Angels to meet Red Sox head-on

It begins with an attitude. If the Angels are to shake Boston’s playoff stranglehold on them, they can’t go into this American League division series thinking they can beat the Red Sox.

They have to take the field for Game 1 of the best-of-five series tonight knowing they can beat them.

“If we’re comfortable, confident, and play the way we’re capable of playing, we’ll be tough to beat,” Angels pitcher Joe Saunders said. “If we play scared, on our heels, and waiting for bad things to happen, it’s not going to be a good series. We can’t beat ourselves.”

The Red Sox are 9-1 in the postseason against the Angels since 2004, sweeping them in the 2004 and 2007 division series and eliminating them in the 2008 division series three games to one.

Of the 94 postseason innings the teams have played in that span, the Angels have held the lead for 7 1/2 of them, a run of dominance that has to be in the Angels’ heads, no matter what lengths they go to downplay it.

Boston was the superior club in 2004, dismantling the Angels en route to winning its first World Series title in 86 years, and the Angels were so racked by injuries and illness at the end of 2007, they could barely put up a fight.

But last October’s loss still stings because the Angels led the major leagues with 100 wins, were 8-1 against Boston, and finally had a championship-caliber offense, with the July addition of Mark Teixeira, to match their strong pitching and defense.

And still, the Angels “lost to a team that’s not better than us,” as pitcher John Lackey growled, because they failed to deliver enough in the clutch, messed up a few defensive plays, threw a few too many fat pitches, ran into outs on the basepaths and botched a crucial suicide squeeze.

“You can’t play the game saying to yourself, ‘Don’t hit it to me,’ or, ‘I really hope I get this guy out,’ or, ‘I hope this guy throws a ball so I can walk,’ ” Saunders said.

“You have to say, ‘I hope this guy throws a strike and I’m going to kill it,’ or, ‘This guy’s going to hit it to me and I’m going to turn a sick double play,’ or, ‘I’m going to throw this ball right where I want to for strike three.’ If you don’t think like that, you won’t go far.”

Center fielder Torii Hunter saw those doubts creeping into the Angels in September, when they lost the first two games of a three-game series in Fenway Park in uncharacteristic fashion.

First baseman Kendry Morales bobbled a bunt, and Lackey’s throwing error on a bunt allowed Boston to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning of the first game, and the Angels were one for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Misplays by shortstop Erick Aybar and second baseman Howie Kendrick helped fuel Boston’s five-run sixth inning in the second game, and the Angels melted down in the ninth inning in the face of two disputed umpiring calls that went Boston’s way.

Alex Gonzalez capped a two-run rally with a run-scoring single to give the Red Sox a 9-8 walk-off win.

“Don’t change anything because it’s the Red Sox,” Hunter fumed after that loss. “If you play nervous, you’re going to make mistakes. Show some [guts]!”

The next night, the Angels scored three runs against Josh Beckett, took the lead with a ninth-inning run against Billy Wagner and got shutdown relief from Kevin Jepsen and Brian Fuentes in a 4-3 victory that went a long way toward healing their bruised psyche.

It was exactly the kind of game the Angels needed to prove to themselves they can win in Fenway, the raucous relic of a park where the Angels suffered walk-off losses in each of their three division series matchups with the Red Sox.

“Let’s be honest. We’re going to have to go through there to get to where we want to go, so we have to prepare for it,” outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. said. “If you play a certain way during the season in a certain place, you can get accustomed to it.

“Success breeds confidence. It was important for us to play well as a team there, especially for some of the guys in this clubhouse who weren’t sure.”

Matthews didn’t name names; he didn’t have to. Kendrick batted .118 with seven strikeouts and looked unsure of himself at times in the field in last year’s division series.

Aybar batted .111 and whiffed on the squeeze play that would have given the Angels a one-run lead in the eighth inning of Game 4, which Boston won on Jed Lowrie’s walk-off single.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself in the postseason, and I was a little over-aggressive,” said Kendrick, who bounced back from a June demotion to triple A to bat .291 this season.

“This year, I think I’ve progressed as a hitter and a player, especially after struggling. I understand the game better. That doesn’t guarantee I’ll be successful, but feel I have the tools to have the quality at-bats that will help the team win.”

Aybar has progressed to where he could win a Gold Glove to go with his .312 average. The Angels also have an attractive middle-infield option in switch-hitting Maicer Izturis, who sat out last year’s division series because of injury.

It’s not only the younger players who, as Manager Mike Scioscia likes to say, need to “bring their game onto the field.” Plenty of veterans have put too much pressure on themselves during the playoffs.

“There were specific instances when some guys tried to hit the three-run homer with no one on base or tried to throw 96 mph instead of 92 and locating,” Scioscia said. “That’s a growth aspect players have to go through.”

The Angels think they’ve matured. Their lineup is much deeper, bolstered by power (Morales, Juan Rivera, Vladimir Guerrero, Hunter) and patience (Bobby Abreu, Chone Figgins) with plenty of speed.

The rotation is as good as it has ever been, thanks to the acquisition in late August of Scott Kazmir from Tampa Bay, and if their bullpen holds up, the Angels like their chances.

“I like this team, there’s a different aura about this team,” said Saunders, who will start Game 3 on Sunday in Boston. “For a lot of guys, last year was their first real playoff series, and I think a lot of the younger guys, including myself, really learned what it takes in the postseason, what you need to do. That’s huge for us.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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RED SOX WALK-OFFS

As if the Boston Red Sox have not tormented the Angels enough by beating them in the 2004, 2007 and 2008 American League division series, each of those matchups featured sudden-death victories in Fenway Park. A (bad) trip down memory lane for the Angels:

2008, Game 4

The Angels, down two games to one, are trailing, 2-0, when Torii Hunter hits a two-out, two-run single in the eighth inning to tie the score. Kendry Morales leads off the ninth with a pinch-hit double, pinch-runner Reggie Willits takes third on Howie Kendrick’s bunt, but Erick Aybar botches a suicide squeeze and Willits is out in a rundown.

Boston’s Jason Bay doubles with one out in the ninth, and after Mark Teixeira makes a diving catch of Mark Kotsay’s liner for the second out, Jed Lowrie singles to right against reliever Scot Shields to give the Red Sox a series-clinching 3-2 win.

2007, Game 2

Though the Angels are two for 12 with runners in scoring position, it is 3-3 in the ninth, which Julio Lugo opens with a single against reliever Justin Speier. Dustin Pedroia, with Lugo running, grounds out to short. Angels Manager Mike Scioscia pulls Speier in favor of Francisco Rodriguez, who strikes out Kevin Youkilis. David Ortiz is intentionally walked.

Manny Ramirez, at 12:44 a.m., hits a three-run home run past the giant Coke bottle above the Green Monster to give the Red Sox a 6-3 victory and 2-0 series edge. The series shifts to Anaheim, where Boston completes a sweep.

2004, Game 3

The Angels, after losing the first two games in Anaheim, come back from a 6-1 deficit, tying the score on a crowd-silencing grand slam by Vladimir Guerrero against Mike Timlin in the seventh inning. The Angels fail to score after loading the bases with one out in the ninth.

Rodriguez, after throwing scoreless eighth and ninth innings, gives up a leadoff single to Johnny Damon in the 10th inning and strikes out Ramirez.

Instead of going to closer Troy Percival, Scioscia, after going the whole season without a left-hander in the bullpen, summons Game 1 starter Jarrod Washburn to face Ortiz, who hits a two-run home run over the Green Monster for a series-clinching 8-6 victory.

-- Mike DiGiovanna