Five keys to tonight's Yankees-Angels Game 5

1. Pitching through pain

	Derek Jeter and the Yankees came back on Sunday night to force a Game 5. AP
	Best Division Series Game 5s 1. Yankees-Mariners, 1995 SoDo Mojo was born as 57,000 fans packed the Kingdome to see the M's win in the bottom of the 11th on a two-run double by Edgar Martinez. The Big Unit pitched three innings of relief. 2. Red Sox-Indians, 1999 The Red sox trailed 8-7 after three innings before Pedro Martinez came in to shut out the Indians for the final six frames. Boston's offense rallied for a 12-8 win. 3. Giants-Braves, 2002 Barry Bonds put his reputation as a postseason choke artist to bed, hitting a home run and scoring twice in a 3-1 San Francisco victory. 4. Cardinals-D'backs, 2001 Curt Schilling threw a complete-game gem and then watched Tony Womack win it for the D'backs on a walkoff single in the ninth. 5. Red Sox-A's, 2003 Derek Lowe had to pitch the ninth inning for the relief-challenged Red Sox, who also got a three-run blast from Manny Ramirez to key a 4-3 comeback win.

Each club will place its fate on a banged-up starting pitcher, with Bartolo Colon (sore back) and Mike Mussina (elbow strain) staging a rematch of Game 1, which the Yankees won 4-2. Despite their ailing starters, both clubs have reasons to be optimistic. Pitching on six days' rest in Game 1, Mussina shut out the Angels for 5 2/3 innings and earned the victory. He'll be throwing on five days' rest tonight. Colon struggled early in Game 1, allowing four runs in the first two innings, but came back to hold the Yankees scoreless for the next five frames. Preventing early runs will be especially critical tonight because managers Joe Torre and Mike Scioscia won't be shy about using their best relievers for long stretches, which leads us to key No. 2 ...

2. Call to the pen

As he showed in pulling John Lackey early in Game 4, Scioscia has an unwavering faith in the back end of his bullpen. He'll go to it early and often, and he'll have a fully rested Francisco Rodriguez (he hasn't pitched since Friday) ready for extended duty. The Yankees are in worse shape here because Mariano Rivera had to go two innings (36 pitches) last night in an elimination game and top setup man Tom Gordon has been a gasoline can the past two postseasons (11.0 IP, 7.36 ERA, three HRs).

3. Calling All-Stars

New York's most dangerous bat has been rookie Robinson Cano, who leads the Bombers with five RBIs. That's five more than Alex Rodriguez. But at least A-Rod has an alibi; six walks indicate he's been pitched around consistently. What's Gary Sheffield's excuse? He looks more like the guy who went 1-for-16 and 2-for-14 in consecutive postseasons for the Braves a couple of years ago instead of the wrecking ball who led the Yankees to the brink of the World Series last October. Meanwhile, the Angels have to be wondering when Vladimir Guerrero will show up this postseason. The reigning AL MVP has zero extra-base hits.

4. Bad News Yankees

During both of their losses to the Angels, the Yankees failed to execute basic plays on defense and it came back to haunt them. A-Rod's Game 2 blunder and Cano coming off the bag in Game 3 were the most glaring miscues. With their potent offense, the Yankees don't have to make outstanding plays with their gloves, but they do have to make the routine plays or risk exposing their less-than-overwhelming pitching staff.

5. The Clemens Factor

Roger Clemens atoned for his poor start in Game 2 for the Astros by throwing three innings of scoreless relief in a series-clinching win against the Braves yesterday. That was on two days' rest. Now the stage is set for Randy Johnson to step up in the same way for the Yankees. Johnson threw only 62 pitches in his Game 3 loss on Friday and you can bet he was watching the Rocket's act yesterday from the Yankees clubhouse. For the Angels, Paul Byrd should be available after throwing 77 pitches in an ineffective Game 3 start and Jarrod Washburn might be called upon after his Game 4 scratch.

Prediction

This is the Yankees' series to lose. They will play a fundamentally sound game on defense and Torre will keep his best pitchers on the mound (Mussina-Johnson-Rivera). Come tomorrow, the Yankees will wake up in Chicago.