Angels come through loud and clear

The fans were on their feet, screaming, all dressed in red. Some wore the red of the Angels, some wore the red of the Boston Red Sox, and they all turned up the volume when two of the game’s premier players faced each other.

Ninth inning, the Angels up by two, the Red Sox with two runners on base. For the Angels: Francisco Rodriguez, on pace to set a major league record for saves. For the Red Sox: Manny Ramirez, the nemesis who hit a walk-off home run off Rodriguez last October.

Ramirez popped up, for the second out, and Angel Stadium went wild. Mike Lowell popped up, on the next pitch, and Angel Stadium went nuts.

The Angels won Saturday, 4-2, with a home run from Vladimir Guerrero and a pinch-hit, three-run triple from Erick Aybar. If the Angels win today, they’ll sweep the Red Sox for the first time in 10 years.

This joint, as they say, is jumping.

“When we went there, it was just a game,” Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said. “Here, it was electrifying. It felt like a playoff atmosphere.”

Funny he should mention that. If the season ended today, the Angels would draw the Red Sox in the playoffs. The Angels have lost nine consecutive playoff games against Boston, including sweeps in 2004 and ’07.

The Angels are 4-1 against the Red Sox this season, one victory from clinching the season series for the first time in seven years, but there would be no bragging in the home clubhouse.

“We want to beat them when it counts,” said pitcher Joe Saunders, who held Boston to two runs in 6 2/3 innings. “They’ve had our number in the playoffs for a long time. It’s reassuring to know we can play with them.”

After a New York-centric All-Star game debate over whether the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera or Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon was the game’s premier closer, Rodriguez made his first appearance in the second half and earned his 39th save, best in the majors.

He didn’t care to look ahead to the Red Sox and October.

“Baseball is really surprising,” he said. “It could be them, or it could be somebody else. You cannot predict what is going to happen in two months.”

Said Manager Mike Scioscia, whose team increased its American League West lead over Oakland to eight games: “I don’t really see it as a statement series by any means.”

The fans begged to differ, at least based on decibel level. Josh Beckett, the best starter Boston has to offer, scattered four hits over six innings and took a 2-0 lead into the seventh.

Guerrero led off the inning with a home run, his 16th. Even with his horrific start, he is on pace to hit 25 homers for the 11th consecutive year.

Hunter and Garret Anderson singled, Reggie Willits sacrificed the runners along, and the Red Sox intentionally walked Howie Kendrick.

That brought up Aybar, who had driven in two runs in June, off the bench. He drove in three on one swing, poking the ball just inside the first-base line and into the right-field corner.

Aybar became a father this month, as did the Angels’ two All-Star starting pitchers, Saunders and Ervin Santana. Aybar couldn’t say whether the explosion of fatherhood in the clubhouse might help explain the Angels’ sudden success against Boston.

But they’ll take it, and their crowd loved it.

“It was a high-test atmosphere,” Saunders said. “It was a lot of fun.”

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com