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Angels Can’t Check Slide

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Times Staff Writer

Maybe if the Angels were pounding the ball, scoring six or seven runs a game, or even hitting close to their capabilities, they could absorb the kind of control problems, defensive lapses and questionable umpiring that marred the bottom of the third inning for them Wednesday night.

But these are the feeble Angels, for whom four runs constitute an offensive outburst, and when your weak bats leave virtually no margin for error, it’s almost impossible to weather the perfect storm of miscues and misfortune that conspired against them at Fenway Park.

Two walks, a bloop hit that should have been caught and a disputed check-swing call that breathed new life into a Boston rally keyed a three-run third inning that propelled the Red Sox toward a 6-3 victory.

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After giving up three runs in the first two innings, Boston right-hander Bronson Arroyo blanked the Angels on three hits until the eighth, and the Red Sox won the second game of the three-game series despite being out-hit, 9-6.

Including last October’s American League division series loss, the Angels have dropped 12 of their last 13 games in Fenway, which does not bode well for the Angels should the teams meet in the playoffs.

That is no certainty, of course; with Oakland rallying for five ninth-inning runs to beat Seattle, the Angels’ AL West lead over the A’s is half a game with 24 remaining.

“This is not the time for everybody to go to sleep,” Angel shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. “If we’re going to score two or three runs a night, we’ve got to find a way to win these games.... Our offense has not been the best offense lately.”

It appeared the Angels, who have averaged 2.9 runs while going 4-8 in their last 12 games, might break out Wednesday when Garret Anderson singled with two out in the first, Vladimir Guerrero tripled off the center-field wall for a run and Darin Erstad singled Guerrero home. Cabrera’s two-out, run-scoring single in the second gave the Angels’ a 3-0 lead.

But Kevin Millar hit a solo home run off Angel rookie Ervin Santana in the second to make it 3-1, and Santana got himself in trouble by walking No. 9 hitter Alex Cora and leadoff batter Johnny Damon to open the third.

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Edgar Renteria followed with a popup that fell between second baseman Adam Kennedy, center fielder Jeff DaVanon and right fielder Guerrero, loading the bases with none out.

DaVanon, making his first start in the outfield in 19 days, broke back on the ball before sprinting toward the infield, and the wind pushed the ball away from Kennedy. Asked if DaVanon should have taken charge on the play, Manager Mike Scioscia said, “I think it was his ball.”

So did DaVanon.

“I made a bad read -- that’s my ball,” DaVanon said. “I took a step back and didn’t recover.”

Up stepped David Ortiz, who had hit a walk-off homer off Scot Shields on Tuesday. Santana fooled the Red Sox slugger with a low-and-away, 1-and-2 slider that Ortiz appeared to swing at.

Replays showed Ortiz’s bat broke the plane of the plate, but upon appeal, Larry Young, the third base umpire, ruled check swing.

“I was surprised,” said Ortiz, who lined Santana’s next pitch to left for a two-run single and a 3-3 tie.

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Manny Ramirez then hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Had Ortiz struck out, the inning would have been over. Instead, the rally continued, and Trot Nixon hit an RBI double off the Green Monster in left-center for a 4-3 lead. Scioscia was ejected during Jason Varitek’s ensuing at-bat and gave Young an earful before heading to the Angel clubhouse.

Asked if he saw a replay of Ortiz’s check swing, Scioscia said, “I didn’t need to.”

Said Santana: “To me, he made the swing, but the umpire thought he didn’t. If I get the call, I think things would have been different.”

The Red Sox tacked on two more runs in the fourth on Cora’s RBI triple and Damon’s sacrifice fly, but Scioscia didn’t spend the rest of the game stewing about Young’s call.

“You can talk about the check swing, but that inning started to go south with the two walks and the ball that dropped,” Scioscia said. “We set the table for them, and you can’t do that against a powerful team like Boston.”

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