Angels’ Scioscia Planning Lineup Tweaks

Photo from AP Photo

After his team absorbed a 4-1 loss to the Red Sox in Game 1 of the American League Division Series Wednesday night, Angels manager Mike Scioscia said yesterday he would consider some “minor adjustments” to his lineup, no doubt in hopes of avoiding an 11th consecutive playoff loss to the Sox.

“We’re considering a few things and the core of our lineup will remain the same,” Scioscia said. “We have a lot of confidence in what our guys can do on the offensive side, and if you look at the last 60 or 70 games that we played, I think you saw an offense that can grind it out or hit the home run and break games open.”

Against Jon Lester, that was not the case. Despite getting nine hits (six off Lester), the Angels were unable to manufacture more than one run, which came in the third inning when Torii Hunter hit a single to left that scored Garret Anderson for a 1-0 lead. The lack of production from the bottom third of the order was stark: 0 for 9 with three strikeouts against Lester.

Among the tweaks Scioscia was considering were in the outfield.

“Well, the field is cut down a little bit with Vlad [Guerrero] DHing, and the bats we’re going to look at are either Gary Matthews or Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales,” Scioscia said. “I don’t think it’s going to come down to one player. As far as the whole lineup, we need to pressure teams every inning and it’s going to have to be as a cohesive unit, and if one player brings continuity, sure, it can have an impact.”

Full Story: Boston.com