Orange County Register

This only underscores the way the shoe is on the other foot in terms of injuries in this year’s Angels-Red Sox ALDS — while the Red Sox will wait until tomorrow morning to set their playoff roster (waiting until the last minute to monitor injured players Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew), Angels manager Mike Scioscia has already set his Game 1 lineup.

3B Chone Figgins

LF Garret Anderson

1B Mark Teixeira

DH Vladimir Guerrero

CF Torii Hunter

2B Howie Kendrick

C Mike Napoli

RF Gary Matthews Jr.

SS Erick Aybar

RHP John Lackey

Scioscia said he plans to use Guerrero as the DH in every game during this series in order to lessen the stress on his troublesome right knee.

“The thing we’re looking at with Vlad is letting him get comfortable and swing the bat,” Scioscia said. “If it’s going to take having him have one less thing to worry about — having to go out there and test his knee by running around in right field making plays — and with the depth we have in the outfield, we’ll let him DH.”

The first-round schedule (five games in eight days) also gives enough time off for Garret Anderson to play the outfield each game and recover without needing DH time, Scioscia said.

The other decision was going with Matthews over Juan Rivera. Matthews’ performance in September (.318, 14 runs scored, eight RBIs in 19 games) and his 3-for-6 history (with two home runs) against the Red Sox’s Game 1 starter Jon Lester tipped the scales in his favor (along with better defense than Rivera).

“Right-handed against Lester is a good matchup,” Scioscia said. “Gary has had a couple good looks against Lester and from the right side he’s been swinging the bat well.”

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