Red Sox Dampen Return by Angels : Baseball: They get only two hits against Boston’s Clemens--and three total--in losing, 4-1.

Returning to family, friends and the familiar environment of Anaheim Stadium Tuesday night, the traumatized Angels were hoping for more. They were hoping for a return to normalcy, which is what they seemed to get.

They got only three hits in support of Jim Abbott and lost to Roger Clemens and the Boston Red Sox, 4-1.

Is anything more normal than a continuation of Clemens’ dominance and Abbott’s hard luck?

In the wake of a 2-7 trip that included the harrowing bus accident of last Thursday, the Angels were unable to do anything about those patterns.

A crowd of 23,649 saw Clemens give up only a third-inning single by Gary DiSarcina and a fourth-inning double by Von Hayes as he struck out eight and walked only one before Jeff Reardon came on to pitch the ninth, yielding a harmless single by Hayes.

Clemens is 7-3, having given up only three earned runs in the 34 innings of his last four starts, all victories.

He is 14-5 against the Angels, having won seven consecutive decisions, including five in a row against Abbott, who had also lost to Clemens, 3-0, in Fenway Park 10 days earlier.

Abbott is now 2-6, the Angels having scored only 20 runs in his 10 starts and 15 when he is on the mound. This one, however, wasn’t among his best.

He made 98 pitches in five innings, giving up eight hits and the four earned runs. He walked five and struck out three. Clemens, by contrast, delivered an economical 92 pitches in his eight innings, perpetuating the slump that saw the Angels average only 2.7 runs and 7.8 hits on the trip and bat only .227 since May 3.

Pressing? No doubt about it, said acting Manager John Wathan.

“Everybody is trying to do too much, especially when Abbott pitches, because they love him so much,” Wathan said. “I was a position player, and I know how it is when you’re not scoring runs. You’re up there trying to hit a five-run homer, trying to go four for three.”

Abbott acknowledged that he is feeling the weight of his disappointing start.

“I’m frustrated right now, a little down,” he said. “I have to find rewards other than winning and losing. That’s how pitchers are judged, but I have to find other ways to save my confidence. Right now, I’m running a little low.”

Abbott threw the resin bag to the mound and hurled his glove against the dugout wall in uncharacteristic displays of emotion when he came out of the game. He refused to blame the poor run support or the reappearance of a thumb blister for his latest loss.

“Any time you pitch against Roger Clemens, you know it’s going to be a low-scoring game,” Abbott said. “I consider him the best pitcher in the American League. I try to pump up, and maybe I was trying to do too much with my pitches. He pitched a great game, and I gave away too much. To walk a lot of guys like that is not what I want to do.”

Two walks contributed to the second Boston run in the fourth. Two more contributed to the third and fourth runs in the the sixth.

The Angels returned home with a chance to heal more than their mental and physical scars. They will play 18 of 25 at home in a stretch that began Tuesday night.

But after receiving a dispassionate reception from a crowd seemingly impervious to the wounds that the club had suffered on the road, Abbott and the Angels quickly fell behind.

Jody Reed opened the game with a single and scored on Mike Greenwell’s ensuing double to center. It was the first extra-base hit of the season for Greenwell, who came in hitting .218 for his 87 at-bats, and it was a gift.

Center fielder Junior Felix made a stumbling, back pedaling pursuit, with the ball falling behind him. Felix promptly left the game because of a strained left groin muscle suffered when his spikes caught as he contorted under Greenwell’s drive. He is on a day-to-day basis, Wathan said.

The Angels scored in the fourth, on Hayes’ double and two groundouts.