Series Preview: Angels at Red Sox (4/13-4/15)


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The Boston Red Sox, coming off a two-game split of a rain-shorted series with Seattle, now welcome the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim into Fenway Park for a four-game set. The weather seems like it will cooperate for the weekend, so there should be no problems getting all four in over the next few days. The Red Sox come into the series at 4-4, having been extremely inconsistent at the plate so far. In the two games with Seattle, they scored 14 runs one day and were one-hit the next. The Angels currently lead the AL West at 6-4, but dropped two of three to the Cleveland Indians in their "home opener" in Milwaukee. Both teams have had good performances from their pitching staff so far this year, but neither offense has really hit its stride. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz for the Red Sox and Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Matthews Jr. for the Angels all need to start producing soon or their teams will be in some early trouble. Let's take a closer look at each game in the series.

Game 1

John Lackey (LAA)	VS.	Tim Wakefield (BOS)

(2-0, 0.75)		(0-1, 1.50)

John Lackey has lived up to his newfound 'ace' status so far this season, having pitched exceptionally well in his first two starts of the season. Over 12 innings pitched, Lackey has allowed only 2 runs (1 earned) while striking out 11 and walking only 4. Wakefield was supposed to pitch Thursday against the Mariners in the rained-out game, so he will go on an extra day of rest. Not that it really matters for the knuckleballer -- he just goes out there and pitches no matter what. The Red Sox have got to give him more run support then they did last year for him to be an effective starter, something they did not accomplish in his last start, a 2-0 loss against the Texas Rangers in which Wake actually pitched quite well. However, the Sox will have their work cut out for them for the second game in a row, facing another one of the AL's hottest pitchers (after Felix Hernandez).

Game 2

Kelvim Escobar (LAA)	VS.	Curt Schilling (BOS)

(1-1, 3.18)		(1-1, 4.91)

Curt Schilling is coming off a strong start in his second appearance of the season, a fairly dominant outing against Texas. He seemed to have much better control of his fastball than he did opening day against Kansas City, which is to say that he had control of it. The Boston ace needs to put together another good start to continue to keep his confidence up. Kelvim Escobar lost his last start against Oakland, but has also defeated Texas this season. He has had fairly good success against most of the current Red Sox players, although Ortiz and Wily Mo Pena have both homered off of him in the past. Escobar has been wildly inconsistent throughout his career, and has yet to find a stable role in either the starting rotation or the bullpen, so the Angels will most likely be very interested in his next few starts.

Game 3

Ervin Santana (LAA)	VS.	Josh Beckett (BOS)

(1-1, 6.35)		(2-0, 1.50)

The other Santana has been mentioned in a lot of trade rumors over the past offseason or two, but he has so far remained with the Angels, occasionally showing flashes of greatness, if not the sublime success of Johan. Cleveland knocked him around hard during his last start, putting up 6 ER in 4 1/3 innings pitched while drawing four walks. The Red Sox will be looking to take advantage of his inconsistency, and his control problems do not bode well against a patient team like Boston. Josh Beckett has been far and away the best pitcher for the Sox so far this season, and Boston fans are fervently hoping that the problems with the long ball which plagued him last year have come and gone as he gets more accustomed to the AL. On Tuesday he became only the second American-born pitcher to strike Ichiro Suzuki out swinging three times in a single game in his win over Seattle. Can he continue throwing beebees out there?

Game 4

Jered Weaver (LAA)	VS.	Julian Tavarez (BOS)

(NR)		(0-1, 9.00)

The annual Patriot's Day morning game in Boston features the season debut of Jered Weaver, the younger, better, and more handsome brother of Jeff Weaver. All of those things considered, the Red Sox hope that they can put the same sort of hurt on the younger Weaver as they did the elder, as they hung 7 runs on Jeff in the first two innings on Tuesday. Jered started off the year on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis. Julian Tavarez, despite some strong starts for Boston down the stretch in 2006, figures to be simply keeping the 5th spot in the rotation warm for Jon Lester, who should be ready to join the big club in early May after a complete recovery from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma which sidelined him midway through the 2006 campaign after a strong start. Tavarez is pretty much good for only 5 innings at best, so manager Terry Francona had better hope the other starters can go deep into games over the rest of the series to keep the bullpen rested.

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