For Angels, It’s No Way in Fenway : Baseball: Green Monster leaves them red-faced as Red Sox complete sweep, 4-3.

The Angels were warned about the temptation of the Green Monster of Fenway Park when they headed here for the weekend.

They listened to stories of how some of the game’s greatest players were lured into believing it would be a tantalizing experience, only to find nothing but misery.

“We all know we’re supposed to stay away from it,” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said. “We were told we’d be better off not to even think about it, pretend it’s not even there.”

But the Angels were seduced again, and they scurried out of town Sunday after their 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox, trying to forget the whole experience.

“You try, you try so hard not to think about it, but you can’t help yourself,” DiSarcina said. “The temptation is too strong. It gets you every time.”

Fenway, you see, is a ballpark, not a stadium. There’s no other like it. From the 37-foot-high wall in left field, to the eight different wall angles, to the hanging ladder in fair territory, to public-address announcer Sherm Feller, it truly is a quaint, enchanting place.

Beauty, however, is in the eye of the beholder.

“I hate this place,” left fielder Luis Polonia said after the Red Sox’s three-game sweep over the Angels. “I’ve always hated it. People say it’s such a great place, and I look at them like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to be crazy.’

“I’m telling you, this place is weird. It’s like it haunts you. When I go up to the plate, I don’t even see any holes out there because everybody’s so close.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t affect the young guys so much, but did you see the way they were swinging? I haven’t seen them swing like that all year. It got them, man. That damn wall got them.”

The Angels, spellbound by the Green Monster that stands only 304 feet from home plate, led only one inning the entire weekend and once again came away homerless.

In what has become one of the bizarre streaks in Angel history, they have not hit a home run at Fenway since Aug. 26, 1990, spanning 169 innings. Considering the way they swung the bats this weekend, it was troublesome enough simply getting hits.

The Angels, batting .138 in their last six games, scored only five runs against the Red Sox. DiSarcina and Chad Curtis left town without a hit; and J.T. Snow, Tim Salmon and Rene Gonzales each had only one.

The Angels have been victimized by the place ever since they started coming here. Although this was the first time the Angels have been swept at Fenway since 1978, they’ve had only one winning season at Fenway in the last 16 years, and none since 1983. The Red Sox, using it to full advantage, have won nine of the first 10 home games for their best start at Fenway since it opened in 1912.

“I got my first introduction to the Green Monster,” said Snow, whose average has fallen to .320, “and hopefully I can forget all about it. It wasn’t pretty.”

The Green Monster not only lured the Angels into changing their swings, but caused havoc with their baserunning. The crowd of 31,857 at Fenway watched in amusement at Damion Easley getting thrown out at second on a ball hit off the Green Monster in the third inning, and Snow advancing from second base to third on a double off the wall by Chili Davis in the fourth.

Snow said he was fooled by center fielder Billy Hatcher, pretending he was going back to catch Davis’ ball, although it landed high off the wall. Easley’s problem, he said, was watching his ball carom off the wall before he started running full speed. The ball bounced so quickly off the wall to left fielder Bob Zupcic, it was in Scott Fletcher’s glove when Easley reached second.