ANGELS IN TWO DEEP BOSTON RALLY PUTS TEAM IN TOUGH HOLE RED SOX 8, ANGELS 3.

Byline: Gabe Lacques Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - In a game they desperately needed to win, the Angels were neither lucky nor good, and now find themselves pushed to the brink of elimination.

They had Boston Red Sox intimidator Pedro Martinez on the ropes, but couldn't put him away. They had a two-run lead and ace Bartolo Colon on the hill, but he yielded a tying two-run homer to Jason Varitek.

They had a tie game and their superb bullpen lined up and ready to battle, but let another shaky fielding play by Chone Figgins lead to a crushing go-ahead run.

So after the Red Sox rallied from a two-run deficit to gradually take command and register an 8-3 victory at Angel Stadium, the Angels are faced with odds that appear insurmountable.

They are down two games to none in this best-of-five American League Division Series. The next two games are at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox went 55-26 this season.

In theory, the Angels can look to the Red Sox for inspiration. Last season, Boston became the fourth club to erase a 2-0 division series deficit and rallied to beat Oakland in five games.

But Boston didn't have to beat Curt Schilling in a Game 5, as the Angels would, and didn't lose the first two games at home, as the Angels did.

``You know it's there,'' Figgins said of the daunting task ahead. ``But you know you've got one left to play. It's what you've got left. One game to play.''

The sentiment will be academic if the Angels don't execute better offensively and figure out how to pitch to the dangerous and disciplined Red Sox hitters.

On Wednesday, other conditions didn't help. Plate umpire Jerry Meals had a tight strike zone that led to Colon throwing 55 pitches in two innings, and prompted a terse ``No comment'' from catcher Jose Molina after the game.

A scorching line drive from Garret Anderson in the fifth turned into a double play instead of a two-run double, and Figgins said the Angels need ``just one break.''

Or, manager Mike Scioscia said, they should just play better.

``We're not executing, but if we're playing well and doing what we need to do, we absorb a missed called strike, a line drive hit at a player, a bad break,'' he said.

Martinez pitched seven innings and then handed a 4-3 lead to his bullpen, and Mike Timlin, Mike Myers and Keith Foulke made it stand up by striking out Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus in succession with the tying run on in the eighth inning.

The ninth was a formality after the Red Sox poured on four insurance runs off Brendan Donnelly, three coming on Orlando Cabrera's bases-loaded double.

That gave Boston 17 runs scored in two games. The Red Sox are hitting .307 and starting to get in the Angels' heads.

``You have to make good pitches in tough spots,'' Donnelly said, ``and sometimes that doesn't work.''

But the Angels lost this one when the go-ahead run scored against ace reliever Francisco Rodriguez on an infield single, stolen base, wild pitch and soft fly ball to center field.

With the game tied 3-3 in the seventh, the Angels appeared to have the Red Sox right where they wanted them. Rodriguez, he of the 1.82 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 84 innings, would pitch the seventh and eighth, with closer Troy Percival ready for the ninth.

But Bill Mueller led off the seventh with a grounder that glanced off Rodriguez's glove and spun toward the middle of the diamond, where second baseman Figgins tried gloving it. Figgins made a pair of misplays at third base that loomed large in Tuesday's Game 1.

On Wednesday, this ball spun out of his glove and Mueller reached on what was generously ruled a hit.

Johnny Damon followed with a fielder's choice grounder, then stole second on a pitch to Mark Bellhorn. Rodriguez then threw a slider he thought was strike three, but Bellhorn reached on a walk.

So with two outs, Rodriguez had to face the AL's dominant run producer, Manny Ramirez. But when Rodriguez threw a slider in the dirt for a wild pitch, moving the runners up, Ramirez's job got easier, and he delivered a sacrifice fly to score Damon for a 4-3 lead.

Guerrero's first postseason hit of his career was a huge one, a scorching two-run single to right-center field off Martinez that gave the Angels a 3-1 lead in the fifth. It was the third single off Martinez that inning, and he also plunked Darin Erstad in the right knee one batter before Guerrero's hit, loading the bases.

For the first time all night, Martinez, who was 0-4 with a 7.72 ERA in his last four starts, appeared vulnerable.

Anderson was ready to pounce, ripping a line drive toward first. But it was right at Kevin Millar, who stepped on first for an inning-ending double play.

And Colon could not sustain the 3-1 lead after elevating a cut fastball to Varitek in the sixth.

``Not just high, but right down the pipe, in his wheelhouse,'' Colon said later.

Gabe Lacques, [phone]

gabe.lacques(at)sgvn.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) A dejected Jeff DaVanon of the Angels kneels by second base after being tagged out to end the fourth inning.

(2) Angels starter Bartolo Colon pitches against the Red Sox during the second game of the American League Division Series.

Steven Georges/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) STORY LINES

(2) RED SOX 8, ANGELS 3