Baseball Today - October 5
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCOREBOARD Friday, Oct. 5
L.A. Angels at Boston (8:37 p.m. EDT). Daisuke Matsuzaka makes his first playoff start for the Red Sox, up 1-0 in the series over Kelvim Escobar and the Angels.
STARS
-Kaz Matsui, Rockies, hit his first career grand slam and drove in five runs to help Colorado beat Philadelphia 10-5 and take a 2-0 series lead.
-Kenny Lofton, Indians, drove in four runs to help Cleveland rout the New York Yankees 12-3 in the series opener.
ONE TO GO
Rookie Chris Young hit a three-run homer and Stephen Drew tripled in two more in an 8-4 victory Thursday night that put the Diamondbacks ahead 2-0 in the best-of-five NL division series. Three years removed from a 111-loss season, the young Diamondbacks are one victory from the NL championship series. They can complete a sweep Saturday in Chicago, where Arizona will send Livan Hernandez to the mound against Rich Hill. ... Colorado defeated Philadelphia 10-5 to gain a 2-0 series lead on the Phillies. The wild-card Rockies won their eighth straight road game, and have won 16 of 17 overall. Rookie Ubaldo Jimenez will try to pitch Colorado to a sweep Saturday night at Coors Field against veteran Jamie Moyer.
THUMPED
Cleveland pounded New York 12-3 on Thursday to hand the Yankees their fourth straight playoff defeat dating to last year's first-round elimination against Detroit. The loss was New York's most one-sided postseason loss in six years.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Jimmy Rollins homered and drove in four runs but Philadelphia fell to Colorado 10-5 on Thursday. Ryan Howard also connected for the Phillies, who face a 2-0 deficit with the series moving to Colorado this weekend.
WOBBLY
C.C. Sabathia took the win in Cleveland's 12-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday night despite allowing three earned runs and six walks, which tied a career high.
SPEAKING
''We believe we're going to win every game. We've been playing in the loser's bracket for a month.'' - Rockies manager Clint Hurdle after Colorado beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-5 Thursday for a 2-0 lead in their NL playoff series.
Guerrero likely to play right field; Anderson will play too
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- Vladimir Guerrero is likely to return to right field for the first time in a month when the Los Angeles Angels play the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of their AL playoff series on Friday.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia also said that Garret Anderson could play left despite conjunctivitis that swelled his right eye so much it looks like he took a punch.
Guerrero hasn't started in right field since Sept. 4 because of an irritated right triceps that limited him to designated hitter.
''Everything looks good,'' Scioscia said after Guerrero worked out in right field Thursday, a day after the Angels lost 4-0 in the series opener.
Guerrero threw to second and third a few times and said there was no pain.
''It's gone,'' Guerrero said. ''If I had any pain right now, I probably would not force Mike to put me in the outfield. I don't feel anything right now.''
Anderson declined comment after the workout. He was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts against Boston's Josh Beckett in the opener.
''I think it looks a lot worse than it is,'' Scioscia said of Anderson's eye. ''Garret assures us his vision's there, he's seeing the ball, and that's what's important. Unless his left eye looks as bad as his right eye tomorrow, he's starting.''
Guerrero's return to the outfield would free up the DH spot for Juan Rivera or Kendry Morales.
The Angels' offense is keyed by Guerrero, who batted .324 and led the team with 27 homers and 125 RBIs. He has 107 outfield assists in the past decade, second in the AL behind Mark Kotsay (110).
Guerrero said he feels more comfortable playing when he's in the outfield.
''I spent so much time in the National League playing right field that it feels more like I'm home playing right field,'' he said.
The Angels had just four hits in the opener, when Beckett beat them with his second straight postseason shutout. Since winning their 2005 AL championship series opener against the Chicago White Sox, the Angels have lost five straight postseason games, totaling just eight runs and 24 hits.
''We can talk about the way we can run the bases, unless you get out of the batter's box ... that's not going to play,'' Scioscia said. ''And you saw how we struggled last night. So we need more in the batter's box, and we'll look at some options.''
Guerrero didn't think Wednesday's loss would add pressure Friday.
''If we play the way we played throughout the season, there's no need to feel pressure,'' he said. ''We know we can play our game. What happened last night, they just played a good game. We've just got to put it behind us and keep going.''