Playoff Preview - Part 2

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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)

   Napoli sm.jpg

Catcher

 Varitek.jpg  
  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.

   Teixeira sm.jpg

1B

 Youkilis.jpg  
  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.

   Kendrick.jpg

2B

 Pedroia.jpg  
  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.

   Figgins.jpg

3B

 Lowell.jpg  
  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.

   Aybar sm.jpg

SS

 Cora.jpg  
  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.

   anderson sm.jpg

LF

 Bay.jpg  
  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.

   Hunter.jpg

CF

 Ellsbury.jpg  
  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.

   guerrero.jpg

RF

 Drew.jpg  
  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.

   Rivera.jpg

DH

 Ortiz.jpg  
  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.

 

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