Boston ? Curt Schilling is a meticulous note-taker, charting pitches and studying batters in search of something he might be able to use later. Pedro Martinez is more of a clowning-around-in-the-dugout kind of guy.

Bronson Arroyo has his own identity, as his braided cornrows and King Tut beard should attest. Oh, by the way: He’s named after actor Charles Bronson.

“Curt used to get on me about being so loose in the clubhouse on the day I pitch,” Arroyo said Thursday as he prepared for his first career postseason start. “Everybody has got their own personalities. You have to figure out what works for you.”

Arroyo seems to have figured that out this year, going from extra starter in spring training to the No. 3 man in the rotation for the AL division series against Anaheim. Boston leads the best-of-five series 2-0, and Boston will have its first chance to clinch it at Fenway Park today against Kelvim Escobar.

“Nothing can prepare us for that,” Angels third baseman Dallas McPherson said. “They had to come play in our place, and now we have to find a way to play in theirs.”

The Red Sox’s only playoff sweep was when they beat Oakland for the AL pennant in 1975; they went on to lose the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The Red Sox haven’t had a 2-0 lead in the playoffs since the 1986 World Series, which they lost to the New York Mets.

The Angels can take just a little bit of consolation from their 2002 playoff run, when they lost the first game of each series but managed to win it all.

“I don’t care what happened in 2002,” catcher Bengie Molina said. “I wanted to win Game 1. And Game 2, too.”

To do it, Arroyo doesn’t have to be as good as either of the Red Sox co-aces who preceded him to the mound in the division series. The 27-year-old right-hander just has to be as good as he was in his last nine starts — all Boston wins — when he went 5-0 with a 3.78 earned-run average to help Boston clinch the AL wild-card.

“Bronson has earned his stripes,” manager Terry Francona said. “He’s made a lot of starts this year and we’ve seen him evolve into a pretty good major-league pitcher. And we would not give him the start if we didn’t think he could handle it.”