Angels are set to revisit two houses of horror

There are two ways to look at the Angels’ seven-game trip to Toronto and Boston, which begins tonight against the Blue Jays.

It couldn’t come at a better time: The Angels just completed a 5-1 homestand in which they played nearly flawless baseball and are carrying maximum momentum east, which should improve their chances in cities where they are a combined 37-71 since 1996.

It couldn’t come at a worse time: With the Seattle Mariners breathing down their necks and playing this week at home, where they were 37-22 through Sunday, another shoddy showing by the Angels in Toronto and Boston could do grave damage to their American League West title hopes.

“If you want to clinch your division,” shortstop Orlando Cabrera said, “you have to win everywhere.”

The Angels’ struggles in Fenway Park, where they’ve endured enough late-inning horrors to fill a Stephen King novel, are well-known, well-chronicled and somewhat explainable.

The Red Sox have had some powerhouse teams in the last 12 years, their offense is tailored to their park’s quirky dimensions, especially the Green Monster in left field, and Fenway fans produce the most hostile atmosphere in baseball for visiting players.

“They’re loud, they’re drunk, they’re obnoxious, it’s one of the few places where you hear racial comments . . . it’s just different,” Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. said. “They’re passionate about their team, they get into games, and for the most part they’re knowledgeable about the game. I’ve learned to enjoy it, but those things are maybe difficult for players who aren’t accustomed to it.”

The Angels have thrived in similar environs -- they are 32-26 in Yankee Stadium since 1996 and are the only visiting team with a winning record in that span.

Which makes their record in Toronto, where small crowds give the dome a library-like feel, and where the Blue Jays, since championships in 1992 and 1993, haven’t been an American League power, all the more befuddling.

Told the Angels are 17-37 in Toronto since 1996, reliever Scot Shields said, “Really?”

Bench coach Ron Roenicke wasn’t surprised.

“I know we don’t play well there,” Roenicke said. “We lose some games we should definitely win there. Some goofy things have happened there.”

On July 28, 2005, the Angels and Blue Jays traded ninth-inning runs before Toronto won, 2-1, in 18 innings to complete a three-game sweep.

On May 24, 2004, the Blue Jays beat the Angels, 6-5, scoring the winning run in the 10th inning when the Angels botched a rundown between third and home.

Two days later, Toronto scored twice in the ninth inning against closer Troy Percival for a 6-5 win, the tying run scoring when third baseman Shane Halter cut off a strong throw from the outfield, spun and fired an accurate throw to the plate . . . and nobody was there to catch it.

On May 25, 1997, with the score tied, 3-3, in the 11th, Toronto’s Ed Sprague led off with a fly to right-center field. Outfielders Tim Salmon and Jim Edmonds each called for the catch and then backed off. The ball dropped for a triple, and Sprague scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk.

The Angels were 0-6 in Toronto in 1999. Only once in 11 years, when they were 4-2 in 2002, have the Angels won a season series there.

“Any time you’re in a domed stadium, with a change of surface, it takes a little time to acclimate,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “There’s probably more of a comfort level for teams who play their home games in domed stadiums.”

Something about Fenway Park makes the Angels squirm. On July 29, 2006, they blew a 6-3 lead when Shields and closer Francisco Rodriguez gave up three runs in the eighth inning and lost on David Ortiz’s walk-off single in the 11th.

A 4-1 Angels lead on June 3, 2005, turned into a 7-4 loss when the Red Sox scored three in the seventh against Shields and three in the eighth against Brendan Donnelly. On Sept. 6 that year, Ortiz hit a walk-off homer in the ninth against Shields.

Ortiz’s walk-off homer in the 10th clinched an AL division-series sweep of the Angels in 2004. The Angels blew a five-run lead in a 10-9 loss Aug. 5, 2003.

Percival blew a four-run, ninth-inning lead in a 10-9 loss Aug. 26, 2002. After the Angels scored in the 11th inning for a 6-5 lead Aug. 21, 2000, Brian Daubach’s two-run single in the 11th gave Boston a 7-6 win. Mo Vaughn hit a three-run homer against Percival in the ninth inning of a 7-6 win July 26, 1997.

The Angels are 20-34 in Fenway since 1996 and 113-170 there overall.

“You’re always going to your bullpen because the Sox don’t hack at everything -- they have patient hitters who go deep in counts,” Roenicke said. “And their offense fits that park.

“Look at Ortiz. He can hit high fly balls for homers to left field, yet he’s strong enough to pull them out to right. You try to pitch Manny [Ramirez] away from the Monster, and that’s his strength, driving the ball the opposite way. They’ve had some great teams there.”

This year is no exception. The Red Sox have the best record in baseball and swept three games from the Angels in April, outscoring them, 25-3.

That was supposed to be a four-game series, but one game was rained out. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader Friday, so the Angels, after playing in Toronto on Thursday night, can look forward to about eight hours Friday with the Fenway faithful.

“It’s different than New York.” Matthews said. “Yankees fans are passionate about their team, but they’re a little more couth, they have a little more class than Boston fans. At least in New York, they appreciate guys who play the game hard and play the game right, and they let you know it. In Boston, they just smash you for three straight days, they’re just dogging you the whole time.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com