Boggs Gets a Few Boos and a Gift From Chili

By most accounts, Penthouse or otherwise, Boston Red Sox third baseman Wade Boggs once enjoyed visits to Anaheim Stadium, where a generous Angel pitching staff and Margo Adams always awaited.

But Tuesday was a different story.

The Red Sox were making their first trip of the season through Orange County, where Boggs’ troubles with Adams, a Costa Mesa resident, began and continue.

After answering questions at a lengthy deposition in Irvine about his extramarital relationship with Adams, Boggs entered Tuesday night’s game hitting .299, the lowest his average has dipped in four years.

Boggs, a career .356 hitter, struck out in his first at-bat against Angel starter Kirk McCaskill, then tripled in the third after left fielder Chili Davis badly played what appeared to be a routine fly ball. He grounded to short, flied to center and struck out to finish one for five and drop his average to .296.

Boggs, who refused to speak with local reporters before the game, told the Boston Globe that his off-field troubles have had nothing to do with his slow start this season.

“You can look at the stats and say that this must be affecting me,” Boggs said. “But anybody who’s followed this team for the last 35 games knows that I’m hitting the ball as well as I ever have. I’m hitting the ball as well as I ever have in my life. Maybe I need a new chicken recipe or something.”

Boggs has long maintained a strict diet of eating chicken before games.

He might have expected the worst from Anaheim Stadium fans. Last season, when the Adams-Boggs affair was just heating up, the organist here played the theme to “The Addams Family” as Boggs approached the plate.

In Kansas City this season, fans sported Margo Adams masks in an effort to unnerve the Boston star.

There were no such scenes Tuesday night, as Boggs faced only a smattering of boos with each plate appearance.

In fact, former Dodger Steve Sax received worse treatment in Anaheim during last weekend’s series with the New York Yankees.

Most fans interviewed before the game seemed sympathetic toward Boggs’ situation.

“I think the whole thing’s a big joke,” said Rocky Barton, an Angel fan from Midway City. “It’s sad, yeah, but look at what Pete Rose has done to the game. He (Boggs) doesn’t deserve that (the booing). We all make mistakes.”

Chris Watson, also of Midway City, said he came not to bury Boggs, but to praise him.

“I’m going to cheer for him,” he said. “He’s one of the greatest players of all time.”

Bennie Maloney of Anaheim said she would not boo Boggs, though she hardly approved of his behavior.

“I didn’t approve when the Boston fans applauded him (earlier in the season),” she said. “I can’t see anybody applauding a guy who cheated on his wife for four years. A lot of kids look up to him, and they’re going to stand up and applaud him? But I don’t like to see them boo anybody.”

Bud Belsito, a lawyer from Huntington Beach, offered a biblical thought:

“People in glass houses should not throw stones,” he said. “I wonder how many people who are booing have two or three chickies on the side.”

Belsito, it should be noted, said he would not be booing.

Interestingly, Boggs brought his wife and children along for this West Coast swing. Monday, the Boggs family went to Universal Studios.

“It’s comforting, if nothing else,” Boggs told the Globe, “going back to the hotel room with my wife and kids there. It’s a lot better than going there alone with something like this going on.”