James Becomes the Latest to Bomb in Leading Role

Well, the Angels certainly mastered the fine art of butchering two-run leads in the ninth inning here at Fenway Park. Now it’s on to Cleveland for the final four games of their 10-game, nine-day trip.

Just how will they respond to a 6-5 come-from-ahead loss to the Boston Red Sox in front of 28,454 on Sunday?

Allen Watson and Jack Howell offered different opinions in the wake of the Angels’ second consecutive ninth-inning loss to the Red Sox, who with the victory escaped last place in the American League East.

“This is going to hurt,” said Watson, who pitched 6 1/3 steady innings before handing the bullpen a 5-3 lead that wouldn’t last. “These last two games are going to hurt. These were two games that were over. It’s hard to handle two in a row the way we lost ‘em.”

Howell, who took a turn as the designated hitter and delivered bases-empty homers in the fourth and seventh innings, did not agree.

“We’ve got guys on our team who don’t look it as, ‘Poor me. Poor us. We had the lead and lost,’ ” Howell said. “It’s more like, ‘OK, today’s over.’ I think that’s why we’ve been resilient all year.”

So who is right, Watson or Howell?

Stay tuned.

The Angels and Indians play a day-night doubleheader today at Jacobs Field. Based on weekend losses to the Red Sox, anything is possible.

“One of the things we pride ourselves on is not getting too down,” Manager Terry Collins said. “We’ve got the Cleveland Indians staring us in the face, so we’ve got to get over it real fast.”

The Angels built a 2-0 lead, lost it on Nomar Garciaparra’s three-run homer in the fifth, then rallied to retake the lead in the seventh. Garret Anderson and Howell homered off Boston starter Aaron Sele, then Darin Erstad added a sacrifice fly to give the Angels a 5-3 lead.

Shigetoshi Hasegawa went 1 2/3 innings in relief of Watson, who was trying to gain his career-high ninth victory. But when Collins turned the game over to Mike James (4-3), things went south.

James, activated from the disabled list before the game, looked precisely like a guy who hadn’t pitched in 25 days. He faced five batters and all five reached base. Wilfredo Cordero’s bases-loaded single past the drawn-in Angel infield produced the game-winner.

“I have no idea,” James said when asked what went wrong. “I feel fine. I threw the ball. They hit the ball. We’re supposed to win those games.”

The Angels said similar things after Mo Vaughn’s three-run homer off closer Troy Percival in the ninth inning Saturday rallied the Red Sox for a 7-6 victory.

Forget trading for a starting pitcher. What the Angels seemed to need most the past two days was an effective, well-rested reliever.

Collins would have preferred to bring along James--who had been on the disabled list because of an inflamed right elbow--more slowly. But Collins was out of options. Percival had pitched in three consecutive games and Collins was not about to make it four in a row.

“James was fresh,” Collins said. “He’s a power arm. He didn’t get it done.”

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Blowing It

How Angels’ last three losses have gotten away:

July 27----Red Sox 6, Angels 5

Mike James loses a 5-3 lead in ninth--5 batters, 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batsman.

July 26----Red Sox 7, Angels 6

Percival loses 6-4 lead in ninth----3 hits, 3 runs.

July 23----Yankees 5, Angels 4

Shigetoshi Hasegawa faces two batters--double, error produce winning run.