Angels ride high into East Coast swing

Next stop, Fenway Park, where the Angels begin a three-game series against the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox on Monday night.

"Sometimes," Finley recalled of historic and -- for the Angels -- horrific Fenway, "you go into a yard and you're so used to a team beating you, you're almost down 2-0 before the game starts."

Last stop, Yankee Stadium, where the Angels begin a four-game series Thursday night against the storied franchise that has won 26 World Series and always seems to have a prolific offense.

"It was always tough going to New York late in the season," former Angels outfielder Tim Salmon said. "You hope you have a five-run lead in the ninth, because those teams always came back."

One trip, 10 games, in three cities that have not been kind to the Angels. Since their inception in 1961, the Angels have gone 116-174 in Baltimore, 117-173 in Boston and 111-173 in New York.

Those cities have also combined to pack a powerful one-two-three punch to the Angels' pride, playoff hopes, or both.

Twenty-five times in franchise history, the Angels have ventured to Baltimore, Boston and New York on the same trip. Only three times have they had a winning trip.

Their overall record on those trips: 82-139.

"I can tell you why," said Salmon, an Angel from 1992 to 2006. "The years I was there, they had good teams in Baltimore, good teams in Boston and good teams in New York. You were bound to face at least two teams in playoff contention."

Often in suffocating conditions.

"The heat, the humidity . . . New York and Baltimore were really hot places -- it was brutal," Finley said. "By the time we'd get acclimated to it, we were gone."

This used to be a regular trip for the Angels, but because of adjustments to accommodate interleague play and the addition of Tampa Bay in 1997, the Angels have not made a Baltimore-Boston-New York trip since 1996.

"That's amazing; I can't believe they haven't done it since 1996," Salmon said. "Those were always great trips for meal money, though. I got called up in the middle of a trip to Oakland, Baltimore, New York and Boston, and we got $60 a day. Coming from triple A, that was a ton of money."

The Angels often left the East Coast feeling robbed. Or mugged. They went 1-8 on a trip to New York, Boston and Baltimore from Aug. 29 to Sept. 6, 1995, getting outscored, 66-26, in the nine games.

Though they were in Camden Yards the night Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games streak, the Angels lost 3 1/2 games off their division lead on the trip, part of a late-season collapse from an 11-game, early-August lead.

"I was surprised we got the one," Finley said of the lone win.

One of the darkest moments in franchise history also occurred on that East Coast swing.

On May 21, 1992, en route from New York to Baltimore, an Angels team bus crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike, injuring 12, including Manager Buck Rodgers seriously.