Torii Hunter, Angels 'Doing Something Different' In Playoffs This Year

When it comes to sports teams, the playoffs are hardly the time to start making changes.

But when it's the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim you're talking about, any new approach to the first round of the playoffs is a welcome change indeed.

Earlier this week, Angels center fielder Torii Hunter appeared on a local sports talk radio show to discuss the playoffs, declaring in no uncertain terms that the Angels will be “doing something different” this year.

He forcefully asserted that this year won't be like the past. And thank goodness.

Coming into this season, the Angels made postseason appearances in five of the previous eight years, and were promptly eliminated in the from the American League Division Series three of those times.

All three eliminations came at the hands of the Boston Red Sox.

In 2004 and 2008, the Angels held home field advantage over the Sox, thus making them the arguable “favorites” in the series. But it's never played out that way.

Last year, the Angels were also the winningest team in baseball heading into the playoffs, and yet they were still beaten like a drum.

We've all heard the numbers, but in case you've been living in a baseball-free bubble for the last 25 years, allow me to bring you up to speed.

The Angels are 1-9 this decade against the Red Sox in the postseason, and 4-13 all time in playoff contests.

Of course, it's only natural that we should face them in the first round of the playoffs again this year. 

Not that that fact hasn't escaped this team.

Hunter, the emotional leader of the Angels in the clubhouse and on the field, has already been his usual vocal self, claiming that this year things will be different. 

So, what's so different about this squad that might lead it to victory?

For starters, these guys are healthy.

In 2007, Gary Matthews, Jr., the starting center fielder at the time, came into postseason play with a badly damaged knee and was unable to perform up to expectations. 

Last year, Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero were working through their own ailments that kept them from being the big time run-producers that we're used to.

This year, the only issue even worth mentioning is Hunter's sore abdominal area, which will only require a day or two of rest before he goes full bore in the playoffs.

Guys like Kendry Morales, Erick Aybar, Chone Figgins, Bobby Abreu, and Juan Rivera have played these final few games down the stretch with a fire that we haven't seen since...well, ever.

Suddenly, the bats are heating up again as we get closer and closer to that fateful showdown with Beantown.

And in it's own way, it's just another example of what makes this year different: This squad is made of young, or relatively new, blood, most of which hasn't suffered the humiliation of playoffs past.

Rivera was just a bench player before this season. Morales only had a couple of cups of coffee in the big leagues. Abreu was off putting up Hall of Fame numbers in Philadelphia and New York.

Hunter did join the Angels for their nearly annual October beating last season, but he was busy winning Gold Gloves in Minnesota before that.

This Angel squad is full of guys who, for lack of a better phrase, don't know any better. Many are too young or haven't been starters long enough to remember the bad old days of first round sweeps.

All they know is that, despite being the division winners who face the Wild Card team, the Angels are still being talked about like the underdogs.

Many expect them to bend over once again to their Red Sock daddies. And that just isn't sitting right.

It's clear, this team is out to break its pathetic losing streak and punish Boston for all those years of humiliation and defeat, and nowhere was that more evident than in the deal for Scott Kazmir.

There are any number of reasons for why the Angels traded for Kazmir, be it the lack of a solid fifth starter or the uncertainty of John Lackey's situation next season, and all of them have merit.

But there were other pitchers who moved at the trade deadline, from Justin Masterson to Cliff Lee, who could have satisfied those requirements.

The Angels acquired Kazmir because of his success against the Boston Red Sox in his career, and although manager Mike Scioscia has not revealed his postseason plans, you can be sure Kaz will get the start in Game 3—at Boston.

Hunter is right, I think things will be different this year.

This is not the same Angels squad of old. They are more powerful, more patient at the plate, and more convinced than ever that they can overcome anything, with the death of Nick Adenhart still vivid in their minds.

The Boston Globe is picking the Red Sox in three.

I hate biased reporting.

I say the Angels in four.