Hard knocks hit Sox

Angels blow it open with six-run fifth

August 19, 2005|Globe Staff

ANAHEIM, Calif. — For the Red Sox, good vibrations have never been hard to find when they come to Southern California for a visit. This is where Hendu hit his home run, where RemDawg made it to the big leagues, where Nomar Garciaparra’s old neighborhood turned out en masse, where Kevin Millar’s mom threw an open house for her son and his pals, where Bronson Arroyo recorded his CD, where Jennifer Lopez sat through extra innings with Ben Affleck, where Tom Werner cruised down from Malibu, where the Sox began their run to a World Series title by smoking the Angels two straight last fall.

Not to mention the sun, the surf, and other eye-catching attractions that are in less abundance than say, Detroit.

But Boston’s first trip back here since last October didn’t take long to turn disastrous, a 13-4 loss to the Angels only the last bit of bad news on a night that Tim Wakefield, the team’s winningest pitcher, became the second Sox pitcher this season to be knocked out of a game by a line drive off the bat of an opposing hitter.

Wakefield, fortunately, fared better than Matt Clement. Unlike Clement, who took a line drive off the head against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Wakefield was struck just above the right ankle by a line drive hit by Angels rookie Casey Kotchman in the fifth inning of a game already well on its way to being lost. The knuckleballer was taken to Anaheim Memorial Hospital, where X-rays were negative. The injury was described by manager Terry Francona as a ‘‘deep contusion on his lower shin.’’

The Angels, leaders of the American League West, routed the Sox leaders of the East, 13-4, before a sellout crowd of 44,050 in Angels Stadium. The Sox have lost three of the first four games on their longest trip of the season, a 10-game trek that ends in Kansas City.

‘‘There was no break or anything,’’ said a somber Francona, who earlier had watched outfielder Manny Ramírez make his fourth error in five games and lefthander Mike Remlinger demonstrate again that he is a ghost of the pitcher who was once one of the game’s more dominant setup men, giving up six runs in two innings of eye-averting mopup.

Remlinger, a Massachusetts native (Plymouth), has appeared in five games for the Sox since being cut loose by the Cubs. He has recorded 14 outs while allowing 12 hits, 6 walks, and 12 earned runs, a performance that could shortly put him back on the unemployment line.

Remlinger gave up the second of two three-run home runs struck by Angels outfielder Juan Rivera, whose first three-run home run came as the first batter to face Mike Myers, who replaced Wakefield in the fifth.