Want to get away? Angels blow one

The last time Mike Scioscia wore a baseball uniform in Philadelphia he was an aging catcher with the Dodgers. That was 16 years ago, long before he traded in the tools of ignorance to become the winningest manager in Angels history.

But when the Angels charter touches down in Philadelphia this evening, Scioscia, who grew up in suburban Upper Darby, insists he won’t be going home again.

“I think you only get to go home once: First time you’re away and you get home, I think that’s the only time,” he said.

All of which makes the three-game series the Angels begin against the Phillies there Friday a road series regardless of where the manager sleeps and how many friends and family members he leaves tickets for. That’s a good thing, too, because it’s on the road where the Angels have excelled, winning nearly two-thirds of their games, the best record in the majors.

And they’re going to need all the mojo room-service cooking can provide given the fact they’re coming off their worst homestand of the season. Wednesday’s 5-4 extra-inning loss to the Mets not only gave them their first losing homestand of the year but it also means they’ve also dropped consecutive series for the first time since last July.

And they did it in spectacular fashion, with closer Francisco Rodriguez blowing a ninth-inning lead and for the first time since April 7, ending his club-record streak at 25 saves.

Then an inning later former Angel Damion Easley won it for the Mets with a solo homer off Justin Speier (0-4), who has given up seven homers in 28 1/3 innings.

“I made one mistake and he got me,” Speier said. “We win as a team, and we lose as a team.”

Rodriguez dressed and left without talking to reporters.

The bullpen implosion wiped out an impressive comeback by the Angels, who spotted the Mets a 3-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings before rallying on Jeff Mathis’ RBI single in the fourth and a three-run fifth inning highlighted by a bases-loaded single by Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter’s RBI single under Jose Reyes’ glove at short.

And they could have had more if not for a costly baserunning mistake by Hunter, who was retired at third after he lost track of the outs and started jogging to the dugout when Guerrero was thrown out at the plate for the second out of the inning. The unusual double play marked the second time in the series the Angels have had runners thrown out at home and at third in the same inning.

Guerrero added another single in the seventh, giving him multiple hits in three of his last four games while extending his hitting streak to a season-best 10 games, during which he’s hit .425. Hunter and Chone Figgins also had two hits each for the Angels, who pounded out 32 hits in the three games with New York.

The Mets, who scored in the first inning in all three games, got started Wednesday with a leadoff single by Reyes, who advanced to third on a stolen base and Mathis’ throwing error before scoring on David Wright’s groundout. Reyes, who had three hits and scored three times, also scored on an out in the third, tripling off the center-field wall and coming home on Marlon Anderson’s sacrifice fly, and again the ninth after singling with one out off Rodriguez, taking second on a wild pitch and scoring on a single by Wright.

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com