If the season ended today, the LA Angels would take on post-season rival Boston in the first round of the playoffs. The Devil Rays would battle the White Sox in the other ALDS. Back in 2005, Chicago beat the Halos 4 games to 1 in the ALCS in one of the most frustrating playoff series' in Angels' history. LA won the first game 3-2 at Chicago, and then the White Sox rotation completely shut down the Angel lineup as Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Freddy Garcia and Jose Contreras threw back-to-back-to-back-to-back complete games.
This is a very different White Sox team. The starting rotation, with Buehrle, former Rangers farmhand John Danks, Javier Vazquez, former Phillie Gavin Floyd and old man Contreras, is very good, but not as good as the Angels starters. And, now it appears that they will be without AL home run leader Carlos Quentin.
This week, Quentin lost his temper, slammed his right closed fist against the head of his bat, and before you know it, a guy with 36 homers and 100 RBIs is likely through for the year. Add to that the revelation that 3B Joe Crede is probably gone for the year, and you've got a team that will be dramatically weakened if they survive the stretch run. The Twins are only 1 1/2 games back.
Before the Angels would ever play the ChiSox, they would have to get by Boston. The Red Sox ace returned from the DL Friday against Texas, and he was supposed to throw 55-60 pitches against Texas. Instead, he threw 80 pitches, went 5 innings, allowed 4 hits (all singles) and struck out 7 for his 12th win. Beckett tossed a complete game shutout in game 1 of last year's ALDS against the Angels, and he's 6-2 with a 1.73 ERA in his postseason career. The Halos will probably see him twice in the first round.
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