After sizzling through June, July and into August, the Angels' offense has cooled down considerably in September.

Through the end of August, the Angels had scored 746 runs (5.74 per game), hit 149 home runs and were batting .290 as a team.

In their first 14 games this month, though, they have scored only 44 runs (3.1 per game), hit five home runs and batted .242. They've been held to three runs or less 10 times this month, something that happened only four times in the entire month of July and nine times in all of August.

"We haven't had as much continuity on offense, but we were really rolling for a long time before this," manager Mike Scioscia said. "I think for a long time we had everybody in the lineup feeling comfortable -- maybe not all nine guys but six or seven guys almost every day.

"That's flip-flopped a little. But we'll find some balance."

The September slowdown has hit Chone Figgins (8-for-44), Juan Rivera (5-for-43) and Mike Napoli (2-for-38) particularly hard.

RED SOX 4, ANGELS 1: For the second consecutive night, a defensive breakdown cost the Angels a game. John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka took shutouts into the sixth inning. Lackey gave up a single to Alex Gonzalez, a bunt single to Jacoby Ellsbury, then threw wildly to third base after fielding another bunt by Dustin Pedroia. One run scored on the throw and another scored later in the inning. The Angels never did get to Matsuzaka and didn't break up the Red Sox's shutout until there were two out in the ninth.

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