BOSTON – Rocco Baldelli will be playing with a mild hip injury if he’s fortunate enough to be called upon in this week’s A.L. Division Series against the Angels.

Baldelli has a strained left hip flexor that was uncovered in an exam in Boston on Monday. The team says it will treat the injury, which is not serious, aggressively and monitor Baldelli’s activities in the days leading up to the start of the playoff series in Anaheim. Time could be on Baldelli’s side. He usually only plays against left-handed pitchers and the Sox aren’t slated to face a lefty starter until Game Three, when the Angels send Scott Kazmir to the mound.

The Red Sox will not find out for sure when their playoff series begins, but everyone is planning on a Thursday start. Nothing is official until the completion of Tuesday’s Tigers-Twins playoff. The winner will play the Yankees, and the A.L. East champs are expected to choose the series schedule that starts on Wednesday, if only because it would put their opponent at a severe travel disadvantage.

The Red Sox and Angels would then play a series schedule with games Thursday and Friday in Anaheim, and Sunday in Boston. The first two games would be played at 9:37 p.m.

The Red Sox do not have to announce which players will be on their 25-man roster until the day of the series’ opening game. That means they’ll probably be able to evaluate Baldelli in workouts scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

The clubhouse at Fenway Park had a very NFL feel to it Monday. As players packed duffel bags and equipment, they spoke about the oddity of having three days of down time before playing again. Most of the team skipped an optional 1 p.m. workout. The players who were spotted and did some light work included Jason Bay, Dustin Pedroia, Nick Green, Jed Lowrie, Brian Anderson, George Kottaras, Casey Kotchman, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, Billy Wagner, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Manny Delcarmen and Takashi Saito.

"We like our chances,” said Pedroia. “We were one game away from going to the World Series last year with the same team. Then you add Victor (Martinez) and Alex (Gonzalez), so we’re pretty excited about what we can do.”

Delcarmen hurt in accident

Delcarmen was eager to take the field and test his back. He was driving his Hummer on the way to Saturday’s game at Fenway when a car came across two lanes and whacked into his truck. The contact pushed Delcarmen’s truck into a median on the always-busy Southeast Expressway. He was transported to Mass General Hospital, treated and released but is complaining of back woes.

“It was like a movie, slow-motion,” Delcarmen said. “All of a sudden I was hit and my truck was coming apart. I’m still a little sore in my back, but it’s better today.”

Delcarmen tried to throw a bit on Sunday, but stopped after a few tosses. He was planning on throwing at about 120 feet Monday and getting on the practice mound in Anaheim on Tuesday. Delcarmen is not seen as a likely choice to make the active roster for the Angels series.

Pitching matchups

The Angels will start John Lackey against Lester in Game One, Jered Weaver against Josh Beckett in Game Two and Kazmir against Clay Buchholz in the third game. This Angels team is different from the ones that lost to the Red Sox in 2008 (three games to one) and ’07 (3-0) mainly because of an improved offense.

The Angels finished 96-65 and set club records in runs scored (883), batting average (.285, tops in the majors), hits (1,604) and fewest errors (85). The Angels became the first team in baseball history to have 11 players with 50 or more RBI. The team was stacked with .300 hitters all season. Erick Aybar (.312), Kendry Morales (.306) and Maicer Izturis (.300) finished above that mark, but Torii Hunter (.299), Chone Figgins (.298), Vlad Guerrero (.295) and Bobby Abreu (.293) all came close. Abreu may have been the best offseason pickup in baseball. He finished the season with 102 RBI and 30 stolen bases, good for his fifth season with 100 RBI and 30 steals. The only other players in baseball history with at least five 100/30 seasons are Honus Wagner (seven times), Barry Bonds and Hugh Duffy (six times), and Ty Cobb (five times).

kmcnamar@projo.com