One game is a reminder of Angels' struggles in October

The streaks live, all of them, all the haunting October memories the Angels could have extinguished with one victory.

It took the Angels six months to earn home-field advantage, three hours to lose it. It took the Angels six months to win 100 games, three hours to turn their next game into a must-win.

It took the Angels six months to build themselves into World Series favorites, with Mark Teixeira and a newly fortified offense built for October, three hours to resurrect all those nagging questions about the bats, to remind us good pitching alone cannot beat good hitting.

Nine consecutive playoff losses to the Boston Red Sox? Make that 10.

Six consecutive playoff losses overall? Make that seven.

Nine more postseason innings without a home run? Make that 57 in a row.

Four consecutive postseason starts without a victory for ace John Lackey? Make that five.

Nine more postseason innings without a lead of more than one run? Make that 78 in a row.

This could have gone away, all of it, with a couple of two-run home runs Wednesday. The Angels couldn't even manage an extra-base hit.

They must have this within them. They have a clutch hit within them, surely. That's how they won the World Series in 2002, more timely hitting than power hitting.

Yet the Angels scored one run Wednesday, and it was not earned. They went one for five with runners in scoring position. They went two for 22 in that situation last fall.

October is pressure enough for a pitcher. The Angels have to do better than to send their pitcher to work without a margin for error.

Lackey performed admirably, given that one run and nothing else. He kept the Red Sox off the scoreboard until the sixth inning, when Jason Bay hit a two-run home run.

Game over.

Here's another streak the Angels need to stop: Nine consecutive games scoring three runs or fewer.

Lackey secured his place in Angels' lore by winning Game 7 of the 2002 World Series, as a rookie. He hasn't won in October since then.

Not all his fault, certainly not Wednesday.

Jacoby Ellsbury doubled to start the game, and you wondered. Lackey had given up a run in the first inning last October, three runs in the first inning in his previous playoff start, and the Red Sox had a runner in scoring position before Lackey had an out.