This Time, Stanley Knocks Out Angels

Mike Stanley will retain this moment in his memory.

The towering home run into the left-field seats at Anaheim Stadium. The trot around the bases. The handshakes back in the dugout.

Stanley broke a scoreless tie with his bases-empty home run to help Roger Clemens and the Boston Red Sox beat the Angels, 2-1, Tuesday.

This was much better than that last visit to Anaheim Stadium. He left on a stretcher that night.

“I don’t remember a thing about that night,” Stanley said.

One can hardly blame him.

On May 24, Stanley was knocked senseless, literally, by a Mike James fastball. He dropped to ground, tried to crawl on his elbows, then collapsed. Stanley was carried off the field and spent three hours in the hospital.

“He went down like a rock when he got hit,” Red Sox Manager Kevin Kennedy said. “It was as frightening a thing as I’ve seen.”

The next day, Stanley had a sizable lump above his left ear and a faraway look in his eyes. Stanley, who works the New York Times’ crossword puzzle almost every day, was reduced to answering questions in a Forrest Gump-manner.

Still, Stanley missed only three games.

“He’s an intense guy,” Kennedy said. “Any time someone gets hit on the head, you get extremely worried. But he came right back.”

And continued to produce. He has 18 home runs in his last 61 games, after hitting six through the first 54 he played.

“He had a clutch one tonight,” Kennedy said.

That Stanley was in the lineup to provide a little offense was unusual. Clemens, a picky pitcher, insists on having Bill Haselman as his catcher. One could hardly blame him, considering Stanley has thrown out only six of 84 base stealers this year.

But with Jose Canseco out with a back injury, Stanley has had to fill in at designated hitter when not catching. That he is well qualified to do. Stanley has 24 home runs and 69 runs batted in.

He demonstrated that power in the seventh. Stanley hit Chuck Finley’s first pitch, driving the ball high and deep. Angel left fielder Garret Anderson gave it a courtesy look, but the ball landed well into the seats for a 1-0 lead.

“When he hit that, there was some relief,” Kennedy said. “When you have Clemens and Finley going at it, one run could be enough.”

Stanley, who is hitting .400 in the last nine games, has provided big hits before. He had bases-loaded, game-winning singles against Oakland on Aug. 21 and Kansas City on July 31. The Red Sox were looking for such production when they signed him. Stanley spent the last four seasons with the New York Yankees, averaging 17 home runs in that time. But the Yankees refused to offer him arbitration, so Stanley signed a two-year deal with the Red Sox that will pay him $2.3 million this season.

“He’s going to finish with 80 RBIs or more,” Kennedy said. “We got our money’s worth.”

They did Tuesday.

In fact, it was a good evening all the way around. With James on the mound in the ninth, Stanley was left in the on-deck circle when Mo Vaughn struck out.

The was no reason to relive an old memory, especially because it’s one he can’t remember.