ANGELS' PURSUIT BRUSHED UNDER BOSTON 4, ANGELS 3.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

BOSTON - Their task was laid out so neatly before them Thursday. On the clubhouse televisions before their game at Fenway Park, the Angels raptly watched while the division-leading Oakland Athletics left Chicago with another victory, Oakland's ninth in 10 games.

On the opposite side of the diamond were the Boston Red Sox, winners of eight in a row and not so quietly creeping away in the wild-card race.

But that race is looking more and more like a mismatch every day.

Thursday, Boston wrapped up the series sweep in typical fashion, bashing the ball all over Fenway Park, coaxing a bevy of pitches out of Angels starter Bartolo Colon and then hanging on for dear life in a 4-3 victory in front of a giddy sellout crowd of 35,050.

The Angels (75-58) are now four games behind Oakland and 4 1/2 behind Boston, a club they dominated earlier this year. But that was before the Sox were galvanized by the additions of shortstop Orlando Cabrera, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz and outfielder Dave Roberts, who have helped them launch this nine-game winning streak and 15-1 run.

They cracked 44 hits and 26 runs off Angels pitching in this series and, suddenly, one team looks playoff-bound and the other appears to be just trying to keep it together.

``They played great baseball for three games,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, ``and we couldn't match it.''

Oh, they tried, and even looked a little desperate in their efforts to steal a game here. Down a run in the ninth and facing Boston closer Keith Foulke, designated hitter Troy Glaus led off with a ringing single into the left-field corner.

Adam Kennedy was up next, and Scioscia could have replaced Glaus with a speedier runner and just have Kennedy bunt him over.

But he left Glaus in the game. With the bullpen already taxed - only closer Troy Percival was available among his core relievers - he wanted to go for the win. So Scioscia ordered a hit-and-run on the first pitch.

The thinking was if Foulke threw Kennedy a fastball, he could put it in play. And if he threw a changeup, Glaus had a decent shot at stealing the base.

Unfortunately for the Angels, Foulke threw a changeup.

``If it's a regular changeup, it's not a problem,'' Kennedy said. ``But he doesn't have a regular changeup.''

No, it looks just like a fastball coming out of his hand, and Kennedy flailed at it. The pitch was in the dirt, but Jason Varitek recovered it and threw a strike to Cabrera, who made a nifty swipe and tag on Glaus.

The rally was dead. Two outs later, the game was in the books, the sweep complete, and the Angels were left to ponder just how injurious their seventh consecutive loss at Fenway Park was.

``Big swing,'' Kennedy said. ``Not that we played that bad. They just played tremendously.''

Well, at least there's still the division race. Sort of.

``You pretty much know they're going to win every game,'' Kennedy said of Oakland. ``There's pressure to win every day, win or lose.''

The pressure intensifies when the Sox are involved. For the third consecutive game, leadoff batter Johnny Damon reached base and scored in the first inning. He went 9 for 14 and scored four runs in the series.

But while Aaron Sele and John Lackey folded in the face of Sox pressure, Colon (13-11) stood in and battled to emerge with an ugly but strangely courageous outing. He gave up 10 hits and four runs and couldn't finish the fifth inning, but also stranded nine runners in the game.

When a Damon single and Mark Bellhorn double created a no-out mess in the fourth, Colon struck out Manny Ramirez on a full count, got Jason Varitek to pop to third and, after a walk to Kevin Millar, struck out Cabrera to leave the bases loaded.

But the inning sapped 22 pitches out of him, and he needed 112 to complete his 4 2/3 innings.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

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