Series Preview: Angles @ Red Sox

Gm 1, Tonight 7PM Lackey (2-0, 0.75) vs. Wakefield (0-1, 1.50)
Gm 2 SAT, 3:30 Carrassco vs. Schilling
Gm 3 Sun, 1:05 Santana vs. Beckett
Gm 4 Mon 10:05 Weaver vs. Tavarez

Tonight's lineups:

*ANA* *BOS*

1.Matthews* Lugo
2.Cabrera* Youk
3.Guerrero* Papi
4.Anderson*Manny
5.Hillenbrand*Drew
6.Kotchman*Lowell
7.Kendrick*Coco
8.Napoli*Belli
9.Izturis*Pedroia

According to my perusal of the local forecast the rainstorms that have plagued the Greater New England area the past few days should have subsided enough to get this series underway tonight. But who knows what kind of condition the playing field will be in after 48 hours of bad weather.

From my perch down here in cloudless FLA it looks as if the rain has stopped up there and the temp is a balmy 48 degrees with a 14 mph wind. In other words ideal conditions/

The Sox will look to rebound after that tough loss Wednesday night and will have to do so against one of the hottest pitchers in the American League. John Lackey has stated out like a house on fire, allowing just 1 earned run in his 12 innings of work this year, scattering 11 hits and striking out 11 while walking 4 batters. It won't get any easier from there as Earvin Santana and Jered Weaver are two of the brightest young pitching prospects in the league today.

But in Boston's favor is the fact that Manny has torn Lackey a new one in previous meetings against the righty; ManRam is an astounding 9-18 with 4 homers, 2 doubles and 11 RBIs against the Angel's ace in his career.

The Angles have tinkered with their roster this year but as usual they posess a devastating offense, starting with the always-deadly Vladimir Guerrero. This guy is like the Kevin Garnett of MLB- lean, mean and full of caffeine. His swing is so powerful it looks like he is going to wrench his back at the plate and he gets to more balls than a net boy at Wimbledon.

Bad Vlad has a lot of help in the lineup this season, one of the reasons the Angels are favored by many to get to the Series. The offensive talent is led by new acquisition/'roid head Gary Matthews, aging superstar Garrett Anderson, and old friends Orlando Cabrera and Shea Hillenbrand. Well, one old friend and one despised clubhouse mate.

Anyway, Boston will have to brave the elements in order to get back on the winning track tonight, but those elements should favor a knuckleballer like Wake rather than a control pitcher like Lackey.

At least RSN hopes so.