Tomorrow, The Halo Is Lit will be teaming up with an excellent Red Sox blog, SoxBlog, to bring more analysis of the up-coming playoff series featuring our takes on each team's strengths and our predictions on who will win. But until then, I wanted to take a quick look at the position-by-position match-ups for the first round of the playoffs.
Projected batting orders:
Red Sox | Angels | |||
Jacoby Ellsbury | CF | Figgins | 3B | |
Dustin Pedroia | 2B | Anderson | LF | |
David Ortiz | DH | Mark Teixeira | 1B | |
Kevin Youkilis | 1B | Vlad Guerrero | RF | |
J.D. Drew | RF | Torii Hunter | CF | |
Jason Bay | LF | Juan Rivera | DH | |
Mike Lowell | 3B | Howie Kendrick | 2B | |
Alex Cora | SS | Mike Napoli | C | |
Jason Varitek | C | Erick Aybar | SS |
(Note: the two stat lines for each player is season total and career numbers against the opposing team's current pitchers)
Catcher |
|||||||||
Mike Napoli | Jason Varitek | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Napoli - 2008 | 227 | 62 | 20 | 49 | .273 | .374 | .586 | ||
vs Red Sox | 24 | 4 | 2 | 5 | .167 | .200 | .458 | ||
Varitek - 2008 | 423 | 93 | 13 | 43 | .220 | .313 | .359 | ||
vs Angels | 116 | 24 | 2 | 14 | .207 | .336 | .302 |
Napoli has been on fire the last month of the season and ended the season with pretty good numbers after starting the season splitting time with Jeff Mathis. Jason Varitek started the season well, but tailed of in June and July.
1B |
|||||||||
Mark Teixeira | Kevin Youkilis | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Teixeira - 2008 | 574 | 177 | 33 | 121 | .308 | .410 | .552 | ||
vs Red Sox | 87 | 19 | 2 | 10 | .218 | .292 | .368 | ||
Youkilis - 2008 | 538 | 168 | 29 | 115 | .312 | .390 | .569 | ||
vs Angels | 93 | 27 | 5 | 15 | .290 | .350 | .505 |
These two players match up pretty closely, a lot closer than I would have thought after watching Teixeira do his thing.
2B |
|||||||||
Howie Kendrick | Dustin Pedroia | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Kendrick - 2008 | 340 | 104 | 3 | 37 | .306 | .333 | .421 | ||
vs Red Sox | 44 | 16 | 0 | 6 | .364 | .404 | .455 | ||
Pedroia - 2008 | 653 | 213 | 17 | 83 | .326 | .376 | .493 | ||
vs Angels | 74 | 26 | 1 | 3 | .351 | .380 | .486 |
MVP candidate Dustin Pedroia had an awesome season, and has killed Angels pitchers over his brief career. Kendrick's season was hampered by hamstring problems, but he did well when able to play.
3B |
|||||||||
Chone Figgins | Mike Lowell | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Figgins - 2008 | 453 | 125 | 1 | 22 | .276 | .367 | .318 | ||
vs Red Sox | 98 | 25 | 1 | 8 | .255 | .315 | .347 | ||
Lowell - 2008 | 419 | 115 | 17 | 73 | .274 | .338 | .461 | ||
vs Angels | 110 | 31 | 3 | 18 | .282 | .316 | .427 |
Two entirely different players. Figgins is a top-of-the-order speed guy, while Lowell is a typical 3B type who hits in the middle of the order and provides some pop.
SS |
|||||||||
Erick Aybar | Alex Cora | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Aybar - 2008 | 346 | 96 | 3 | 39 | .277 | .314 | .384 | ||
vs Red Sox | 22 | 11 | 0 | 6 | .500 | .522 | .727 | ||
Cora - 2008 | 115 | 41 | 0 | 9 | .270 | .371 | .349 | ||
vs Angels | 52 | 14 | 0 | 4 | .269 | .333 | .423 |
Both players may see less time during the playoffs. Aybar may give way to Brandon Wood if the Angels are looking for more offense from the shortstop position and Cora is just coming back from injury and may be replaced by Jed Lowrie.
LF |
|||||||||
Garret Anderson | Jason Bay | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Anderson - 2008 | 557 | 163 | 15 | 84 | .293 | .325 | .433 | ||
vs Red Sox | 175 | 55 | 9 | 35 | .314 | .335 | .531 | ||
Bay - 2008 | 577 | 165 | 31 | 101 | .286 | .373 | .522 | ||
vs Angels | 15 | 2 | 1 | 2 | .133 | .188 | .333 |
For the second year in a row, Anderson was a liability the first half of the season and caught fire in the second. Jason Bay has been an effective replacement for Manny Ramirez.
CF |
|||||||||
Torii Hunter | Jacoby Ellsbury | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Hunter - 2008 | 551 | 153 | 21 | 78 | .278 | .344 | .466 | ||
vs Red Sox | 145 | 47 | 5 | 23 | .324 | .346 | .462 | ||
Ellsbury - 2008 | 554 | 155 | 9 | 47 | .280 | .336 | .394 | ||
vs Angels | 38 | 7 | 2 | 3 | .184 | .225 | .342 |
Torii Hunter did exactly what he was brought in to do for the Angels, provide protection for Guerrero and bring leadership to the clubhouse. In my mind, Hunter is the Angels MVP.
RF |
|||||||||
Vlad Guerrero | J.D. Drew | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Guerrero - 2008 | 541 | 164 | 27 | 91 | .303 | .365 | .521 | ||
vs Red Sox | 190 | 57 | 16 | 36 | .300 | .391 | .626 | ||
Drew - 2008 | 368 | 103 | 19 | 64 | .280 | .408 | .519 | ||
vs Angels | 83 | 22 | 2 | 5 | .265 | .361 | .422 |
Both players are battling injury; Guerrero is slowed by a sore right knee, while Drew has back problems. Guerrero is able to rest by DHing which keeps his bat in the line up.
DH |
|||||||||
Juan Rivera | David Ortiz | ||||||||
AB | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OBP | SLG | |||
Rivera - 2008 | 256 | 63 | 12 | 45 | .246 | .282 | .438 | ||
vs Red Sox | 53 | 15 | 2 | 9 | .283 | .350 | .472 | ||
Ortiz - 2008 | 416 | 110 | 23 | 89 | .264 | .369 | .507 | ||
vs Angels | 155 | 46 | 12 | 41 | .297 | .398 | .600 |
Rivera took over for struggling Gary Matthews Jr. halfway through the season. While better than Matthews, Rivera has been streaky. Ortiz is Ortiz, but not in the way Manny being Manny, Ortiz is one of the most feared hitters in baseball.