And for Their Next Trick...

Angel pitcher Jarrod Washburn, who is expected to start Game 1 of the American League division series against the Boston Red Sox Tuesday in Angel Stadium, has no recollection of the 1986 AL championship series between the Angels and Red Sox.

“I didn’t have cable TV where I lived,” the Wisconsin native said after the Angels closed the regular season with a meaningless 3-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Sunday in Network Associates Coliseum. “I probably didn’t watch it.”

Neither did first baseman Darin Erstad. “I was 12 years old at the time,” he said. “We didn’t have TV in North Dakota.”

Center fielder Garret Anderson and closer Troy Percival grew up in Southern California, and both claimed they didn’t remember the 1986 AL championship series, considered one of the best postseason series of the last 25 years.

Which is probably good for the Angels, because the last thing they need on the eve of a best-of-five, first-round series against the team many consider to be the most dangerous in the AL is a reminder of the darkest on-field moment in the franchise’s 44-year history.

It was Game 5 of the 1986 AL championship series, the Angels one strike away from their first World Series appearance, an Anaheim Stadium crowd quaking in anticipation, and Red Sox outfielder Dave Henderson hitting a devastating, two-run home run off Donnie Moore in the top of the ninth inning to give Boston a 6-5 lead.

The Angels tied it in the bottom of the ninth, but Henderson drove in the winning run off Moore in the 11th for a 7-6 win. The series returned to Boston, where the Red Sox blew out the Angels in Games 6 and 7 to win the pennant.

“I don’t think you’ll ever silence a crowd greater than that crowd was silenced,” Angel communications director Tim Mead, a member of the public relations staff in 1986, said of the Henderson homer. “The most unfortunate thing is that [former owner] Gene Autry and [former manager] Gene Mauch didn’t get to enjoy what both deserved.”

It was 16 years before the Angels reached the playoffs again, and their 2002 World Series title went a long way toward eradicating the ghosts of 1986.

“For Angel fans,” Mead said, flashing his World Series ring, “the championship in 2002 put all that other stuff behind us.”

Much as the Angels on Sunday filed away their 162-game grind of a season, in which they overcame a number of key injuries, long stretches of inconsistency and the suspension of left fielder Jose Guillen to clinch the AL West title Saturday against the A’s, the culmination of a string in which they won seven of eight tension-filled games.

“The slate is wiped clean,” Erstad said. Boston (98-64) finished with the third-best record in baseball and has the top one-two starting pitching punch in the postseason with right-handers Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez.

The offense features the lethal right-left combination of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, who combined for 84 home runs and 269 runs batted in, but unlike so many Red Sox contenders of past, this team does not sit back and wait for three-run home runs.

Leadoff batter Johnny Damon has a .380 on-base percentage; No. 2 hitter Mark Bellhorn has a .374 on-base percentage. Kevin Millar, Trot Nixon and Jason Varitek add pop to the lower half of the lineup, and Orlando Cabrera adds speed.

The Red Sox were relentless in sweeping three games from the Angels Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at Fenway Park, jumping on Angel starters early and applying pressure throughout each game.

“They’re a much more balanced club than they’ve been in the past couple of years,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “They do a lot of good things at the plate and on the bases. They have a group of guys who can pound the ball who are surrounded by good situational hitters. We have to really focus on what we do best on the mound and do it.”

Until the sixth inning Sunday, the Angels didn’t know if they’d be facing the Red Sox or Yankees.

The Angels entered the game needing a win or a Minnesota loss to Cleveland to clinch home-field advantage in the first round against the Red Sox; an Angel loss and a win by the Twins would have sent the Angels to New York for Game 1.

After Saturday’s win, Scioscia said the Angels “would take the field to win Sunday.” But looking at his lineup, which included only two regulars -- outfielder Jeff DaVanon and third baseman Dallas McPherson -- it seemed he would’ve been happy to play the Yankees in the first round.

The Angels, after all, eliminated New York in the 2002 playoffs, are 47-34 on the road this season and are not intimidated by Yankee Stadium, where they swept a three-game series in August. And many believe the Yankees, with their pitching problems, are more vulnerable than the Red Sox in a short series.

But Scioscia said the Angel training room, and not the first-round opponent, influenced him more than anything else Sunday. Outfielders Vladimir Guerrero and Anderson are nursing sore knees, Erstad has a sore back, and shortstop David Eckstein a sore elbow.

“It became apparent that some of our guys were at risk to injury, and if one or two of those guys go down right now, you could see our championship hopes evaporate,” Scioscia said.

When the Indians completed their 5-2 win over the Twins Sunday, the first-round pairings were set, regardless of the outcome of the Angel-A’s game.

“I don’t think we would have gotten a break with either team, the Yankees or the Red Sox -- they’re both great offensive clubs,” Washburn said. “Nothing is going to be easy.”