But far more recent developments do provide a context, a theme, if you will. The Red Sox and Angels played postseason series in 2004, 2007, and 2008. The Red Sox won nine of the 10 games, and it took the Angels 12 innings to win the other one.
All of which means, what, exactly?
The Angels have the answer you’d probably expect: nothing.
The way they see it, whatever happened in those other three years hap pened, but so what? This is a better team, period.
The offensive numbers back them up. The 2009 Angels finished behind only the Yankees in runs, putting 100 more across the plate than last year’s club. They had 11 players with 50 or more RBIs, which makes them the first club since the 1930 Cardinals able to make that claim. They joined the 2007 Tigers as the only teams in major league history with 10 players knocking out 100 hits. They can hit home runs (173) and they sure can run (148 stolen bases).
A case can be made that they are, 1 through 9 (and 10 and 11, etc.), the most versatile offensive team in baseball.
They more than offset the loss of Mark Teixeira (who was only a rental anyway) with the emergence of Cuban defector Kendry Morales, who surprised even himself with 34 homers, 108 RBIs, and a .569 slugging percentage in his first opportunity to be a regular. And they added a valuable piece of the puzzle in veteran Bobby Abreu, who brought the same well-crafted approach to the batting order that he had provided for the Phillies and Yankees.
Abreu, now 35, is with the Angels for one reason: The Yankees no longer wanted to pay him. He looked pretty much the same this season as he always does, frustrating pitchers with his maddening ability to work lengthy counts while putting enough good swings on the ball to drive in 100 runs (103) for the eighth time in his career. Some of the younger players took notes, the result being that the Angels became more difficult to pitch to as a team than they were in 2008.
“He taught patience to a lot of people,’’ maintains utilityman Robb Quinlan, one of the Angels who has suffered through all three of these losses to the Red Sox. “He gets on base, and it’s easy to hit behind him.’’
