ANGELS VICTIM OF RED SOX MOMENT TEAM LOSES ON DAMON'S HOMER BOSTON 10, ANGELS 9.

Byline: Joe Haakenson Staff Writer

BOSTON - It won't go down as the most dramatic home run in Red Sox history. It won't even be remembered as the most dramatic home run by a Red Sox player against the Angels. But Johnny Damon's leadoff homer in the bottom of the 10th won't soon be forgotten, either by the sellout crowd of 32,869 at Fenway Park or the players from both teams.

The Red Sox scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, and in the 10th Damon homered off Angels reliever Scot Shields to give the Red Sox a 10-9 win and a split in the four-game series.

The loss dropped the Angels three games behind first-place Oakland in the American League West and a half-game behind Seattle in the wild-card race. Boston is three games behind Seattle.

During the game, the Red Sox announced the voting of the franchise's most memorable moment, and to no one's surprise it was Carlton Fisk's game-winning homer in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. The Angels haven't forgotten another memorable Red Sox homer, the one hit by Dave Henderson in the 1986 ALCS when the Angels were within one strike of reaching the World Series.

Damon's homer might not have been as big, but it provided a jolt to the Angels.

``Right now, this one stings a little,'' Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. ``But unless we wake up (today) and have two losses, this loss has no more meaning.''

As the Angels packed their bags for the cross-country flight back home, they tried to put it in perspective.

``It's one loss,'' first baseman Scott Spiezio said. ``If you lose by one game (at the end of the season), you go back and look at all the games you felt you should've won. But we're not there yet.''

Damon's homer might not have even been a homer at all. At least that's what Angels right fielder Orlando Palmeiro said, and he was closest to the ball. The ball appeared to hook into the stands just beyond the foul pole in right field, which is only 290 feet from home plate. The short wall past the foul pole runs almost parallel with the right-field line.

``I don't know if the ball went over or not,'' Palmeiro said. ``I just saw a lot of hands reaching out. It might have made it by six inches, but I don't know if it went out at all. You just see a bunch of hands and it disappears.''

Predictably, the Red Sox were calling the win the biggest of the season.

``This is the most exciting game I've ever played in my life,'' Red Sox right fielder Manny Ramirez said.

It was Ramirez who began the ninth with his fifth hit of the game, after getting two homers and two singles in his first four at-bats. His single in the ninth came with the Red Sox down 9-5. After Cliff Floyd followed with a single, Scioscia replaced Al Levine with Troy Percival. Percival gave up a single on a 0-2 pitch to Shea Hillenbrand that loaded the bases.

Tony Clark walked, forcing in a run to make it 9-6. After Jason Varitek struck out, Trot Nixon hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-7. The Red Sox had runners on first and third with two out, with pinch runner Rickey Henderson representing the tying run at first.

Percival said he had trouble with his slide-step in the bullpen, so even with Henderson on first, he went with his high leg kick during his delivery. That allowed Henderson to steal second without a throw.

``I didn't want to sacrifice quality of pitch right there,'' Percival said. ``(The slide-step) wasn't really working for me well in the bullpen.''

A couple of pitches later, Rey Sanchez knocked a 3-2 pitch into center field to tie the game. Sanchez was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

Going back to the start of last season, the Angels were 130-1 when leading after eight innings. The only loss came April 21 of this season when Oakland's Greg Myers hit a three-run homer in the ninth to win it 6-5.

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Boston's Carlos Baerga, center, lifts up teammate Nomar Garciaparra, far right, after Johnny Damon hit the game-winner homer for the Red Sox against the Angels on Monday.

Associated Press

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