Playoff Experience Useful for Figgins

Chone Figgins is the first to admit he experienced a bad case of playoff jitters last October, when he made several costly fielding mistakes, a baserunning gaffe and went two for 14 with five strikeouts, as the Boston Red Sox swept a three-game American League division series from the Angels.

“I didn’t realize where I was at last year,” Figgins said. “It was fun just to get there, but I forgot to play my game. It wasn’t that I was nervous. I was just so excited to get to the playoffs.”

Figgins says he is confident it will be different the second time around. He’ll have had a week between the Angels’ AL West-clinching win over Oakland and Tuesday’s division series opener.

The speedy Figgins, who stole his 59th base in the first inning Friday to remain tied with Chicago’s Scott Podsednik for the AL lead, will play an integral role in the playoffs. Figgins figures to start at two positions, center field and third base.

“I know now to just play my game, to be aggressive,” Figgins said. “Actually, I need to be even more aggressive, offensively and defensively.”

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The AL stolen-base title may not be important to Figgins, but it apparently is to Podsednik. After clinching the AL Central title Thursday, White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen rested all but two of his starters Friday, third baseman Joe Crede and Podsednik. “I want to give him a chance to win the stolen-base title,” Guillen said.

Podsednik stole second in the first inning against Cleveland, but Figgins kept pace by stealing second after his first-inning walk against the Rangers. Figgins later scored his team-leading 110th run on Darin Erstad’s fielder’s choice.

“I’m not shooting for a certain number of stolen bases; then you’re just playing to reach those things,” Figgins said. “I just want to be considered one of the best baserunners in baseball.”

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There was a concern in early July when Orlando Cabrera went on the disabled list because of an inflamed right elbow that the shortstop would need surgery after the season to remove some small bone chips. But after playing the second half, Cabrera says he is confident he’ll avoid surgery.

“I know my body, my elbow, and the things the MRI test found,” Cabrera said. “I’ve had it before. I think I just needed a rest. I feel good.”

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The Angels named shortstop Brandon Wood (.321, 43 home runs, 115 runs batted in for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga) and second baseman Howard Kendrick (.367, 19 homers, 89 RBIs for Rancho Cucamonga and double-A Arkansas) minor league co-players of the year Friday.

Left-hander Joe Saunders (10-7, 3.88 earned-run average for Arkansas and triple-A Salt Lake) was named pitcher of the year, and triple-A catcher Jeff Mathis was named defensive player of the year.