One punch at a time 

Posted 10:07 AM by Sean
With the magic number down to eight, the last thing the Angels need is complacency, which may mean that being swept by the Devil Rays earlier in the season will have the side benefit of keeping the boys sharp this weekend. Nothing like the lingering smell of humiliation to put a little more fizz in your soda, right?

Adam Kennedy, at least, is singing the right tune:

"It's better to be up three games than down three, but we have three tough games
against Tampa Bay [beginning tonight] and four at Oakland [beginning Monday],"
said Angel second baseman Adam Kennedy, who had two doubles, a single and a run
batted in Thursday. "A three-game lead seems like a lot to some, but it's not."

Tonight, the Angels will face Casey Fossum, a lefty with a fastball, a slider, and a couple of curveball variations. This would probably be a good night to give Darin Erstad the night off, but I think the lineup will probably look something like this:

Figgins - CF
Cabrera - SS
Anderson - DH
Guerrero - RF
Molina - C
Erstad - 1B
Rivera - LF
Quinlan - 3B
Kennedy - 2B

...with Molina and Rivera possibly swapping spots in the order. If Garret Anderson is held completely out of the lineup for another day, I think we'd likely see Bengie moved to DH while Jose Molina catches. Jose is a good candidate to get a start on Sunday, since (1) on Sunday the Angels play a day game after Saturday's night game, (2) they face a left-handed pitcher, and (3) John Lackey - he of the 18 wild pitches this year - will very possibly be starting on short rest.