MVN: Most Valuable Network

Mike Scioscia is famous for preaching the one-day-at-a-time mantra to his players. What happened yesterday, last inning, or your last at-bat is irrelevant. It's in the past. Focus on now, this at-bat, this pitch, this moment. That is the only thing you can control.

Oh, but this team remembers 2007.

The Angels finished that season 94-68, tops in the American League West, ready to face the American League East champion the Red Sox. But we all know how that went. Embarassing is definitely a good word for what happened.

Truth be told, the Angels were severely banged up in that series. Vladimir Guerrero had a bad knee. Garret Anderson had pink eye and couldn't see. Gary Matthews wasn't even on the roster due to injury. Casey Kotchman was hospitalized. Thus, facing Boston -- which in and of itself is tough enough -- was made that much tougher.

But now, the tables are turned. The Angels are fully healthy (well, as healthy as a team can be after finishing a full season) and the Red Sox are the ones hurting. Josh Beckett has a muscle pull in his chest; Mike Lowell has a gimpy hip; and J.D. Drew has a bum back. Plus, this is a lineup without Manny Ramirez. (Though, I have to say, Dustin Pedroia scares the crap out of me. He's good. Really good.)

In 2007, the Angels were a sub-.500 team on the road, but had the best home record in baseball. In 2008, the Halos have the best record in baseball and same home and road records (50-31). The Red Sox, meanwhile, are 56-25 at home, the second-best in baseball to Tampa Bay, but are a mediocre 39-42 on the road.

Since the Angels have the home-field advantage, this could play well for the guys in the red caps.

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As much as I am looking forward to this series, I would love to see how Tampa Bay fares against the homer-happy White Sox. (Did anyone else think that the Blackout Effect at U.S. Cellular Field for the play-in game was awesome? It looked great on TV.)

Frankly, I'm excited just to see Tampa Bay in the postseason, especially when you consider that they have a real chance of winning the whole thing. Too bad the don't have a fan base that appears to care. Oh, it was great to see a sellout on the day they could have clinched a playoff berth, but where were they all season? It wasn't as if the Rays were muddling through the season and backed into the playoffs. They lead the American League East for a huge chunk of the season, and they still struggled to break 20,000 fans on some nights. Come on, guys. I know there's a lot to do in Tampa Bay, but the Rays only drew a shade under 1.8 million fans, averaging 22,259 a game, good for 26th in the league. Only the dissapointing Oakland A's, wretched Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals, and the Florida Marlins finished worse. (I would surmise that one of the problems facing the Marlins is one of the same things impacting the Rays: a fan base in Florida that badly wanted baseball, then ignored the teams.)

By contrast, the Angels were sixth-best in baseball, behind the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Cardinals and Phillies, counting 3.3 million-plus red-clad fans through the turnstiles, and average of 41,494 a night.

Come on, Florida, there is plenty of room on the Rays bandwagon for all of you and your 27 electoral votes!

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Pitching probables for the American League Division Series:

Game 1:

Jon Lester  (16-6, 3.21 ERA in 2008; 0-0, 7.20 vs. LAA)

John Lackey (12-5, 3.75 ERA in 2008; 2-0, 2.81 vs. BOS)

Game 2:

Daisuke Matsuzaka (18-3, 2.90 in 2008; 0-1, 10.80 vs. LAA)

Ervin Santana (16-7, 3.49 in 2008; has not faced BOS in 2008)

Game 3:

Josh Beckett (12-10, 4.03 in 2008; 0-2, 7.43 vs. LAA)

Joe Saunders (17-7, 3.41 in 2008; 2-0, 3.38 vs. BOS)

Games 4 and 5 if necessary

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Fun stat: The Angels are 8-1 versus Boston this season, including 5-1 in Boston and 3-0 in Anaheim.