Angels May Be in Classic Fall, Not Fall Classic : Red Sox Force Seventh Game With 10-4 Win

It all comes down to this. Game 7 tonight, a pulsating Fenway Park, Roger Clemens against John Candelaria, a team that has been reborn against a team that may never live this series down. It’s curse versus curse.

The Boston Red Sox, whose quest for victory in a World Series has spanned more than three generations, extended the 1986 American League championship series to its very limit with a 10-4 rout of the Angels Tuesday night, evening the playoff series at three wins each.

And the Angels, dogged by a quarter-century of failure and two previous playoff bids that came up empty, are one defeat away from their most unforgettable, and unforgivable, collapse yet.

This was the series that promised to exorcise one of the teams from the ghosts of its past. The Angels thought they had done that Sunday in Game 5. They were one out from paradise before Manager Gene Mauch rolled a pair of dice.

Then, reliever Gary Lucas hit Rich Gedman and Dave Henderson hit the jackpot and the playoffs were startlingly shipped back to Boston.

What transpired Tuesday before 32,998 at Fenway Park was not so startling. The last time the Angels appeared here, they lost, 9-2. Kirk McCaskill was the losing pitcher, allowing 7 hits in the first 2 innings.

When the Angels reconvened on the East Coast for Game 6, McCaskill was again the losing pitcher. He gave up 6 hits in 2 innings. By the time Mauch mercifully went to the bullpen, the Angels were down, 7-2. It was only the third inning.

Worse yet for the Angels, McCaskill had been presented a two-run lead before he threw his first pitch. Dennis (Oil Can) Boyd was similarly nervous at the start, walking Ruppert Jones, yielding RBI doubles to Reggie Jackson and Doug DeCinces, and loading the bases before Rob Wilfong popped to first for the final out of the first inning.

“We came out just like I hoped we would,” Angel left fielder Brian Downing said. “The first inning, this team was more emotional than I’d seen it in years. We got a couple runs and had a threat going.

“We were just one batter away from knocking (Boyd) out. There’s no telling what might have happened if we had gotten into their bullpen.”

But the Angels failed to dispose of Oil Can, and then McCaskill pitched the bottom of the first. He gave the two runs back--on no hits, two walks and a passed ball.

Thus, a prevalent theme of these playoffs continued. Once the Red Sox are down, the Angels just can’t seem to do enough to help them back on their feet.

“To go back out in the bottom of the first and give them two runs without the benefit of a hit is tough,” Downing said. “We had them on the ropes, the crowd was down on them. And we let them right back in the game.

“We had to start all over again.”

McCaskill lost his 2-0 edge almost as quickly as it was given to him. He walked the first two hitters he faced, Wade Boggs and Marty Barrett. Both runners moved into scoring position when Bill Buckner grounded to first.

Then McCaskill uncorked a pitch to Jim Rice that dug into the dirt and spun wildly away from catcher Bob Boone. It looked like a wild pitch, the official scorer called it a passed ball, but to the Angels, it made no difference. Boggs had scored, Barrett was on third and California’s lead had been cut in half.

The lead was erased when Rice grounded to second, enabling Barrett to score Boston’s second run.

How to hand back momentum--on no hits or less, seemed to be theme of the first inning.

The Red Sox got some hits in the third inning.

And then some.

And then some more.

Spike Owen and Boggs singled. Barrett doubled off the Green Monster in left field to break the 2-2 tie. Buckner made it 4-2 with a single up the middle.

Rice, one of a select Boston few who couldn’t figure out McCaskill, then dribbled one to third base, getting Barrett caught in a rundown between third and home.

That brought on Don Baylor, the former Angel who helped make all this possible with his rally-starting home run in the ninth inning Sunday. Baylor singled to right, but his best move was taking a wide turn at first. Angel first baseman Bobby Grich cut the ball off and tried to pick off Baylor.

But second baseman Rob Wilfong was not yet in position to cover first. Grich threw anyway. The ball landed in the photo well by the dugout, allowing both Buckner and Rice to score.

Later, Grich said he was decoyed by Boston first base coach Walt Hriniak. “I saw someone in a fielding position,” Grich said. Grich thought it was Wilfong. When it turned out to be Hriniak, Grich argued for interference.

As was the case with the big picture, the Angels came up empty again.

McCaskill then yielded another single to Dwight Evans, who drove in another run. A 2-2 tie had turned into a 7-2 runaway.

Finally, Mauch made a move, bringing in Lucas as the first of three Angel relievers.

Mauch was asked why he waited so long to relieve an obviously laboring McCaskill, particularly when he had a rested Don Sutton available for bullpen duty. If the occasion of the moment had unnerved the 25-year-old McCaskill, Sutton brings two decades’ of experience with him. Sutton pitched a big game or two during that span.

“When (McCaskill) had a little problem early in his last game, we stayed with him and he came on to pitch some strong innings,” Mauch said. “I thought that would happen again.”

Pitching coach Marcel Lachemann maintained “there was no reason to bring on Sutton in that situation. Kirk was not getting his curveball over. There have been other times this season when he didn’t have a good curveball at first, but as the game progresses, he gets it.”

Said Boone: “It was just a matter of giving him another hitter to pitch to, so his stuff would click in. He’s got to work out of it. If we have to replace him that early, we’re in real trouble.”

So the Angels stayed with a struggling McCaskill. They wound up in real trouble.

“They jumped on him,” Lachemann said. “McCaskill never even got the chance to straighten out.”

By the fourth inning, the game was out of hand. Angel thoughts began to turn to Game 7.

“After the third inning, we were not in this game,” Downing said. “That’s over. Let’s play the game of our lives tomorrow.”

Other Angel thoughts remained stuck on Game 5.

“There were some thoughts about Sunday,” Reggie Jackson said. “We coulda, oughta, shoulda. But we have to forget Sunday now.”

When Jackson’s comments were relayed to Mauch, the manager sounded surprised.

“That doesn’t sound like Reggie,” Mauch said. “He had three hits tonight. Maybe he shouldn’t have thought about (Game 5) and he’d have had five or six (hits).”

Jackson’s first hit, a first-inning double, accounted for his 20th career RBI in championship series competition, an American League record. He had shared the record (19) with George Brett.

Jackson and several other Angels took time before the clubhouse doors were opened to the media to voice words of encouragement. Mauch got the session rolling by asking, “Who’s gonna win tomorrow?”

Downing was among the veterans who simply listened.

“Just a lot of positive things were said,” Downing said. “Everybody’s confident we’re going to kick Boston’s butt tomorrow. It’s time to rumble.”

Boyd, who limited the Angels to three runs on eight hits through seven innings, said it’s time for the Angels to crumble.

“This probably seems a little cocky, but my man Roger Clemens is going to throw a big ballgame. We’re gonna win Game 7,” Boyd said. “I got to believe Big Tex is gonna do it.”

Mauch, meanwhile, pointed to Candelaria and his advantage in playoff experience. Candelaria has pitched in two other playoff series and one World Series. Clemens has pitched in two playoff games--and has yet to win one.

“The only guys on either team who have pitched in a big game are Sutton and Candy,” Mauch said. “I would have liked to have gotten it over early, but since we haven’t, let it fly. Where else is there to be than the seventh game of the playoffs?”

Well, how about in Orange County, preparing for the World Series? The Angels could have spared themselves all this, had it not been for one pitch Sunday.

“We didn’t handle prosperity very well,” Downing said. “Let’s see what we do with adversity. Hopefully, it will bring the real ballplayers out of us.”