Angels must resolve issues

OAKLAND -- Their regular season complete with Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Oakland, which featured so many reserves it had the feel of a split-squad game, the Angels will wing on over to Boston today, their bags filled with questions going into their American League division series against the Red Sox.

There are roster issues: With the best-of-five series spread over eight days, do the Angels stick with a three-man rotation of John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Jered Weaver and use Lackey and Escobar for Games 4 and 5 on regular rest?

Or do they pencil in left-hander Joe Saunders, who is 2-0 with a 3.46 earned-run average in two starts against the Red Sox this season, for Game 4?

“We’ll go three deep,” Manager Mike Scioscia said, “and see how the series goes.”

Do starters Bartolo Colon and Ervin Santana, who each threw perfect innings of relief against the Athletics over the weekend, displace Dustin Moseley and Chris Bootcheck in the team’s playoff bullpen?

Who is the odd man out on the bench? Kendry Morales probably secured a spot with Sunday’s score-tying, pinch-hit home run against closer Huston Street in the ninth inning, and Nathan Haynes, who made a superb diving catch in center field, will probably make the playoff roster, leaving utility infielder Erick Aybar on the bubble.

There are on-field issues: Will Gary Matthews Jr., who sat out the Oakland series because of tendinitis in his left knee, be ready to play center field by Game 1 on Wednesday, and if so, how will he perform at less than full strength after a week off?

“I don’t know right now,” Matthews said. “We’ll see.”

Will Vladimir Guerrero, relegated to designated hitter since early September because of an elbow injury, be able to return to right field? He extended his throwing program to about 140 feet Sunday.

If Guerrero must be the designated hitter, can Juan Rivera, who sat out five months of the season because of a broken leg but swung well in September, cover enough ground in Fenway to play right field?

Will leadoff batter Chone Figgins, one of baseball’s hottest second-half hitters, shake a season-ending slump in which he was hitless in his last 22 at-bats?

Figgins’ left-wrist injury, which sidelined him for two weeks in August, appears to have flared up -- he left McAfee Coliseum wearing a cortisone patch. For him to wreak havoc on the basepaths against Boston, he must get to first base.

Then, there are big-picture issues: Can the Angels overcome their Fenway phobia? They are 14-22 there, including a 2004 division series loss, and have suffered some horrific late-game collapses.

The Angels were swept in a three-game series and outscored, 25-3, there in April but split a four-game series in August.

“When we’re playing well and into our game, we’ve held up fine there,” Scioscia said. “Then, at times . . . some matchups were not quite as crisp for us. I don’t think it’s a comfort level, because we’ve played terrific baseball there from time to time. The last trip there, we did a lot more things we can do, and we fared better. The first trip there was a disaster.”

And, finally: How will those Angels who have never experienced playoff pressure perform in October, a month that can be cruel to the uninitiated?

Youngsters such as Mike Napoli, Jeff Mathis, Howie Kendrick, Reggie Willits and Jered Weaver, who gave up one run and four hits in six innings Sunday, have never played in the playoffs. Neither have Matthews and reliever Justin Speier.

“With these guys, and they’ve heard this for a long time, there’s no such thing as a spring-training game or a regular-season game or a pennant-race game or a playoff game, it’s a baseball game,” Scioscia said. “You need to play baseball.”

Easy to say, sometimes hard to do.

Asked if he had any advice to the Angels’ playoff neophytes, Figgins said, “Don’t change. Leave it all on the field. A lot of people don’t get this opportunity. If you have a chance to play, leave it all on the field and do what you can to help the team win.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com