Quite simply, Angels were struck down

It's not as if these haloed folk from Walt Disney's backyard came here expecting to launch rockets over the Mass. Pike. The Angels are small-ballers - get on and get moving. Last night, they couldn't do much of either against Josh Beckett, and after they'd quietly showered and picked at their postgame victuals, the men from Orange County offered up a chorus.

"Tip your hat . . . tip your hat . . . got to tip your hat," their hitters said after Beckett stifled them, 4-0, in the opener of their American League Division Series at Fenway Park. "He threw a great game," saluted right fielder Chone Figgins, who led off the game with a single up the middle, then watched his mates go dormant until the seventh inning. "Nothing you can do about it."

Not since one-strike-away champagne corks were prematurely popped in their clubhouse during Game 5 of the 1986 AL Championship Series have the Angels beaten the Red Sox in a postseason game, and they didn't come close last night, managing just four singles as Beckett produced the first complete-game playoff victory by a Boston pitcher since Bruce Hurst in Game 5 of the 1986 World Series.

Not since Jim Lonborg dazzled the Cardinals in Game 2 of the 1967 World Series had a Red Sox pitcher mowed down 19 in a row in October. "We really didn't get anything going," conceded Angels first baseman Casey Kotchman, who didn't get the ball out of the infield in three at-bats. "[Beckett] had a little bit of a cushion, but it didn't matter. He was throwing strikes either way."

Eighty-three of them in all. And virtually every time, he threw one on the most important pitch. "Strike one," said cleanup man Garret Anderson, who fanned twice and ended three innings. "I think that pretty much sums it up right there. He didn't pitch to the scoreboard. He didn't do anything fancy. He kept attacking us."

The Angels, who'd managed just two earned runs in 13 innings off Beckett during their two outings against him this season, figured they'd have to scuffle and scramble last night. But the Texas righthander had them swinging at air or bouncing balls along the dirt.

"It's not too often that you see a pitcher like that who has everything going for him," said center fielder Reggie Willits. "He spotted every pitch he's got. You just have to tip your hat to him."

The Angels had hoped they'd get the kind of pitching duel that makes two runs enough. But after Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz both took ace John Lackey out of the yard, the visitors were down, 4-0, after three.

Against Beckett, whose last postseason outing was the shutout of the Yankees that clinched the 2003 World Series for the Marlins, it might as well have been 14-0. "Obviously, the way Beckett was throwing the ball tonight, runs were going to be at a premium," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, "and we didn't get any."

They thought they'd get one in the first after Figgins moved to second on Orlando Cabrera's grounder, then took off for third just before Vladimir Guerrero rapped the ball to the left side.

"He had third base, we thought, stolen," said Scioscia. "And Vlad hit the ball and just found [Mike] Lowell. Lowell actually made a good read on that ball. Stayed back enough to make the play."

Figgins died on third after Anderson whiffed, and that was that for a while. A long while. Three up, three down for the next five innings, with just three balls hit to the outfield. "He was strike one, strike two, most of the night and commanding his pitches in the strike zone," said Kotchman. "He was throwing strikes with his offspeed stuff, too."

Beckett was throwing them efficiently enough that the Sox never had to open the bullpen gate, that the entire enterprise took just 2 hours 27 minutes. It was a throwback to the '60s, when a man was handed the ball and went the route. "Beckett was about as good as we've seen him," mused Scioscia. "I don't think you're going to be able to pitch a much better game than that."

It'll be four days and 3,000 miles before the Angels have to see Beckett again. After last night's goose egg, the first the Angels have taken in the playoffs since 1979, the objective is to be able to see him again. "I don't think we're going to analyze Game 1 much," said Kotchman. "We didn't score any runs. We'll just take the offday and get ready to play [tomorrow]."

After seven straight autumnal losses to Dave Henderson's spiritual successors, the Angels will be happy to start with one victory and proceed from there. "What's your mind-set now?" Figgins was asked. "To win," he replied. "There can't be any other mind-set."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.