ALDS Game 1: Red Sox vs. Angels

The first round is a best of five series. My original thoughts on this series: Angels win it in four.
Scouting Report:

Red Sox: Once ace Josh Beckett strained his right oblique, Lester was the obvious choice to open the postseason for Boston. Lester has been a durable force all year. He led the Red Sox in quality starts (20) and innings (210 1/3). The highlight of Lester's season was his no-hitter on May 19 against the Royals. He finished the season strong, allowing two hits and a run over six innings against the Indians. In September, Lester went 4-1 with a 2.14 ERA. The lefty held opponents to a .256 average. He pitched just once against the Angels this season, giving up nine hits and four runs over five innings on April 23. But Lester had to make that start on three days rest because of injuries and illness to the rest of the rotation.

Gary Matthews Jr has two HRs in six at-bats against Lester. The Angels current roster is 27-74 (.365 BA) with nine doubles, two HRs and 14 RBIs. Lester has four career starts against the Angels and is 1-1 in 19.2 innings. He has given up a whopping 33 hits and 17 runs over that stretch while walking nine. That gives him an ERA of 7.78 and a WHIP of 2.14 (that's how many baserunners in an inning). The Angels have a .393 batting average on him historically, but as you can see above, the current roster is not as good...

Angels: Lackey allowed a career-worst 10 runs over 2 2/3 innings against the Rangers on Friday in what was supposed to be a final tuneup before his Game 1 start against the Red Sox on Wednesday. But it wasn't indicative of the way the big right-hander has been throwing this season and was just a bad start in an otherwise meaningless game. Lackey, who is 3-6 with a 5.54 ERA against Boston in his career, appeared to turn it around against the Red Sox this season. He went 2-0 with a 2.81 ERA against Boston and carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning at Fenway Park on July 29. It will be interesting to see what version of Lackey shows up on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.

Sox to Watch:

• David Ortiz: 10-30 with 3 doubles, a triple, 2 HRs and 9 RBIs
• Kevin Youkilis: 5-17 (.294 BA) with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs
• JD Drew: 5-16 (.313 BA) with a double, a triple, and a RBI
• Dustin Pedroia: 5-12 (.417 BA) with 2 doubles

The current roster is 56-224 (.250 BA) with 15 doubles, 2 triples, 6 HRs, and 20 RBIs.

Forecast: I really like the Angels in this one. They have the numbers and right now, I think I will stick with that. Red Sox drop this one, 7-4.

Home Plate