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There’s probably no team the Los Angeles Angels wanted to see less than the Boston Red Sox in the playoffs. The Angels haven’t beaten Boston in 23 years in the postseason, and these two have met three times in the ALDS since 2004, with the Red Sox dominating each time.

And indeed Boston is -117 on WagerWeb.com to win Thursday’s Game 1 and -135 to win the series on WagerWeb.com.

Yet maybe this Angel team can finally break through. For one, this club might be able to run at will — Chone Figgins and Bobby Abreu have combined for 72 stolen bases. One-hundred sixty-seven baserunners attempted to steal against the Red Sox this season. Only 16 were caught. The Red Sox’s “success rate” of 9.6 percent in throwing out runners was the third worst in the majors since 1974.

L.A. won the season series 5-4 and stole 15 bases in 17 attempts against Boston. And the addition of Abreu has made this Angel offense the best of any of those teams since 2004 – in the three ALDS series in 2004, ‘07 and ‘08, the Angels won one game. But L.A. scored more runs than the Sox in the regular season, something they did not do in ‘04, ‘07 and ‘08. In addition, this season the Angels led the league in average and were second in on-base percentage (a big Abreu stat), a dramatic improvement over an 11th-place finish in that category in 2008.

And don’t forget that the Halos added tough lefty starter Scott Kazmir before the trade deadline, giving them a rotation at least as good as Boston’s. And that the Red Sox have by far the highest team ERA it has had coming into the last three postseasons.

For sure one advantage Boston has in the bullpen with Jonathan Papelbon closing out games and late-season addition Billy Wagner in place to get out tough lefties. Meanwhile, Red Sox closer Brian Fuentes struggled down the stretch and his job was in jeopardy. Rookie Kevin Jepsen has helped since taking over the eighth-inning role, but he has never pitched in the postseason.

Here is the projected Game 1 lineup, courtesy of Sporting News:

Red Sox

CF Jacoby Ellsbury: Set franchise record with 70 steals

2B Dustin Pedroia: Second in the majors in runs scored (115)

C Victor Martinez: Led team in hitting (.336) after trade

1B Kevin Youkilis: .961 OPS is career best

DH David Ortiz: Hit only .167 vs. Angels

LF Jason Bay: Led team with 36 HRs, 119 RBIs

RF J.D. Drew: Hit .316 with .999 OPS after break

3B Mike Lowell: Hit only .239 after September 1

SS Alex Gonzalez: Hit .284 after August trade from Reds

SP LHP Jon Lester: 11-3, 2.35 ERA since June 1

Angels

3B Chone Figgins: Second in A.L. in runs (114)

RF Bobby Abreu: 100-plus RBIs for seventh straight season

CF Torii Hunter: Fell just short (.299) of first .300 season

DH Vladimir Guerrero: Hit 11 of his 15 HRs since early August

1B Kendry Morales: 34 HRs most by an Angel since 2004
LF Juan Rivera: Career highs in HRs (25) and RBIs (88)

C Mike Napoli: 2 HRs in 2008 ALDS; 3 HRs vs. Boston this season

2B Maicer Izturis: Hit .300 for the first time

SS Erick Aybar: .312 average in first season as a regular

SP RHP John Lackey: 3-7, 5.25 ERA in 14 career starts vs. Boston

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