Angels vs. White Sox

The Angels are really screwed by MLB not wanting to play two games on Wednesday (which isn't a big deal in this world of 700 channels). Forcing them to play Sunday night in New York, Monday afternoon in Anaheim and Tuesday night in Chicago is just ridiculous.

It looks like Bartolo Colon isn't going to be back after coming out with shoulder pain in the biggest start of his life. That really thins out the Angels staff, thrusting Paul Byrd (the Game 1 starter) and Jarrod Washburn (who missed his turn against the Yanks due to illness) into prominent roles. The best that can be said about Byrd is that he doesn't beat himself. Kelvim Escobar might be able to make as start, but the Angels are better off leaving him in relief as there's no way he'd be able to pitch more than five innings after missing most of the year with arm trouble.

The White Sox are sitting pretty with their rotation. Jose Contreras is red hot and gets another home start. Mark Buehrle goes in Game 2 versus Washburn, who is a proven mediocrity. That's a big advantage to the White Sox. Chicago still has Freddy Garcia and Jon Garland for Games 3 and 4. So, huge starting advantage for Anaheim.

Chicago's starters need to go far into games becasue the bullpen is unproven. But Bobby Jenks stepped up against Boston, so that's one big pelt on his wall. Getting to Jenks is the bigger problem, though I'm confident in Cliff Politte. The White Sox could use a vintage Damaso Marte, but he's been awful all year and allowed three Red Sox to get on base without recording an out. Not having a reliable lefty against the Angels is a problem. Yes, Chicago has Neal Cotts, who allowed only one homer in 60 innings this year. But Cotts only faced one batter versus Boston. So Cotts is green, which may cause Guillen to make a "veteran" mistake and rely on Marte.

Neither team has much of an offense. The Angels get the advantage in the pen, of course, though K-Rod has lost zip on his fastball and is mostly a breaking ball pitcher now. As a result, he allows too many baserunner because hitters will put that pitch in play when they see it time after time.

Net OPS gives a significant edge to the White Sox. The circumstances all favor the White Sox. It would be great to have a team win its first series since 1917 a year after a team snapped its 1918 streak. White Sox in 6.