5 Questions About The Red Sox/Angels Series With Halos Heaven

The Boston Red Sox are the defending World Champions but they are limping into the playoffs as the Wild Card and will have their hands full in the first round with the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels have the best record in baseball 100-62 and are the favorite to represent the American League in the Fall Classic.

Rev. Halofan publishes extremely popular L.A. Angels fansite Halos Heaven and I had the opportunity to ask him five questions about the Angels and this series. Well, four questions and a prediction. Here we go.

1. The Angels had such an enormous lead in the AL West that they were able cruise through the last half of the season. Are you at all afraid that they'll not be able to "turn it on" for the Red Sox series?

Rev: Scioscia is great for playing one game at a time. They should be rested and ready. It is a very professional squad.

2. John Lackey takes the mound for game one followed by Santana and Saunders in games two and three before the rotation starts over. Are you confident in that rotation or would you rather see another pitcher put in there to try to preserve arms?

Rev: Those are our three best, Sciosica is maximizing the big game pitchers, he would not have gotten much more with a four man rotation and quite possibly would have gotten less, now he has a much deeper bullpen and a strong 1-2-3.

3. The way I see it the Angels have the edge in hitting and pitching but I'd give the Red Sox's the nod in team defense. How do you see it?

Rev: With Erick Aybar and Torii Hunter I give the defensive nod to the Angels as well. Hitting and pitching are close, but them not being in Fenway fr the 1st two games of the series will help us to be sure!

4. Vladimir Guerrero leads the team in just about every offensive category (.303 Average, 27 HR's, 91 RBI's, 85 Runs) except for stolen bases which goes to Chone Figgins (34). Who are some of the other guys you expect to have an offensive impact on this series?

Rev: Look for Mark Teixeira to make Scott Boras proud and kill the ball. Gary Matthews is heating up and has a LOT to prove. Mike Napoli is sizzling with the bat coming into October. outside fo the bats, though, Jose Arredondo is a stealthy middle reliever with some ridiculous numbers. He will make the Rookie of the Year voters reconsider those cast ballots.

5. Give us a prediction!

Rev: Angels in 4 and that is just being nice, we have won 8 straight from them this season, including 3-game sweeps in Fenway and in Anaheim so if I cannot be confident now I can never be confident!

Thanks for your time, Rev Halofan! You can find the latest playoff news, information and opinions on the Angels as well as participate in their game threads at Halos Heaven.