Orange County Register

The Angels have confidently lined John Lackey and Ervin Santana up to start Games 1 and 2 against the Boston Red Sox — and Games 4 and 5 if the American League Division Series goes that far.

But neither Lackey nor Santana had an auspicious end to the regular season. Lackey had the worst start of his career Friday (10 runs on 12 hits in 2 2/3 innings) and Santana was only a little better Saturday (eight runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings) with questions about the Rangers stealing signs.

Neither Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher nor manager Mike Scioscia is worried by that.

“I look at the track record of the whole season and the way they’ve pitched,” Butcher said. “I’m not making any excuses. Every time you go out there, you want to be at your best but sometimes it doesn’t happen. As long as their arms are healthy, their velocity is fine, I’m not concerned.

“I’ve never been a believer that you can turn it on and off like a switch. But I know they’ll be ready when it’s time to take the ball in the playoffs.”

Scioscia echoed Butcher’s assessment of the final pre-playoff tune-ups, saying both Lackey’s and Santana’s “stuff still looked good” but they ran up against a Rangers’ lineup that “was not very forgiving” when they made mistakes.

“I think if their velocity was down and they struggled making their pitches, then you’d be concerned,” Scioscia said. “But that wasn’t the case.”

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