Derek Jeter: Angels are all that and ‘the monkey’

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The Yankees went 5-5 against the Angels this season. That was pretty good for the boys from New York, considering they have not won a season series from the Angels since 2003.

They even won a three-game series in Anaheim, for the first time in five years, prompting Derek Jeter to say the Yankees no longer needed to hear questions about the Angels.

‘Now you’ve got questions?’ Jeter jokingly asked this afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

Not that he didn’t understand.

‘It was good for us to go out there and play well,’ he said. ‘It has no bearing on this series.’

Jeter said the great teams do not beat themselves.

‘For as long as I can remember, when we play Anaheim, they don’t beat themselves,’ he said.

What do the Angels do to bedevil the Yankees?

‘They run well. They hit well. They pitch well,’ Jeter said. ‘They’ve got a great manager. Where else can I go?’

He paused, briefly.

‘They’ve got the monkey,’ he said.

-- Bill Shaikin

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For more on the Angels and Yankees, check out the Angels Unplugged blog.