ANAHEIM -- If you're wondering about the most likely scenario for Jered Weaver to pitch in the Angels' playoff series with Boston, think extra innings, or at least the potential for them.
"I think our intent right now," said manager Mike Scioscia, referring to Weaver and Jon Garland, the two starters working in the bullpen for the Division Series, "is to use them if we get in a situation of extra innings, or possibly late in the game on the road where they could take it for a fresh inning and go as long as they could.
"I think it gives us a nice option with those two guys with so much length, to really get matchups early on and not have to save anybody for extra innings."
Scioscia figures Weaver and Garland might need a little more time to warm up than pitchers used to working out of the bullpen, but in the scenario he envisions, "it won't be much of an issue."

Other pregame notes:
-- Although a number of pitchers have done extremely well pitching on just three days of rest in the playoff races, Scioscia doesn't see a return to the four-man pitching rotation that was common as recently as the 1970s -- and was last used by Bob Boone with the 1995 Kansas City Royals.
"I don't think it's any problem going once or twice around a rotation on three days' rest," he said. "A whole season, I think that's going to be a cultural change in where baseball is right now.
"It's going to have to start in minor league development and it's going to have to carry us up to the major leagues if you're going to go that route. There is a reason, I think, teams went to a five-man rotation at some point, and it probably has helped to lengthen some careers. ...
"I think there are very few pitchers in Major League Baseball that could handle that, just for how they've been stretched out and trained for most of their careers."
-- Predictably -- both because it can be significant and because there's no storyline that can't be beat to death in the wait for a series to begin -- much is being made of the injuries to Red Sox players J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Josh Beckett.
Drew and Lowell were both in the Game 1 starting lineup, with Red Sox manager Terry Francona reiterating that Drew, in particular, had looked good in the workout leading up to the series opener.
"I think J.D. had probably his best day in a while yesterday," Francona said. "Mikey Lowell -- I don't want to speak out of turn, but I think he actually did better than we thought."
Which is not to say Lowell is feeling healthy.
"This really hurts, I'm sure it's painful what he's gone through," said Francona. "His willingness to play, he deserves a chance here. ... We're proud of his efforts."
Scioscia, whose own team had injury problems in the postseason a year ago -- Gary Matthews Jr., Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Bartolo Colon either played through health problems or missed the sweep at the hands of Boston -- wasn't exactly going out of his way to sympathize when asked about the Red Sox' situation.
"I think at this point, every team is banged up," said Scioscia. "I think what Boston is dealing with, you've got some professional players that know what it's about, and know what they have to do."

Odds and ends as the Angels and Red Sox await the start of their division playoff series (7 p.m. today in Anaheim):
-- Angels starter John Lackey (12-5, 3.75 ERA) is coming off a shellacking, having given up 10 runs in 2 2/3 innings against Texas on Friday. Of course, in his prior start, also against the Rangers, he struck out 12 in six shutout innings.
"I had a good bullpen a couple of days ago," Lackey said Tuesday, "and I'm confident I'll be fine."
Manager Mike Scioscia wasn't too concerned about Lackey or Ervin Santana, who also got roughed up in his last regular-season start.
"We missed spots here and there, and Texas has the type of offense that's not very forgiving if you miss spots," he said. "... I think that if their velocity was down or they were struggling and weren't executing a lot of pitches, you would be more concerned, but they're healthy, they're fine and they're going to pitch well."
Lackey downplayed the significance of being the Game 1 starter -- "I just happen to be going tomorrow" -- but Scioscia did not.
"This is an important game for us to have a guy with not only John's stuff -- he's a had a terrific year for us -- but also his presence and his make-up to go out there. And if he's going to get beat tomorrow, it's going to be because the other team stepped up and hit his pitches and beat him."
-- Scioscia, typically relaxed, had a few good one-liners during his media session.
Asked to compare playing to managing, he said, "It's more impulsive eating when you're manager, I've noticed that.
"This game is about playing it. When you're in your backyard playing with your friends or your brother and you're making up those games, you're the guy that's up in the batter's box in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs that hit the grand slam, not the manager that makes the pitching change that hopefully wins the game."
And when Mark Teixeira was asked about going to college instead of signing with the Red Sox out of high school, Scioscia joked to his slugging infielder, "I'm shocked you graduated high school and went to college. I didn't know that."
Responded Teixeira. "Georgia Tech -- it's hard to get into that place. You only need about a 1,400 SAT."
-- The Red Sox come in with some injury questions. Pitcher Josh Beckett was moved from a Game 1 start to Game 3 because of a strained oblique muscle, and the status of Mike Lowell (torn labrum, right hip) and J.D. Drew (herniated disc) are also uncertain.
Manager Terry Francona offered upbeat reports on all three.
"J.D. looked real good," he said during the Red Sox workout. "I actually thought Mike looked really good -- not that he's done everything he needs to do, but he looked encouraging moving around. And the movement he did do, it didn't grab at him or anything, and that was really encouraging."
Beckett, he said, made a series of throws from 60 and 90 feet. "The ball came out of his hand real well. Everything was encouraging." Beckett is scheduled for a long toss session Wednesday and will throw again Thursday.
Even with all of that, Francona said the team was yet not prepared to announce its playoff roster -- something the Angels set on Sunday.
"We'll go back and have a meeting at the hotel between the staff and everybody," he said, "and we'll probably talk to the players tonight, just so they know for tomorrow."