Angels Are Missing One Key Ingredient

Before Sunday’s Angel-Red Sox game, Mike Scioscia jokingly advised Vladimir Guerrero to attend the chapel service.

“You need to pray,” Scioscia told Guerrero in Spanish.

Here’s a suggestion: Dear Lord, please get Garret Anderson back in the lineup, swinging the bat like his old self. Pronto.

Guerrero just isn’t the same without Anderson, the only other remaining member of last year’s G Unit (which included Troy Glaus and Jose Guillen).

Anderson has sat out eight consecutive games because of back and knee injuries; Guerrero has not driven in a run in the last seven games. The pitches he sees tend to break into two categories: high and inside or way outside for an intentional walk. When Guerrero’s wobbling, the Angels are a so-so team. They’re 4-4 in this stretch.

With Anderson adding some -- any -- offensive punch, it’s not too farfetched to imagine the Angels beating the Boston Red Sox in a playoff series. The Angels’ starting pitching is better, and good pitching beats good hitting, right?

The rotation, which statistically ranks as the best in the American League, gave the Angels a chance to win each of the four games against the majors’ best hitting attack. That the Angels could manage only a split speaks to their inconsistent offense and the recent shakiness of the bullpen.

The Angel starters have given up three earned runs or fewer by the time they left in 22 of the last 24 games. That included Sunday, when Paul Byrd exited with a 3-0 deficit and a runner on in the eighth inning of a 5-1 loss.

While opponents can pitch around Guerrero, the Angels had to face Johnny Damon, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, who brought more than 260 runs batted in into this game among them.

“It’s tough to go against a lineup that deep,” Scioscia said. “When we’re not getting much going on the offensive side, every pitch has a lot more meaning. It’s going to be very unforgiving.”

Second baseman Adam Kennedy said: “The pitching has proved to be so consistent. Even on a bad day, they’re only giving up five, six runs. Whenever we’ve struggled, it’s been our offense that’s not able to put it together. I think that’s probably the key.”

Anderson took some soft-toss batting practice Sunday morning, and spent a little time running on the base paths. (Yes, running.)

Scioscia said Anderson “should be a go for Tuesday,” when the Angels play in Baltimore.

The question is, will his return to the Angel lineup be more valuable than Curt Schilling’s return to the Boston rotation? Schilling (presumably equipped with a large supply of socks) is scheduled to start Thursday, now that his experiment as a closer is over. He made one last appearance in the ninth inning Sunday, gave up three hits and a run and took 24 pitches to get three out.

If he can somehow regain the form that made him one of the top postseason pitchers in recent years, the Angels can forget it. But if he can’t....

The way Bartolo Colon, Jarrod Washburn, Ervin Santana and Paul Byrd pitched in this series, the Angels have reason for hope.

It wasn’t until the eighth inning of the final game that the Red Sox put up a big number, when Byrd left a ball over the plate and Edgar Renteria hit a three-run home run. Manny Ramirez homered against Brendan Donnelly two batters later.

You’d think that any Angel starter would be pleased if you told him he would surrender only three runs after facing the first 29 Boston batters.

“Wouldn’t have taken it,” Byrd said.

He was mad that he couldn’t get Renteria for the final out of the inning. Mad that the Angels couldn’t get a third victory in this series at home.

Location is everything for the Red Sox, who are 38-18 at home and only 33-33 on the road. They have beaten the Angels 10 of their last 11 games at Fenway Park.

These two teams are projected to meet in the first round of the playoffs. Right now the AL West-leading Angels are one game behind the AL East-leading Red Sox in the positioning for home-field advantage. The Red Sox lead the season series, 4-3, with three games in Fenway the first week of September.

Last year there was no way the Angels could be expected to beat the Red Sox. They did everyone a favor, got swept and didn’t keep anyone waiting for the series everyone wanted, Yankees-Red Sox.

This year’s team has higher expectations, so merely making the playoffs won’t be enough. The Angels need to win a series. Hard to believe, but now it’s Angel fans who are long-suffering followers, compared with their Red Sox counterparts.

How quickly have things changed around here? Only three Angels in Sunday’s lineup were starters on the 2002 World Series champions. And it’s starting to seem like a long time ago that the Angel lineup, like Boston’s now, could generate runs from every part of the lineup.

“With that team, everything had to be going right, and it did for a long period of time,” Kennedy said. “Here the talent level is a lot higher than that team. It’s tough to say. Back then we had to play perfect and we did. If we play as good as the team we’re fielding, we’re tough to beat, just because the talent level can pretty much match up with anybody, I think.”

The rotation just held its own with the Boston batters.

The hitters just have to hold up their end.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to www.latimes.com/adande.