It's the Rally Monkey versus the Rally Karaoke Guy. California glitz and glamour versus old time Boston tradition. But who has the better baseball team?
Offense: Anaheim's offense carried them to victory in the 2002 World Series, but this year Boston has scored more runs than any team in baseball. Boston is led by its sluggers Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, but the Red Sox also have tremendous depth. Every batter in the lineup is a very tough out (except when little Pokey Reese plays).
Angels right fielder Vlad Guerrero is an MVP candidate and the only offensive superstar in Anaheim's lineup. The Halos lost their second most consistent bat when they suspended outfielder Jose Guillen for the rest of the season and playoffs for a variety of disciplinary problems. Most recently, Guillen went on a tirade when manager Mike Scioscia replaced him with a pinch runner; who is this guy, Carl Everett Jr.?
The Angels have a lot of ordinary hitters. Troy Glaus is normally a masher, but he hasn't been the same since coming back from shoulder surgery.
Then there's Chone "Shawn" Figgins, who will probably see time at second and third base in the series due to injuries to Glaus and second baseman Adam Kennedy (who is done for the season due to knee problems). Chone is a useful little guy, but he's far from the MVP that ESPN "analyst" John Kruk makes him out to be. That's no joke; Kruk actually wrote an article where he claimed Figgins was the most valuable player in baseball. It was the kind of article that you had to read to the very end to make sure it wasn't all a complete joke. It wasn't. Moving on ...
Defense: The Nomar Garciaparra trade allowed Boston to vastly upgrade its defense with midseason. An infield defense of Bill Mueller at third, Orlando Cabrera at shortstop, Reese at second and Doug Mientkiewicz at first simply cannot be beat.
In the outfield Manny and Trot Nixon are decent while Johnny Damon's range in center is a tremendous asset. Jason Varitek is always solid behind the plate.
Anaheim has a few question marks on defense. First of all, there is a giant hole at second base because of the injury to Kennedy. Figgins will probably spend some time there, as well as at third. Darin Erstad does a good job at first, and David Eckstein won't kill them at shortstop.
Guerrero has an incredible arm in right field, but his range is only average. The rest of the Angels outfielders also have average range. Benjy Molina is the bright spot for Anaheim. He has won back-to-back Gold Gloves thanks to his ability to gun down would-be base-stealers.
Starting Pitching: Boston's biggest strength is its starting pitching. Curt Schilling is simply dominant. Pedro Martinez isn't the same pitcher he was a few years ago, or even last year, but he's still better than anyone on the Angels. Bronson Arroyo has been consistently solid all season, and he'll start Game Three. The Sox will go with Tim Wakefield, who has been inconsistent, in Game Four.
Kelvim Escobar has easily been the best starter for Anaheim, but he won't be ready to pitch until Game Three at the earliest, because he had to start Saturday to make sure Anaheim made the playoffs. Bartolo Colon has been better recently, but overall he's had a terrible season. So has every other Angel starting pitcher. John Lackey is bad and so is Jarrod Washburn. Teams can be successful in the playoffs without dominant starting pitching (see 2002 Angels), but it's hard to be successful with terrible starting pitching.
Bullpen: Here is the area where Anaheim has a very clear advantage. Angels setup man Fransisco Rodriguez has been incredible, striking out over 13 batters per nine innings. Troy Percival continues to be a solid closer, while Brendan Donnelly and Scott Shields are both very good pitchers who can come in during the sixth or seventh inning to get key outs.
Boston has Keith Foulke and not much else in the bullpen. The injury to setup man Scott Williamson was a devastating blow to the Sox. Without Williamson, Boston will be forced to use the relatively mediocre duo of Mike Timlin and Alan Embree to get to Foulke. If Derek Lowe can regain his old form out of the bullpen, then Boston might be able to solve its bullpen problems for this short series.
Coaching: Here is another area where Anaheim has the advantage. Scioscia has done a marvelous job with Anaheim. He clearly has control of the team, and his tactical skills seem pretty good.
Terry Francona has been derided as another Grady Little, but he's actually done a pretty good job for Boston. The players like him and he manages the pitching staff better than Grady (though that isn't much of a compliment). Still, Scioscia's playoff experience gives him the edge.
Prediction: Boston in four. Their combination of starting pitching, offense and defense will be too much for the injured and suspension-depleted Angels.
