Suddenly Potent Angels Scare Up Win : Baseball: They defeat Red Sox, 10-6, before top brass to capture first series at Fenway Park since 1992.

By BOB NIGHTENGALE

July 7, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

BOSTON — The Angel players already spent their quarters dialing the Psychic hot line. The burning of incense only stunk up the clubhouse. And, with Luis Polonia gone, no one even brought along a voodoo doll.

So team officials decided to take it upon themselves to shed the ghosts of Fenway. When you go 685 days without winning a series at Fenway Park, you’ll try anything.

What did they do?

They went with a little unconventional warfare: Scare tactics.

Angel General Manager Bill Bavasi and assistant Tim Mead were scheduled to come East anyway, but hey, as long as no one knew any better, let the players think the worst.

“Guys were saying, ‘Hey, what are they doing here?’ ” Angel shortstop Gary DiSarcina said Wednesday. “‘Why did those guys come all the way here? It’s a long way from California.’

“It got guys’ attention pretty quick.”

While the bosses were watching at Fenway, the Angels blasted the Boston Red Sox for the second consecutive game, 10-6, winning their first series at the park since Aug. 18-20, 1992.

“I guess all we needed to do was bring the general manager in,” DiSarcina said.

The Angels (36-49), grateful for baserunners let alone runs on this trip, suddenly have transcended into the Bronx Bombers. They produced 14 hits, including four homers and two doubles. Who knows how much damage they could have done if they didn’t strand a season-high 14 baserunners?

No one seemed to care. They just produced 20 runs and 31 hits in their back-to-back victories for their biggest two-game output since scoring 21 runs May 10-11 against Texas. It’s hard to believe this is the same team that had scored only 14 runs with 38 hits in the first seven games of this trip.

“We woke ourselves up is what we did,” said Angel left fielder Rex Hudler, who might have left the wakeup call himself with his three-run homer in the seventh inning.

The Angels scored five runs in the seventh inning, including a two-run homer by Greg Myers, that broke the game open. Yet, it was Hudler’s home run, falling gently into the net above the Green Monster, that exhilarated the team.

Hudler, who replaced Tim Salmon (tight hamstring) in the fifth inning, threw his right fist into the air the moment he realized that his home run had cleared the Green Monster. He pumped his fist toward the Angel bench, and slapped hands so hard that the Angels ducked for cover.

Hudler has turned into perhaps the Angels’ finest off-season acquisition, batting .344 with seven home runs in only 90 at-bats. He already has equaled his career-high in homers for a season.

OK, so maybe these guys still are 13 games under .500, guaranteed of their second-worst record at the All-Star break since 1980.

Maybe their pitching still is a mess, with reliever Bob Patterson (2-3) having to rescue starter Russ Springer, who yielded eight hits and five runs in five innings.

Maybe they’re only fooling themselves that no team will take off in the American League West.

But after watching the Angel offense the last two nights, and seeing the team move to within five games of Texas, the outlook suddenly has changed.

“What do you mean there’s problems?” Bavasi said. “What problems? Me worry?”

He then allowed his face to break into an expansive grin, and conceded that changes will soon be made, after having a 30-minute meeting Wednesday with Manager Marcel Lachemann.

“To say we’re not going to make any moves is crazy,” Bavasi said. “When you’re not playing well, a consideration of moves is in order.

“I’m just not sure which ones, yet.”