They're resting Game 1 hopes on Lackey

ANAHEIM, Calif. - When Mike Scioscia put together his postseason pitching rotation, the Angels manager expressed little doubt about making John Lackey his starter in tonight's American League Division Series opener against the Red Sox. Lackey (12-5, 3.75 ERA) will oppose Jon Lester (16-6, 3.21 ERA).

"We had opportunities to adjust our rotation through September with some things that happened with us clinching early and also giving some guys a rest," said Scioscia, referring to some of the spoils of having the best record (100-62) in baseball. "This is an important game for us to have a guy with not only John's stuff, he's had a terrific year for us, but his presence and his makeup to go out there and if he's going to get beat, it's going to be because the other team stepped up and hit his pitches and beat him."

In Game 1 of last year's ALDS against the Red Sox at Fenway Park, Lackey took the loss in a 4-0 game, giving up all the runs and nine hits over six innings. This time, though, Lackey will face a different Sox lineup without Manny Ramírez.

"Couple of personnel changes a little bit," Lackey said. "But [they're] still a formidable offense and they have guys that can swing the bats over there and we're going to have to pitch well to be able to win games.

"Obviously Manny not being there, but [Jason] Bay has come over and been a very productive player and looks to be a great hitter," Lackey added. "So we're going to have to do the things that we failed to do last year."

Which is, namely, snapping a nine-game playoff losing streak against Boston.

Lackey started the season on the disabled list (the first DL trip of his career) because of a strained right triceps. The righthander didn't make his first appearance until May 14, then quickly reemerged as one of the league's most dominating pitchers, going 5-0 with a 1.16 ERA in June. On July 29 at Fenway, Lackey spun 8 1/3 no-hit innings against the Red Sox.

"He's had a terrific season," Scioscia said. "If he probably didn't miss the first seven, eight, or nine starts early in the season he would be in the running for Cy Young consideration. He's throwing the ball well and he's been there and we know he's going to go out there and give us an opportunity to win the ballgame."

He gave it college try

Switch-hitting first baseman Mark Teixeira, acquired from the Braves July 29, hit .358 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs in 54 games with the Angels. And to think, the Red Sox drafted him in 1998 out of Mount St. Joseph's High School in Baltimore. So why did he opt to attend Georgia Tech instead? "What it came down to was that I was 18 years old and I wanted to have a little more fun," he said. "The low minor leagues, a lot of guys will tell you, are not fun and for me at that point of my career, it was the beginning of what I thought was going to be a productive major league career, hopefully. Three years of college was a better option than, you know, low A ball, rookie ball, [those] kinds of things. And I wanted to go to college for a few years." To which Scioscia chimed in, "I'm shocked you graduated high school and went to college, I didn't know that." To which Teixeira shot back, "Georgia Tech, it's hard to get into that place. You only need about a 1400 SAT [score]." . . . The Angels became the first team since the 2005 St. Louis Cardinals to reach 100 wins and the first team since the 1931 Cardinals to do so without a 100-RBI player, a 30-HR hitter, or a 20-game winner . . . Scioscia on the differences between last year's and this year's ALDS matchup. "Well, I think it's night and day on our side," he said. "I don't think there's any doubt that we're a deeper club right now, and I think we're doing a lot of things well and, hopefully, we're going to bring to the field the style of play that we have had all summer and we really haven't been able to see that in our past couple of times in the playoffs."

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.