Boston Wins Anaheim Fans, Game : Red Sox Tie for Lead as Big A Crowd Turns Traitorous

OK, now, the weirdest thing about the Angels’ 6-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox in 10 innings Sunday afternoon was:

(A) The weather, which featured 106-degree temperatures at game time and winds that whipped across the field at up to 20 m.p.h., giving Anaheim Stadium the feel of a foreign legion outpost in Morocco.

(B) The defense, which included a dropped fly ball by Mike Brown, a misplayed single by Darrell Miller, a misjudged fly ball by Dwight Evans and, in the seventh inning, a pair of errors--one physical, one mental--on successive plays by Jack Howell.

(C) Angel relief pitcher Greg Minton talking Angel Manager Cookie Rojas into intentionally walking Mike Greenwell with two out in the seventh inning and the tying run already at third base.

(D) The Anaheim Stadium crowd of 30,224, which did its best impersonation of Fenway Park West, cheering Boston hits and runs and roaring thunderously when Red Sox reliever Lee Smith struck out Howell for the final out.

Angel outfielder Chili Davis voted for (D).

“Nice Boston Red Sox fans, man,” Davis said, still shaking his head as he undressed in front of his locker stall. “That was ridiculous. Why should they be cheering for the Red Sox? After all, that team knocked the Angels out of the playoffs two years ago. I do believe there’s a rivalry here.”

If so, most of the Angel fans in attendance Sunday were apparently too busy batting beach balls or heading to their air-conditioned cars to notice, turning the Big-A aisles over to a large and loud assemblage of Red Sox rooters.

They were whipped into a frenzy by Larry Parrish’s game-winning home run off Bryan Harvey (6-5) in the top of the 10th and spent most of the bottom of the 10th on their feet, applauding the victory that would finally move Boston into a first-place tie with Detroit in the AL East.

“After I struck out and Jack struck out in the ninth, there was this roar ,” Davis said. “Eighty percent of them seemed to be cheering for the Red Sox. They drowned our fans out.

“Somebody told me that a lot of East Coast people have moved out here, so maybe that’s it. But my thinking is, California, for one, has enough of an unemployment rate. If they like their team that much, they should go back to Boston, get a job in Boston and cheer for the Red Sox there.”

Or maybe it was the weather after all. Heat can do strange things to people, fans and players alike, and make them do things they ordinarily wouldn’t do.

Take the third inning, where Rojas’ patchwork outfield of Miller in left, Davis in center and Brown in right--three players all out of position--came apart at the seams:

Miller, making his first start in left field since July 4, let Wade Boggs’ single bound through his legs, enabling Rick Cerone to score from second. Moments later, Brown, normally a left fielder, dropped a routine fly ball by Greenwell on the warning track, loading the bases for Ellis Burks, who singled home two more runs.

That left the Angels with a 4-3 lead against Roger Clemens, a lead they would keep until the seventh inning, when the Angel defense broke down again.

Angel reliever Sherman Corbett opened the seventh by walking Boggs. On came Minton, who retired Marty Barrett on a sacrifice bunt and Evans on a deep fly to center, allowing Boggs to tag and advance to third.

With Greenwell due to bat next, Marcel Lachemann, the Angels’ pitching coach, approached the mound to discuss how Minton might want to pitch to the American League’s RBI leader.

Minton proposed not pitching to him at all.

“I told him, ‘I like to walk this guy and pitch to Burks,’ ” Minton said. “I pitched to Burks last year and I know that boy cannot hit a down-and-out slider.”

Lachemann relayed this to Rojas and Rojas nodded in agreement. Greenwell would be walked intentionally and the winning run would intentionally be placed on first base.

Then, Burks came up and smacked a down-and-out slider down the third-base line. Howell, the Angel third baseman, moved in to glove the ball.

“Everything went according to plan,” Minton said.

Except for Howell’s execution of the ground ball. The baseball skittered through Howell’s legs, Boggs scored to tie the game at 4-4 and Greenwell wound up at third.

After another intentional walk to Todd Benzinger, the bases were loaded for Parrish. And Parrish hit another ground ball Howell’s way--only this one was tougher, more sharply hit and to Howell’s back-hand side.

Howell fielded this ball cleanly but instead of throwing across the infield for the out on Parrish at first base, he tried to out-run Burks for a force play at third base.

Burks won the footrace and Greenwell scored the go-ahead run.

“Minton did his job,” Rojas said. “He got the ground ball he needed. But we made an error on that ball, and a mental error after that, and gave them two runs.”

Rojas said there was “no doubt” where Howell should have thrown the ball he fielded off Parrish’s bat--to first base.

“With Parrish running, no doubt about it,” he said. “The guy can’t run.”

Said Howell: “My first instinct was to concentrate on catching the ball. . . . I was waiting back because the play before that (Burks’ ball) hit the bag, and this ball was right over the bag. I laid back and then had no momentum toward the bag.

“Looking back, with Burks’ speed, it would’ve been better to throw to first, especially with Parrish running.”

Parrish would re-surface in the 10th, after Johnny Ray’s run-scoring double in the seventh forged a 5-5 tie. He led off the 10th with his 12th home run of the season and his second home run in as many games.

The Red Sox were on their way to victory, and to a share of first place in the AL East, and the crowd at Anaheim Stadium loved it.

“It seemed like a road game, didn’t it?” a disgusted Davis told reporters as he packed his bags for a plane flight to Kansas City.

“And, now, are we going on the road or what? Where are we going? I’m confused.”

Feeling a bit like lost luggage, the Angels then headed for Ontario Airport, leaving Anaheim Stadium, their road away from the road, behind for the next 7 days.

Angel Notes

On his way to a 6-inning non-decision, Boston starter Roger Clemens struck out 7, giving him the all-time Red Sox record with 264 strikeouts for a season. The previous record was 258, set by Smokey Joe Wood in 1912. Clemens accomplished this while pitching with a sore rib cage and a right shoulder that flared up to the point where he had to ask out of the game in the seventh. “The days when I used to blow people away are gone for right now,” Clemens said. “I know everything it going to be extra tough (for me) right now--and it’s going to be that way for the rest of the year. Don’t expect me to punch out eight in a row anymore.”

Angel starter Dan Petry lasted 5 innings, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 8 hits, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts--which amounted to a major improvement over his last start on Tuesday, which lasted only 2 innings (5 hits, 4 runs). “Most of the time, I felt comfortable out there, which was better than last time,” Petry said. “I’m starting to feel it come together again.”