That hurts. The doubleheader game the Angels figured to take from the Boston Red Sox was a complete disaster, ending in an 8-4 defeat. Needing a lengthy outing from John Lackey, the right-hander threw 46 pitches in a six-run first inning for the Red Sox. He was gone after four innings having thrown 97 pitches.

The Angels got their hits off Red Sox newcomer Clay Buchholz, just not enough timely ones. Buchholz allowed three walks and eight hits but rode the offensive support to the status of newest hero in Red Sox Nation. The outing was Buchholz’s major-league debut and outside the park free Buchholz T-shirts were going to anybody who purchased a bootleg, unlicensed program.

With their late-night arrival in Boston and their early wakeup call for the first game of the doubleheader, the Angels simply looked tired. Vladimir Guerrero threw a ball away for an error and a Red Sox run. Communication was even an issue. Guerrero and Reggie Willits bumped in right-center with Guerrero making the catch. Garret Anderson and Chone Figgins collided in short left field with Figgins making the catch.

There simply wasn’t much to remember about this one. Now the Angels have to face 15-game winner Josh Beckett in Game 2 and try to hold him off with newly recalled Ervin Santana. Hey, the Red Sox were able to trash a 15-game winner in Lackey. For now, their best hope is to do the same to Beckett.

So you say it would be great to follow a ballclub around? Seems like a prime gig to watch a ballgame every day at work and chat with the players afterward. Admittedly, it beats a real job. But it isn’t always prime seats in the press box, all the hot dogs you can eat and virtually unlimited access before and after games. Travel days are where things even out and travel days like today (Friday) are where you make your money. Now I’m not complaining, but get this …

Just to get to this day-night doubleheader was a chore. After getting out of the ballpark in Toronto at 11:30 p.m. or so Thursday night, it was off to get as much sleep as possible. Luckily there is a hotel in the Blue Jays’ stadium. After four hours of the most restless sleep ever (why did I have a dream that I was camping in the parking lot of a ballpark with some family members?) it was off to the airport. It’s Toronto so don’t forget that customs takes at least a half hour.

The one-hour plane ride was a snap, landing in Boston at 8:30. By the time the luggage arrived and the cab got to the hotel in Boston it was 9:30. Mercifully, there was a room ready. A restless one-hour nap was followed by a jammed-packed subway ride to the ballpark (now I know what the olive at the bottom of the jar feels like). Arrive at the park, scarf down lunch and take my seat for first pitch. And to think, there are 18 more innings to go. The day is only starting.

In what might come as not the best news to many Angels fans, Ervin Santana will be recalled tomorrow (Friday) and start in the second game of the doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox. That is right, even though 15-game winner John Lackey wanted to start Game 2, Santana will get it instead and be matched up against 15-game winner Josh Beckett. Lackey will start in Game 1 instead. Santana was 2-1 at Triple-A Salt Lake with a 5.01 ERA over five starts. Santana was 5-11 with a 6.22 ERA for the Angels earlier this season. He was just 1-9 on the road with an 8.79 ERA.

Checked in last night to the hotel that is connected to the Rogers Centre (formerly the Skydome) and I was upgraded to a suite with a view of the field. (Note to management back home: this was a free upgrade. I swear.) Anyway, there are a few oddities that occur when your only window faces into a domed stadium.

First of all, there is no sunlight that leaks into your room to let you know the day has arrived. The only light that peeks around your curtains is the stadium lighting that was there when you went to bed. When you wake up and the alarm clock says 8:00, you pray that is 8:00 a.m. and the fourth inning of the game you are supposed to be covering isn’t unfolding just outside. So far so good on that note.

Second, you have no idea what the weather is like for your walk to lunch. Do I need my sunglasses? A raincoat? If you are the kind of person who needs to look outside before starting your day, don’t take the room with the ballpark view. It’s like owning a home inside a warehouse. Odd.

There is one cool perk to staying at the ballpark hotel, though. There is a secret elevator that takes you straight down to the field level and drops you off behind the left field wall. It has a Bat Cave feel about it. But if you find it one day and get caught, don’t let anybody know I told you about it.