Charging Red Sox Don’t Wait for Boskie

Shawn Boskie has added a slow curve this season, and he has been able to freeze batters with a snappy inside fastball, but the biggest difference in the Angel right-hander, according to interim Manager Joe Maddon, has been his mental changeup.

“Sometimes when you haven’t had success in the past, you’re almost waiting for something bad to happen,” Maddon said. “But Shawn feels he can do this now. He’s not waiting for something to go wrong.”

Boskie didn’t have to wait for something to go wrong Wednesday night--things went sour almost immediately. The Boston Red Sox scored four runs in the second inning and knocked Boskie out in the sixth en route to a 7-4 victory before 20,894 in Anaheim Stadium.

That completed a three-game sweep of the Angels for Boston, which has won 22 of 28 games to move to within two games of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League wild-card race and six of the first-place New York Yankees in the East.

Red Sox right-hander Tom Gordon (10-6) threw a five-hitter, walking four and striking out three for his fourth complete game of the season.

And, as usual, Boston gave him plenty of support with an efficient, nine-hit attack. The Red Sox have scored 203 runs in Gordon’s 28 starts, an average of 7.3 a game.

Boskie (12-7) was coming off one of his best starts of the season, Friday’s 6 1/3-inning, four-hit shutout of the Orioles in Camden Yards, and he retired the side in order in the first inning Wednesday night.

But the Red Sox bunched five consecutive singles in the second--by Reggie Jefferson, Mike Stanley, Troy O’Leary, John Valentin and Mike Greenwell--for three runs, and a fourth scored when Tony Rodriguez bounced into a double play.

Boskie did not give up a hit over the next three innings, and the Angels scored twice in the third on Randy Velarde’s walk, Jim Edmonds’ double, Gordon’s passed ball and Tim Salmon’s RBI single to make it 4-2.

But when O’Leary, who is batting .327 with seven homers and a team-high 26 RBIs in August, and Valentin opened the sixth with doubles, Maddon determined that 108 pitches and a 5-2 deficit would be enough for Boskie.

His decision to pull Boskie touched off some high jinks in the left-field corner, but it had nothing to do with the five burly guys dressed in pink tutus in the box seats down the left-field line.

Pitching coach Joe Coleman, who made the visit to the mound, signaled to the bullpen, and left-hander Chuck McElroy, who was just activated off the disabled list Wednesday, jogged through the bullpen gate and into left field.

But halfway to the infield, Coleman ordered McElroy back to the bullpen. It was Jason Grimsley he wanted, and out came the struggling right-hander, who retired Greenwell on a grounder to second but delivered a wild pitch that allowed Valentin to score for a 6-2 lead.

McElroy, recovered from an inflamed left thumb, eventually came on to pitch a scoreless seventh, giving up no hits, striking out two and walking one.

The Angels trimmed the deficit to 6-3 in the seventh when Rex Hudler reached on an error, Gary DiSarcina singled and Jorge Fabregas hit a sacrifice fly, but Greenwell’s homer off reliever Greg Gohr in the eighth pushed the lead to 7-3.

J.T. Snow homered with one out in the ninth, but Gordon retired Hudler and DiSarcina on ground balls to end the game.