Angels try to dig out one game at a time

Now that the Angels finally have the Boston Red Sox where they want them -- on their home turf, where they had a major league-best 54-27 record and averaged 5.7 runs a game compared to 4.5 on the road -- the first two games of this American League division series may have rendered their home-field advantage moot.

How can Angel Stadium give them any significant edge in Game 3 today after Josh Beckett stepped on their throats with a four-hit shutout in Game 1 and Manny Ramirez ripped their hearts out Friday with a prodigious Game 2 walk-off home run that traveled so far into the New England night it probably had jet lag Saturday?

The Angels’ backs are against a Green Monster-sized wall, down 0-2 in the best-of-five series and the Red Sox carrying all the momentum after their Game 1 dominance and their Game 2 heroics.

Boston will send one of baseball’s most decorated playoff pitchers -- Curt Schilling, who has an 8-2 record and 1.06 earned-run average in the postseason-- to the mound today against Angels sophomore Jered Weaver, who has handled big league pressure but will be making his first playoff start.

As if the task today isn’t daunting enough, if the Angels can scratch out a Game 3 victory, the Beast of Beckett awaits them in Game 4.

And if they can somehow win two games in Angel Stadium to force a decisive Game 5, they would have to return Wednesday to Fenway Park, where the Angels are 14-24, including three playoff losses, since 2000 and have suffered several horrific late-game meltdowns.

The latest came Friday night, when Francisco Rodriguez grooved a fastball to Ramirez, who crushed the game-winner that produced a frenzied Fenway celebration and brought even Rodriguez, the Angels indomitable closer, to his knees.

“We can’t get it done here,” Rodriguez, who had not given up a walk-off homer in his five-year career, said after the game. “There’s not one specific thing to point to. We just can’t get it done here.”

Today, they will seek refuge in Angel Stadium.

“It was a tough ballgame, and the flight home was long, but I don’t think that’s going to have any impact on [today’s] game,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “This game has a way, when you get into your routine -- and we’ll get into our batting practice and our pregame -- of bringing you right back into the here and now.

“Our guys know what we’re up against. They know it’s a challenge. But we’re upbeat, ready to go. We’re a good club not playing as well as we can right now. But if it clicks in, we can get on a run and get back into this series and hopefully win it. . . . It takes one win to get back into the series.”

To get that win, an Angels team that arrived in Southern California at about 6 a.m. Saturday after an all-night flight from Boston will “have to get in our game early and try to get some early leads and let our pitchers relax,” Scioscia said.

They came close to that Friday, putting runners on base in eight of nine innings and scoring three runs in the second off Daisuke Matsuzaka. But the Angels went two for 12 with runners in scoring position in a 6-3 loss.

Breaking news, this isn’t. The tone for the playoffs was set in the final two weeks of the regular season, when the Angels scored two runs or less in eight of 12 games, and hit .211, going five for 30 with runners in scoring position, in their final six games.

“We really struggled offensively for the last couple weeks, and getting to the playoffs, [we’ve struggled to] get our feet on the ground,” Scioscia said. “Beckett had something to do with that. He was terrific. . . . We need to get guys on and keep innings going and get those hits with guys in scoring position.”

Schilling, 40, is no longer a power pitcher -- the right-hander’s 95-mph fastballs of yore now clock in at about 89 mph -- but he has made a successful transition to finesse pitcher and has retooled his changeup and split-fingered fastball.

“When you look at going through lineups now and your weapons, it’s like Josh goes through a lineup with a bazooka and Daisuke is like a machine gun,” Schilling said Saturday after the team’s optional workout. “I’ve turned into a guy who has to use a sniper rifle. I pick my spots and pick my targets and execute perfectly.”

Schilling has a 6-2 career record and 3.67 ERA against the Angels, and he has had 12 days to prepare for today’s start.

“In my mind, we were going to play these guys 12 days ago, so I started to put together a game plan,” Schilling said. “You can give me an at-bat, a pitch, a situation, and I can tell you what I’m going to throw right now. . . . I’m as prepared as I’ve ever been for a game. I’m pitching against a team that’s fighting for its life. That’s going to be a challenge.”

For the Angels too.

“It’s always fun going up against big-named guys, and the guy’s obviously made a great name for himself,” Weaver said of Schilling. “Hopefully we can take him down.”

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

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Inside the numbers: Game 3 preview

* Red Sox batters swung at a first-pitch fastball from Angels pitchers only 24% of the time this season. Against Game 3 starter Jered Weaver, Red Sox hitters swung four times on a first-pitch fastball, and went two for three with a home run.

* Angels infielder Maicer Izturis has swung at 19 pitches in the series and fouled off 11 of them (58%). Izturis fouled off 31.5% of the pitches he swung at in the regular season, which was second-lowest of Angels regulars. As a team, the Angels hit a foul ball on 36% of their swings. Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is the only player on either side who hasn’t fouled off a pitch in the series. Pedroia has taken 10 swings in the two games, missing twice and putting eight in play.

* Game 2 hero Manny Ramirez was the only Boston right-handed hitter to struggle against Weaver this season. The rest of Boston’s right-handed batters went seven for 15 with two walks. Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, Julio Lugo and Pedroia feasted on Weaver when he was not ahead in the count:

*--* Hitter Weaver ahead in count Weaver not ahead in count Mike Lowell 000 (0-for-2) 1.000 (2-for-2) Julio Lugo 333 (1-for-3) 1.000 (2-for-2) Kevin Youkilis 000 (0-for-2) 667 (2-for-3) Dustin Pedroia 000 (0-for-1) 1.000 (1-for-1) *--*

* Angels batters have drawn only six walks in 209 plate appearances against today’s Red Sox starter, Curt Schilling. Howie Kendrick drew the only Angels walk against Schilling this season in 75 team plate appearances.

* Schilling has shown one sign of aging this season -- his split-fingered fastball is not as nasty as it used to be. The Angels were 11 for 31 (.355) with two home runs against Schilling’s splitter this season. How opponents have fared against the Schilling split-fingered fastball, including the percentage of swings missed:

*--* Season(s) BA SLG H AB Miss Pct. 2007 300 480 45 150 23.6% 2002-2006 173 269 147 848 39.2% *--*

* Weaver had a better rookie season in 2006 than he did this year, but one area he improved on greatly was giving up home runs to left-handed batters. Weaver gave up 13 home runs to left-handed batters in 2006 but only six this season. He did not give up a homer to a left-hander off his curveball or slider this year.

* Weaver struck out Ramirez four times in five at-bats this season. The Angels starter used a different part of the plate (away, middle and inside) for the three strikeouts that ended on fastballs.

* When Ramirez homered in the ninth inning of Game 2, it was only the eighth hit given up after the fourth inning by either pitching staff in the series:

*--* Pitchers BA Against H-AB Red Sox 114 4-for-35 Angels 148 4-for-27 *--*

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Source: Inside Edge Scouting Services