Cabrera

BOSTON — No one has to tell Orlando Cabrera about the passion for playoff baseball in this town. Cabrera experienced Red Sox fever firsthand as a key member of Boston’s 2004 World Series team. He came up with key hits and big plays at shortstop as the Sox came back to beat the Yankees in the ALCS and swept St. Louis in the Series for their first title since 1918.

Now Cabrera is coming into Fenway Park today to try to prevent a repeat of that memorable October. He’s a major cog in the Los Angeles Angels’ lineup, batting a career-high .301 with 86 RBI. He’s committed just 11 errors at shortstop. He’s been pointing to this series for weeks now, and he’s made sure to tell plenty of his current teammates what to expect in Boston.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I cannot describe it,” he said. “I tell everybody ‘Wait until the playoff, wait until the playoff. Wait until we go to New York or Boston. It’s crazy.’ ”

Despite his outstanding play with the Red Sox in ’04, the team let him get away via free agency. Cabrera is still welcomed with hearty cheers by the Fenway crowd when he steps into the batter’s box, and he says he enjoys coming back to a city that he’ll never forget.

“As a baseball player who loves the game with passion, who doesn’t like this?” he said. “Coming to a city that’s seen baseball for over 100 years, and lives and dies baseball, of course I love to come here and play.”

Cabrera does not like to discuss his exit from Boston, but he was asked again about the particulars yesterday. Asked if he wanted to remain with the Sox, he said, “Of course, at that moment. If they wanted to keep the team together, I’d want to stay in one place.”

Instead, the Red Sox looked elsewhere and signed Renteria to a four-year, $40-million contract. Cabrera said the Sox didn’t make a representative offer and he moved on to Los Angeles for $32 million over four years.

“In this business, you don’t need to talk that you don’t want someone back,” he said. “You can make a lousy offer [that says] ‘We don’t want you, we don’t need you.’ ”

Did the Red Sox ever tell Cabrera why they didn’t want him back?

“Not really,” he said. “I was just trying to get a job in those days. There were some teams on my list and the Angels were one of them.”

Now that he’s enjoying a career year, Cabrera just wants to steal a win in Boston and head home to California with a chance to secure an upset victory in the series.

“Everything is so fast in the playoffs that you have to be prepared for the moment when it comes,” he said.

kmcnamar@projo.com