Best Record Isn’t a Key to Angels

As nice as it would be to have home-field advantage for next week’s American League division series and, possibly, the AL championship series, the Angels will not pursue it at the expense of a well-rested starting lineup.

That’s why only two regulars, shortstop Orlando Cabrera and outfielder Juan Rivera, and one semi-regular, center fielder Steve Finley, were in the lineup for Wednesday night’s 6-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics in McAfee Coliseum, and why the starters will play sporadically in the final four regular-season games.

“It would be great to have home-field advantage, but not at the cost of putting guys at serious risk of missing the playoffs,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Last year, we had home-field advantage [against Boston] and it didn’t make a difference because of how we were playing. We were beat up. Getting guys healthy is more important than grinding it out.”

After Wednesday’s loss, in which Paul Byrd (12-11) gave up two-run home runs to Eric Chavez in the first inning and Bobby Kielty in the fourth, the Angels are four games behind the Chicago White Sox, two games behind the New York Yankees, and one game behind the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians.

On the plus side, most of their starters got a much-needed break.

The Angels, who clinched their second straight AL West title Tuesday, lost second baseman Adam Kennedy to a knee injury two weeks before the 2004 playoffs. Third baseman Troy Glaus was relegated to designated hitter because of a knee injury, forcing the Angels to use rookie Dallas McPherson and weak-hitting Alfredo Amezaga in the infield.

The Angels also needed ace Bartolo Colon to pitch the 2004 division-clincher on the final Saturday of the season, and that threw off their rotation against the Red Sox, who swept the Angels in three games.

But clinching early allows the Angels to align their division series rotation to start Colon, who will be on a limited pitch count today against the A’s, and John Lackey on regular rest in Games 1 and 2 Tuesday and Wednesday.

Scioscia also plans to give Chone Figgins, Vladimir Guerrero, Darin Erstad, Kennedy and Bengie Molina some time off. Cabrera was pulled Wednesday after his first-inning single.

Left fielder Garret Anderson, slowed by lower-back stiffness, needs some rest, but he also needs to play to regain his stroke. Anderson has one hit in his last 22 at-bats.

“There are different needs for each player -- some don’t really need days off, some need two or three days off; some guys need a physical break, some need a mental break,” Scioscia said.

“There won’t be a guy who won’t play, but we’ll monitor it closely. We want to keep guys swinging the bats, keep the pitchers on schedule.”

Angel coaches and executives will meet this weekend in Texas to determine the 25-man playoff roster, and there will be some tough decisions regarding the pitching staff.

Scioscia will employ a four-man rotation, but who will be the other two starters? Byrd, Jarrod Washburn and Ervin Santana have pitched well enough to earn playoff starts, but Washburn has been slowed by an inflamed forearm, and Santana, though brilliant at times, is still a rookie.

Washburn is scheduled to pitch Friday in Texas, but Scioscia had not determined as of Wednesday whether the left-hander will make that start.

Whoever is bumped from the rotation will pitch out of the bullpen, and if Santana is the odd man out, the bullpen will be bolstered by a right-hander with a 96-mph fastball, sharp slider and changeup.

Scioscia said he would use a 10-man pitching staff in the first round. With Francisco Rodriguez, Kelvim Escobar, Scot Shields, Brendan Donnelly and the fifth starter locks to make the bullpen, the final spot will come down to right-handers Kevin Gregg and Esteban Yan and left-hander Jason Christiansen.

“The big decision is how we’ll line up on the pitching side,” Scioscia said. “I’m not going to handicap the starters. We won’t have an answer until we see who we’re going to face. But it’s a nice dilemma to have. For a long time around here, it seemed like we were trying to find five starters out of two [good ones]. This is not a problem.”