One Step Back in Angel Chase

In this weird wild-card world, where September games against teams in your division can matter less than August games against teams from far and wide, playoff pressure accompanied Monday night’s game between the Angels and Boston Red Sox.

The Angels could play all their September games against the Seattle Mariners without catching the Mariners atop the American League West. The Angels could catch the Oakland Athletics in the wild-card race, but for now not without first passing the Red Sox.

“Every game from here on out is important,” Angel outfielder Tim Salmon said before Monday’s 6-1 loss to the Red Sox at Edison Field, “but when you play Boston and New York, it’s a little easier to get up for those games. The instant you walk on the field, there’s an excitement and an energy.”

That was true for the first five minutes or so Monday, which was about as long as it took for the poor performance of Ismael Valdes to drench the evening in lethargy. The first five Boston batters reached base, with two scoring in a inning that included an error and a wild pitch, and the Red Sox won easily before 22,891.

The Angels dropped three games behind Boston and seven behind Oakland in the wild-card standings. The Angels do not face the Red Sox after the final three games of this series; they play the A’s seven times in September.

Before the game, the Angels presented Manager Mike Scioscia with a three-year contract extension. After the game, Valdes apologized to his manager and teammates for the letdown amid the pressure.

“It doesn’t feel good, especially with the situation our team is in,” Valdes said. “I feel so bad for my team. I didn’t get the job done.”

Valdes, who had given up six runs in his previous 28 innings, gave up six in four innings Monday. His catcher, Bengie Molina, said Valdes complained of fatigue.

“He said he was feeling kind of tired,” Molina said. “He tried to work through it. It’s normal. You don’t feel good every day.

“He showed me a lot of courage. I tried to get him through five innings at least, but I couldn’t.”

Scioscia said that neither Molina nor Valdes mentioned anything about the pitcher being tired, although pitching coach Bud Black noted Valdes’ pregame workout was not crisp.

“Rocket didn’t warm up as well as he normally does,” Scioscia said, “but he’s started off slow in other games and come back to pitch well.”

Valdes walked the first batter of the game, Trot Nixon, and gave up a single to the second, Chris Stynes.

Nomar Garciaparra then singled to left field, and Nixon held at third base--that is, until Garret Anderson overran the ball for an error and Nixon scored.

Valdes threw a wild pitch, walked Carl Everett and gave up a single to Dante Bichette. The Angels escaped the inning with a modest 2-0 deficit because Molina threw out Stynes trying to steal and Troy O’Leary hit into a double play with the bases loaded.

Valdes also gave up a solo home run to Shea Hillenbrand in the second inning and two-run double to Doug Mirabelli in the fourth. He departed after Garciaparra’s leadoff single in the fifth.

“It was a really weird night,” Valdes said. “I was doing the best I could, but nothing was working. I didn’t feel very comfortable. Sometimes you have your stuff and sometimes you don’t. You have to figure out how to get batters out when you don’t.”

The Angels failed to solve Boston starter Frank Castillo, who had given up 19 runs in his previous 12 innings. They got none in seven. They got five hits, all singles.

“Soft, soft, soft,” Angel outfielder Darin Erstad said. “He throws soft, and he throws a good cutter. He mixed his pitches well and kept us off balance.

“Guys who use all their pitches and throw strikes are a tough combination for us.”

Castillo hardly threw any balls. Of his 86 pitches, 64 were strikes. The journeyman has not thrown a complete game since 1996, but the low pitch count enabled him to match his season high for innings pitched.

“It’s been a while,” he said. “It’s nice to pitch that deep into a game, especially when the guys are scoring runs. All I have to do is throw strikes.”

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