No Sunday in the Park for Angels

The Green Monster stands there tantalizingly, beckoning all comers to “Hit me, hit me . “ The right-field foul pole is a mere 302 feet from home plate, and the wide-open spaces in right-center can be pure heaven for a gap hitter.

Yet, there are times when Fenway Park transforms into a batter’s nightmare, suddenly frustrating those whom it so often serves.

For the Angels, one of those times came to pass Sunday when:

--They had to start a lineup with Darrell Miller (.200) in left field and Gus Polidor (.000) at third base because Jack Howell and Wally Joyner were unavailable.

--They had to squint into the glare of a bright overhead sun and a shirt-sleeve crowd, trying to pick up the deliveries of a left-handed pitcher.

--They had to face Bruce Hurst, who throws precisely the kind of junk the Angels have come to know and loathe.

Throw in the fact that the Angels were starting Don Sutton, a right-handed pitcher usually good for a home run a game in any park, and their 7-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox looks to be little more than a foregone conclusion.

“When you get people (sitting) in center field, with an above-average-size left-hander on the mound and the sun shining, it’s no picnic being at home plate,” Angel Manager Gene Mauch said. “I asked Brian Downing if it was tough seeing the ball out there, and he said, ‘No, it’s a lot worse than that.’ ”

Downing, the Angels’ leading hitter, went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts.

“It was pretty obvious how tough it was when you look at the number of pitches we took and the number of checked swings,” he said. “Plus, you’ve got a left-hander out there, breaking off big curveballs and changing speeds. All you can do is peck at the ball.

“But,” he added, “it’s been that way for 75 years. That’s what’s called a home-court advantage. On days like today, all you can do is hope for a cloud cover.”

It never came. And on a clear day, it was clear that the Angels had little chance against Hurst (4-3), who was coming off a 14-strikeout shutout of Oakland last Tuesday and beat the Angels, 9-2, under similar conditions in Game 2 of the 1986 American League playoff.

“This was the same as the playoffs,” Downing said. “Daytime, Hurst stuck our bats you know where. I don’t want to make excuses, but you saw all the chopping-type swings we had to make. We were trying to protect ourselves.”

Hurst limited the Angels to five singles and struck out nine. It was his third shutout of the season, giving him the major league lead. And all of them have come at Fenway, supposedly a national cemetery for left-handed pitchers.

“I don’t mind pitching at Fenway,” Hurst said. “There’s a lot I can do to win here. I can’t think about the negatives.”

The Angels never came close to scoring, getting only one runner as far as second base.

Sutton (2-4) gave up the only run that mattered in the first inning when the Red Sox gave Mauch, Capt. Little Ball, a taste of his own strategy. Leadoff hitter Ellis Burks crossed up Sutton with a bunt single, stole second base and came home on a double off the center-field fence by Wade Boggs.

In the third inning, Boston broke the game open by more conventional means. To match his first major league stolen base in the first inning, Burks delivered his first major league home run, trying out the Green Monster for the first time. Sutton then yielded singles to Marty Barrett and Boggs and a three-run home run to another rookie, Mike Greenwell.

“Sutton made one pitch that he wasn’t in fairly good control of,” Mauch said. “That pitch to Green wall was right square over the middle of the plate.

No, Gene, it’s Green well . He’s a left fielder who plays in front of the green wall.

“If he hits a couple more like that,” Mauch said, “I’ll get it right.”

Boston’s four-run inning gave Hurst a 5-0 lead to work with, and the Red Sox added two more off Angel reliever Chuck Finley. But Hurst insisted that “the game doesn’t change if it’s 1-0 or 9-0. My job is to make the best pitches I can to each hitter. The game’s the same.”

Sutton disagreed.

“If I can hold then to that one run, it changes how (Hurst) works the rest of the game,” Sutton said. “He can take more chances. When we were down by five, all he had to do is coast and avoid a heart attack.”

Angel Notes

Wally Joyner will not rejoin the Angels until the team returns home to Anaheim Friday. Joyner flew to Sacramento Sunday morning to be with his family and will attend his brother Crandon’s funeral there Wednesday. . . . Sore backs could keep both left fielder Jack Howell and pitcher John Candelaria out of the Detroit series. Gene Mauch on Howell: “He’s feeling better, but he’s very doubtful for (today). I’d say it’s pretty close to no chance.” Mauch on Candelaria: “I don’t have a clue. If it was his turn (today), there’d be no chance. If it was his turn Tuesday, I’d say probably no chance. But he pitches Wednesday. We’ll have to wait and see.” Candelaria reported no improvement in his back and said if the Angels’ starting rotation were in better condition, he would automatically skip the start. “If we had four (other) good starters, I would not go out there,” Candelaria said. “(But) if I feel a little better, I’d have to consider it. It depends on how I feel on Wednesday. But I’m not going to go out there if I think I can hurt myself any more.”. . . Bruce Hurst allowed 14 earned runs in his first 22 innings this season but pitched consecutive shutouts since being reunited with catcher Rich Gedman. Is Gedman the difference? “If I say yes, it’s a knock on Marc Sullivan, and that’s not the way it should be,” Hurst said. “Geddy and I have worked together a long time. There’s some worth to that. But there were days when it didn’t work like that for us.” . . . Gedman has to be able to contribute some way. By going 0 for 2 with a sacrifice bunt Sunday, Gedman is 0 for 17 since re-signing with Boston May 1. . . . Scoring change: A little luster was removed from Boone’s return to the Angels’ lineup Saturday when the Red Sox official scorer took a run batted in away from Boone. During the Angels’ 8-1 victory, McLemore scored from second on Boone’s second double of the day, a drive off the Green Monster that left fielder Jim Rice bobbled before relaying the ball to the infield. Boone was originally credited with an RBI, but 24 hours later, the call was changed. Rice was charged with an error, and the run was unearned.