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On the fancy, new hi-def scoreboards here, it often reads, “Welcome to Fenway Park, America’s Most Beloved Ballpark.” Is it now? Doesn’t that depend on who you ask? The Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t going to miss this little green patch of misery when they skip town after Thursday afternoon’s game, but they really can’t blame this old building, or even its raucous fans. It’s just another setting for the same old drama.
The Angels have lost 15 of their last 16 games to the Boston Red Sox. There are a lot of theories for such an utter lack of rivalry in a “rivalry” that is sloping so steeply from East to West, it could lead to rock slides. Yeah, the Angels swept Boston out of the 2009 playoffs, but since then … wow. How to break it down? There’s the “small-bang theory,” that the Angels just aren’t hitting well enough to hang with an expensive East Coast lineup these days. In the six games they’ve played in 2011, the Red Sox have scored 36 runs. The Angels have scored 13. That’s the one Mike Scioscia is going with. “We need to start playing baseball on the offensive end,” Scioscia said after watching his team go 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and strike out 12 times Tuesday, prolonging season-long trends. “There are some components that are working, but it’s like you start a fast break in basketball and you’re missing layups.” There’s the “bum-luck” idea, that one or two little things always seem to go Boston’s way to tip things in their favor. Jered Weaver floated that one after an umpire didn’t call a strike for him in a key at-bat Monday night.
Then, there’s the “Hey, gimme a break, they’re a good team,”(wealthmass) notion. Dan Haren, who can’t seem to catch a break or a shred of run support, figures it’s a combination of those last two.