They are no longer the L.A. Angels of Anaheim. They are the L.A. Angels of Bellevue.

Hey, Vladimir Guerrero looks like he’s running in a strait jacket. Why not make him hit in one, too?

The Angels are in the midst of a three-game nervous breakdown. Whenever they see a red letter B, their airway constricts and flop sweat streams down their faces. Their pulse races and their muscles tighten up. They start thinking and acting irrationally.

Their slowest runner thinks he should take the extra base on a pop up behind first base. They turn into a Gramatica brother and hurt their knee when arguing a close call at first base. They turn routine plays in the outfield into Manny Moments. They fight back to tie Game 2 and then their record-breaking closer throws up the equivalent of a batting practice fastball to J.D. Drew.

Yes, even J.D. Drew owns the Angels now. They are a cure for bad backs and, as Josh Beckett will prove tonight, bad obliques. Mike Lowell must be wondering why his torn labrum isn’t responding to Angel therapy.

The Red Sox domination of the Angels is turning into a Stephen King novel. It’s almost sadistic torture. It’s the 1918-2004 Red Sox/Yankees rivalry condensced into 11 games, only this time, the Red Sox have the mystique and aura (aka better pitching, defense and clutch hitting) on their side.

Red Sox fans can relate to what the bronzed citizens of Orange County are feeling today. Not only were they the Yankees’ whipping boys for all those years, but there was a time when the Oakland A’s owned them for 10 playoff wins in a row. Note that Boston ended that streak by rallying from an 0-2 deficit in the 2003 ALDS.

But there will be no repeat of 2003 for the Angels, no five-game equivalent of the 2004 ALCS comeback. The Red Sox are embedded in the Angels’ psyche, plus they have the better starting pitching, the better closer and the better manager.

Mike Scioscia gets all of the ink and all off the Manager of the Year votes every year. And he is an excellent manager. He took an Angels team that had it’s own ugly postseason history even when it didn’t involve the Red Sox and won a World Series with it in 2002. The Angels have dominated the AL West under his leadership and have given New England reason to celebrate even when they haven’t lost to the Red Sox by knocking the Yankees out of the ALDS in 2002 and 2005.

Scioscia makes his players play hard and play right. They are an old school baseball fans dream – bunting, hit-and-running, taking the extra base and executing all of the other fundamentals.

But he’s either stubborn or stupid when it comes to managing against the Red Sox. He chose the long series format which, among other things, allowed the Red Sox to use Jonathan Papelbon for six outs on Friday and gave Drew a day to rest his cranky back. He didn’t pinch run for Guerrero in Game 1. He simply refused to have his speedsters, Chone Figgins and Erick Aybar, challenge a hobbled Lowell with a bunt in Game 1 (and yet one of their better power hitters, Torii Hunter, lays one down in the ninth inning with a Gold Glove infielder, Kevin Youkilis, playing third in Game 2).

Terry Francona isn’t perfect, either. Sending Justin Masterson back out to start the eighth Friday when he was already willing to get those last six outs from Papelbon was a head-scratcher. But at some point, the Buck Martinez’s of the world are going to have to start giving Francona credit for something besides keeping the team on an even keel in the Boston pressure cooker.

Was anybody else expecting to see both Mark Kotsay and Alex Cora in the Game 2 lineup? They were 3-for-8 with a run scored. I’m not going to claim Francona saw that coming, but he had to figure he was better off with those two somewhat anemic bats than Sean Casey and Jed Lowrie, and he was right.

It is also time for us to start examining what happens behind the scenes to make the Red Sox successful – the preparation Francona, his coaches and players put in during the postseason. Of course, it won’t get any play nationally because it’s not the most exciting topic. But preparation, from the scouting reports to the implementation of the game plan based on those reports, is the one area the Red Sox consistently have the edge over their opponents.

Think about it. When was the last time you saw a fielder out of position? When is the last time a Red Sox pitcher pulled what John Lackey did to Jason Bay in Game 1 and try to sneak a fastball past a mistake hitter who he was making look foolish on breaking balls? They know what pitchers and what counts to run or not run on, and they always seem to know exactly when the opposition has something up their sleeve.

It’s like they’re in the other team’s heads. The Angels wish they would get out.

Randy Whitehouse is a staff writer. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]