Angels-Sox Playoff Preview

On paper, the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels of In-N-Out look evenly matched.  Both boast solid pitching staffs - Boston had a 1.33 WHIP this season compared to 1.32 WHIP for the Rally Monkeys.  Both field a lineup filled with some devastating power hitters whether its Torii Hunter (112 OPS+), Mark Teixeira (153 OPS+) and Vladimir Guerrero (131 OPS+) for the LA Smogs or Ortiz (125 OPS+), Youkilis (145 OPS+) and Mighty Mouse (123 OPS+) for the Sox. In the regular season, the 405s crushed the Turnpikes, winning 8-of-9 matchups.  On to the specifics:

Batting

By the numbers, the Sox have the better offense (.805 OPS compared to .743 OPS), but there are a lot of uncertainties about the Sox lineup.  Mike Lowell (105 OPS+)  and JD Drew (139 OPS+) are both struggling with minor injuries but hope to play.  Jason Bay (129 OPS+) has been great down the stretch, but as the chattering classes can't help but point out, he has no postseason experience.

Teixeira was a great pickup, but the Angels are not a particularly deep lineup.  Nobody is going to be quaking over the bats of Chone "Shawn" Figgins and Erick "Eric" Aybar.  By comparison, Sox role players such as Lowrie, Crisp and Ellsbury have all had more productive years.  

Pitching

The Angels can take solace in the fact that they have one of the more dangerous rotations in baseball.  Game One will feature the Battle of the Jo(h)ns with Lackey (116 ERA+, 1.231 WHIP) facing Lester (143 ERA+, 1.274 WHIP).  Lackey has had past difficulties with the playoff Sox, and he has been fading down the stretching giving up 19 earned runs in his last four starts.

Game Two features a matchup between The Other Santana (125 ERA+, 1.119 WHIP) and Daisuke "The Magician" Matsuzaka (158 ERA+, 1.324 WHIP).  Dice-K has been keeping his walks down as of late and (oddly enough) pitches better on the road.

Game Three features Joe Saunders (128 ERA+, 1.212 WHIP) against Josh Beckett (114 ERA+, 1.187 WHIP), who has been sending oblique signals (he he) about his possible abdomen strain.  As we all know, Beckett has "October" tattooed on his backside;  he has the fourth lowest postseason WHIP of all-time at 0.750.

One of the marquee matchups is the dueling closers, Francisco "The Less Douchy Hyphen-Rod" Rodriguez (195 ERA+, 1.288 WHIP) and Jonathan Papelbon (196 ERA+, 0.952 WHIP).  Both are dominant at their position.  Some crazy folks have even suggested K-Rod win the MVP.  If all else fails, these two can have a "sprint off the mound and assume bizarre celebratory poses" competition.

A lot of people are making a lot of hay about the fact that the Angels won 100 games.  Yet as King Kaufman has pointed out, since the 1998 Yankees, none of 13 teams that won 100 or more games has gone on to clinch the championship and only three have made it to the series.  Let me also point out that while 100 wins is impressive, its less awe inspiring when you realize that the Angels play the Rangers, A's and Mariners nineteen times apiece.

In any event, the series should be close.  It should be well pitched and low scoring.  I agree that it will go the limit.  I will take the Sox in five.