Angels Playoff Preview, Part 1: Boston Red Sox

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim recently wrapped up the AL West for the 4th time in five years, and in doing so have gained absolutely no media attention.

Maybe its because they've lost nine straight playoff games to the Boston Red Sox.

Maybe it's because they play out west.

Maybe it's because they are built for the regular season, and not the post season.

Whatever the reason, these Angels have put together what is undoubtedly their strongest team in years, quite possibly even better than their upstart 2002 World Series champs team.

Is it enough to break their post season woes?

Let's look at some potential match ups for this years Playoffs:

Angels Vs. Boston
Truth be told this is still a scary match up. While the Angels finally seemed to figure out how to beat this team in the regular season, going 8-1 against the Red Sox this year, the Red Sox absolutely own the Angels in the post-season.

This year might be different however. Angels Ace John Lackey seems to have finally figured out how to pitch at Fenway. Granted he's been roughed up there in the past, but he took a no hitter 8 1/3 innings in fenway this year, against Josh Beckett, and the Angels bats made Beckett look less than godly, though still mostly superhuman. Beckett is having an off year numbers wise, which is saying something because his numbers are still uber-impressive. Beckett (12-9, 3.96 era) is still probably the best current post season pitcher in baseball, and is always an uphill battle. From Beckett, though, the Red Sox rotation drops off somewhat with Lester, Dice-K, etc.

A five game series with that staff is still scary scary stuff.

Beyond pitching, the Red Sox tried to add by subtracting this year when they shipped disgruntled Left Fielder, and perennial Angel killer Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers in a three team deal that landed Jason Bay. Bay's numbers have been solid, but Manny is batting .401 with 45 RBI's and 14 home runs in 44 games since joining the Dodgers.

David Ortiz is still regaining his form, but don't be fooled:

This Boston team can hurt you 1-9.

Mike Scioscia's Angels will counter this year with a pretty impressive assortment all their own. From the Pitching perspective, after Lackey, the Halos will most likely stick with a rotation of Santana, Saunders, and Garland.

Santana hit the 200 strike outs plateau earlier this month, and he and Saunders both were first time AL All stars this year. Weaver is probably pen bound, but is a great talent.Struggling reliever Justin Speier  will, in all likelihood be left off the post season roster for the first round. That leaves rookies Jason Bulger and Kevin Jepsen along with veteran lefty Darren Oliver are probably the front runners though additional pitchers are getting looks, too. Jepsen has only thrown 4 major league innings in his career but hasn't given up any runs and has a few K's notched. Bulger appeared to be the front runner until he was roughed up badly allowing walk after walk after walk in last nights Halo loss in Oakland. Time will tell on the state of the pen.

Closer Francisco Rodriguez also set the single season saves record this season, formerly 57 by Bobby Thigpen in 1990, at 58 and counting. While this is a somewhat inflated stat for the young closer, it still adds some late inning oomph to a solid bullpen.

The bats this year are different, too. Last years Angels limped into the post season so banged up that Left Fielder Garrett Anderson play two games against Boston with Pink Eye, one eye almost completely shut. At one point, with the bases loaded, Reggie Willits was the Angels clean up hitter. Known for his speed, Reggie STILL hasn't hit a Major League Home run.

This year is different.

After signing center fielder Torii Hunter, an offensive threat and defensive artist extraordinaire in a surprise move this off-season, they Angels also shipped 1B Casey Kotchman to Atlanta for potential rent-a-slugger Mark Teixeira. Since joining the Angels, Tex is batting .342 with 10 home runs and 34 RBI's in 42 games. With youngsters Brandon Wood and Sean Rodriguez finally seeming to have turned the page on their careers, The Halos have significantly more pop than last year, and even more than the beginning of the year. Vlad Guerrero had a rough first half but is back on track to finish with 25 homers and a .300 average for the 10th straight season.

All in all, the ownership and management made a few statements this year with trades and acquisitions, signalling that they are all about winning now.

This year.

They're going for it.

Let's see if they get there.