Angels Finish With the Best Home Record in Baseball

At 54-27 the Angels have what will end the season as the best home record in baseball. The teams success at home is what makes this finally week of the season the most important yet. The Angels are tied with Boston, but trail the Indians by a half game for the best record going into Monday's games. Home field advantage is more important for the Angels than any other team based on their success playing in Anaheim, but it also gives the Angels another advantage. This year, the team with the best record gets to choose which ALDS schedule it wants. The two schedules are as follows:

Schedule A: Oct 4, Oct 5, Oct 7, Oct 8, Oct 10
Schedule B: Oct 3, Oct 5, Oct 7, Oct 9, Oct 10

Then the ALCS begins October 12th. What schedule B allows, is for the #1 and #2 starters to pitch two games each on normal rest. In the case of the Angels, where the #1 and #2 starters are much more dominant than the #3 or #4 this is a huge advantage.

Yesterday's game had some very positive highlights, but had some lowlights as well. The highlights were pretty obvious, Lackey had another strong outing in a big game. Lackey has become a great big game pitcher, which is what excites me about his potential in the postseason. The offense was also for the most part a highlight of yesterdays game. The clutch hitting was much better than in Saturdays game, and in the second inning there was even a power display with Kotchman and Izturis both hitting home runs. Kotchman was hitting 5th yesterday, which I feel is a much better spot for him, protecting Anderson. I think Scioscia likes to alternate right and left handed hitters so a spot reliever can't come in and face multiple right or left handed hitters in the lineup. However, I think the protection Kotchman gives Anderson is of greater value than alternating right and left handed hitters. Additionally, Anderson hits better off left handed pitchers while Kotchman is much better against righties.

After several solid outings Scot Shields is scaring me again. He couldn't get his curveball over anywhere near the plate, and his fastball was all over the place, including being consistently up in the zone where it often gets crushed. I'm not sure what to do with Shields. I don't know if it's a head issue, or a physical issue, but time is up. The playoffs start in a week, and if Shields still isn't where he needs to be he is going to have to be used for long relief or in some roll other than the critical set-up role he has been used in. Darren Oliver has been lights out since the all star break, and maybe it's his time to shine. Speier was decent in his 2/3 of an inning, though he did throw a wild pitch with a runner on third, and another pass ball with another runner on third. Mathis had two pass balls yesterday, one of which lead to a run, which is another potential problem. These small mistakes are what win and lose playoff games, so hopefully all the kinks will be worked out in the next week.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how the Angels have been playing, but this final week will be the most important yet. Even though the division has been clinched the Angels still need to get to work and try to secure the best record. Santana pitches today against a rookie making his first Major League start. Hopefully Santana has gotten over his problems pitching on the road, this is a big game if the Angels can win it. Boston and Cleveland both have the day off, so a win would put the Angels past the Red Sox and into a tie with Cleveland for the best record.