Flashbacks in Fenway: Angels Still Searching for Ways to Beat Red Sox

BOSTON -- The Angels left Fenway Park late Thursday night, after avoiding a sweep with a 4-3 victory.

They will be back in three weeks.

With 17 games to play, the Rangers are 6 1/2 games behind the Angels and six behind the Red Sox.

Which means unless Texas figures out a way to score 10 runs a game more than it has recently, or the Yankees blow a six-game lead for the first time in their history, or Detroit runs the table, the Angels and Red Sox will meet in the American League Division Series for the third straight season.

And that means flashbacks for the boys from Orange County.

"This year hopefully ... we'll be able to turn the tables and come out on top," Angels second baseman Howie Kendrick told FanHouse.

"Our time is going to come, and hopefully that time will be this year."

Over the past two postseasons, though, the Red Sox have gone 6-1 against the Angels, outscoring them 37-17. Before Los Angeles pulled out a 12-inning win in Boston in Game 3 last year, the Sox had set a record with 11 straight playoff victories over the Angels -- dating back to the 2004 Division Series and 1986 ALCS.

Last year was especially galling, as the Angels ran up 100 wins in the regular season to get home-field advantage and then dropped the first two games of the series in Anaheim.

The Angels won't say the Red Sox are "in their heads," of course. And it doesn't really seem to be an unfavorable matchup as much as everything has gone Boston's way the past two Division Series.

"The funny thing about that is," Chone Figgins said, "we've taken over some leads and every time we take over a lead something funny happens. They get a big hit. That's part of it. It's not that we've played bad, it's just they got some big hits against us, made some big plays against us."

In some markets, it would be called a curse.

"We both have really good teams," Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. "To be honest with you, in the last few years in the playoffs we've had some breaks. That's mainly it.

"There's nothing more to it than that. At playoff time, if you get breaks, that's usually what it takes."

Two years ago, after Josh Beckett's shutout in the series opener, the teams went to the ninth inning of Game 2 tied. Then Manny Ramirez hit a three-run homer off Francisco Rodriguez.

Without Vladmir Guerrero (bruised shoulder), Gary Matthews Jr. (ankle and knee) and Garret Anderson (conjunctivitis), the Angels lost Game 3, 9-1.

Last year, Los Angeles won the regular-season series 8-1 and seemed poised for revenge.

But ...

• Jason Bay wiped out a 1-0 Angels lead in the sixth inning of Game 1 with a two-run homer;

• J.D. Drew hit a tie-breaking homer off Rodriguez in the ninth inning of Game 2;

• And after the Angels pulled out a 5-4, 12-inning win in Game 3, they had a chance to force a deciding game in Anaheim, but Erick Aybar missed a squeeze bunt with the score tied in the ninth inning and Jed Lowrie singled in the series-winning run in the bottom of the inning.

"It is kind of strange," Kendrick said. "It seems like every time we're in the their park they mount a comeback every time. It's kind of crazy. It just seems like in the postseason they've had our number for the past couple of years. In the regular season we get the job done. Hopefully those things will turn around and we'll continue to play our game."

In last year's series, the Angels made four errors (two by outfielders), struck out 34 times and had just three steal attempts.

"Sometimes it just seems like we may get out of our solid play every now and then," Kendrick said. "I know last year for me I stepped outside of my boundaries and swung at a lot of balls out of the zone. They execute the game plan."

The beginning of this week has looked like more of the same, which prompted Torii Hunter to question his team's "nuts."

"The team showed nuts tonight," he said after Thursday's win. "Mistakes were made Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We didn't make any like that today."

But come Oct. 7 or 8, all the history will be dredged up again, and the Angels will be reminded of the Red Sox hurdle they have been unable to overcome.


"I think there's been a number of factors in the series that we've lost to them," manager Mike Scioscia said, "from really just being out-played -- and part of that is maybe not being at a level that we needed to be to bring the things on to the field that we needed to do -- and just not executing, not playing well.

"I don't think there's any mystery when a team beats you in the playoffs. I think it's very tangible. And we didn't do a lot of the things that had gotten us to that level. That's where we want to keep working toward this season."