 World Series.
The Southern California rivalry between the Dodgers (21-19) and Angels is different, though, as the teams have never met in the postseason.
While this rivalry may be new to Torre, facing the Angels isn't. The Angels went 61-55 against Torre's Yankees from 1996-2007 - making them the only AL team with a winning record against him in that span - and also eliminated New York from the first round of the playoffs in 2002 and 2005.
"I'm never comfortable watching that team," Torre told the Dodgers' official Web site. "They have too many weapons they come at you with in a lot of different ways."
Scioscia's club went 14-4 in interleague play last season, matching Detroit for the best record in baseball. That included a 5-1 mark against the Dodgers, who managed only 10 runs in those games.
Scioscia played his entire 13-year career with the Dodgers.
"Mike's done a great job," Torre said. "He has a plan, he's very well-prepared. They have a personality as to how they play the game. As a catcher, he knows what type of club is hard to deal with."
The Dodgers went 5-10 in interleague play in 2007 and have won just four times in their last 27 interleague road games. They've also dropped eight of their last nine in Anaheim.
After losing five straight overall, the Dodgers bounced back by winning the final two games of their series in Milwaukee, including a 7-2 victory Thursday. Juan Pierre went 6-for-15 in the series after suffering through a 2-for-18 slump in his previous five games.
The Angels (24-19) have lost six of their last eight, but have a hot hitter in Garret Anderson, whose 208 interleague hits rank fifth all-time. Anderson is batting .469 (15-for-32) in his last 10 games after going 2-for-4 in a 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
The Dodgers will give 33-year-old Japanese rookie Hiroki Kuroda (1-2, 3.59) his ninth start. Kuroda hasn't received a decision in four straight outings, although the right-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning Sunday and ended up allowing one run and one hit in an 8-5 loss to Houston.
"When you are pitching a close game with a no-hitter on top of it, it takes a lot more out of you," Torre said. "We finally got a pitcher who pitched as well as Kuroda did today and it didn't stand up."
The Angels will counter with Joe Saunders (6-1, 2.48), who suffered his first loss Saturday despite allowing just one run and four hits over six innings of a 2-0 defeat to Tampa Bay.
The left-hander has never faced the Dodgers. He'll be making his second career interleague start.
Sunny. Pleasantly warm.
