Angels know direction home

It's been more than two weeks since the Angels learned they'd be going to the playoffs.

But it wasn't until Friday that they found out who, when and where they'd be playing.

With Tampa Bay and Boston losing earlier in the evening, the Angels clinched home-field advantage for the duration of the postseason despite being routed, 12-1, by the Texas Rangers.

And with its loss Boston was eliminated from the American League East race, leaving it to advance to the playoffs as the AL wild card.

Add it all up and it means the Angels will open the playoffs Wednesday in Anaheim against the defending World Series champion Red Sox.

"We wrapped up home field," Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. "Now we're going to get ready for our next challenge."

By finishing the regular season with the league's best record, the Angels also got their choice of playoff schedules -- an eight-day series beginning Wednesday or a seven-day format starting a day later. Choosing the longer series allows the Angels to go with a three-man starting rotation -- bypassing struggling right-handers Jered Weaver and Jon Garland -- while keeping everyone pitching on their normal four days' rest.

"It's good. I'd rather be on my regular rest," said John Lackey, who will start Game 1 followed by 16-game winners Ervin Santana and Joe Saunders. "Have my work on the regular days and just go about it normally."

Yet that choice is risky because it means the Angels could face Boston's Josh Beckett and Jon Lester twice in five games.

However, the Angels appear to have a couple of other edges against the Red Sox, who stumble into the postseason a bit the worse for wear. Third baseman Mike Lowell, who missed a week because of a partially torn labrum in his right hip, returned to the lineup and batted once Friday at rainy Fenway Park. He said he'll try to play through the pain -- if not the rain -- in the playoffs.

But outfielder J.D. Drew, limited to two at-bats since Aug. 16, had his sore back reexamined Friday and his status is uncertain, as is that of center fielder Coco Crisp, who has a bad foot.

If that sounds vaguely familiar, it should. Last October it was the Angels who went into the postseason in Boston down a starter (center fielder Gary Matthews Jr.) and with two others (Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson) ailing. Not surprisingly, the Red Sox swept the series.

So don't expect Boston to get any sympathy from Scioscia.