With Kendry Morales hitting again, Vlad hitting but struggling with runners in scoring position, and a Maicer Izturis wildcard, what will Scioscia do with the Angels lineup for the playoffs? Here is my choice and I think the most obvious.

3B – Chone Figgins
RF – Bobby Abreu
CF – Torii Hunter
DH – Vladimir Guerrero
1B – Kendry Morales
LF – Juan Rivera
C – Mike Napoli/SS – Eric Aybar
2B – Maicer Izturis/Howie Kendrick
C- Jeff Mathis/SS – Eric Aybar

You can see even with my “obvious lineup” there are still so many questions. Not to mention when to play Gary Matthews Jr., and Whether to DH Mike Napoli when Jeff Mathis is playing. As usual, for Scioscia it will be based on match-ups. Against left handed pitching, especially John Lester, Scioscia will likely load the lineup up with right handed hitters. Typically when this is done, Rob Quinlan makes an appearance in the lineup. Also, if the Angels go games one and two without significant run production you will likely see Izturis in the two or even three spot. I’m not crazy about this, but he does hit well with runners in scoring position. Scioscia also likes to play the hot hand, which creates a position battle at second base between Izturis and Kendrick, although you typically see Kendrick against good fastball pitchers like Josh Beckett.

You can see the difficult task Scioscia will have in putting together the Angels playoff lineup. The truth is, however, every other manager in baseball would love to have this problem. The Angels incredible offensive depth should make them injury proof.

Here are some other possible playoff lineups.

3B – Chone Figgins
RF – Bobby Abreu
2B – Maicer Izturis
DH – Vladimir Guerrero
CF – Torii Hunter
1B – Kendry Morales
LF – Juan Rivera
C – Mike Napoli
SS- Eric Aybar

3B – Chone Figgins
SS – Eric Aybar
RF – Bobby Abreu
DH – Vladimir Guerrero
CF – Torii Hunter
1B – Kendry Morales
LF – Juan Rivera
2B – Howie Kendrick
C – Jeff Mathis

Comment and suggest your ideal playoff lineup.