Series will begin Wednesday

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Los Angeles Angels will begin the American League Division Series against the Red Sox here Wednesday, deciding to take the longer series (in days) so they can use their top three starters.

Game 2 will be Friday.

The announcement was made after the Angels' 12-1 loss to Texas and Tampa Bay's 6-4 loss to the Tigers.

"I think our decision is probably more related to in-house and what we're able to do with our roster than anything," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia.

"We can trim our pitching roster and we can do a lot of other things as a result. We'll have more on our roster in the next couple of days."

The Angels will be able to use their likely top two starters, John Lackey and Ervin Santana, twice in the five-game series if needed. The Sox will be able to use Josh Beckett and Jon Lester, their expected top two starters, twice. The third starters will likely be lefthander Joe Saunders for the Angels and Daisuke Matsuzaka for the Sox.

Lackey (12-5) was clobbered for 10 runs on 12 hits in 2 2/3 innings last night, the worst outing of his career.

NICK CAFARDO