Angels

INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick's return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a stock car ended in a hard crash less than halfway through Saturday's Indiana 250. Patrick, the former IndyCar driver who now races in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series, was running about 20th when the top five race leaders made pit stops. Patrick remained on the track and was running behind Reed Sorenson. As the two entered Turn 1 on lap 39 of the 100-lap race, Patrick's No. 7 Chevrolet tapped the back of Sorenson's No. 98 Ford, sending Sorenson into a spin.

On the eve of an international wrestling meet at the Sports Arena, American officials remain at a loss to explain why the Iranian team - making its first visit to the U.S. since 2003 - has unexpectedly withdrawn and flown home. Los Angeles was supposed to be the second stop in a two-city tour. The Iranians competed in New York earlier this week. Iranian media reported Friday that team officials had security concerns and that U.S. officials refused to guarantee their safety on the West Coast.

Quarterfinal action began with a pair of upsets Friday afternoon at the Farmers Classic at UCLA's L.A. Tennis Center. Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania defeated France's fourth-seeded Nicolas Mahut, 6-4, 6-4, to reach his first ATP tour semifinal. He is the first qualifier to reach the semifinals at the Farmers Classic since Carsten Ball in 2009. Ball advanced to the championship before losing to Sam Querrey. Rajeev Ram advanced with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Leonardo Mayer of Argentina.

Second verse, same as the first. The Angels got their second crack at Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale in six days, and just like they did Sunday night in U.S. Cellular Field, they looked helpless against the 6-foot-6, 180-pound left-hander. Sale gave up three hits in 72/3 shutout innings Friday night in Angel Stadium, striking out 12 and walking three, to lead the White Sox to a 3-0 victory that dropped the Angels, who have lost five of six games, to 15-27 on the season. Combined with his one-hit shutout Sunday night, Sale, 24, threw 162/3 scoreless innings against the Angels this week, giving up four hits and striking out 19. In five career games against the Angels, two in relief, Sale has held them to a .114 average (nine for 79)

When I think of actress Lupe Ontiveros, who passed away from liver cancer at 69 Thursday night, what stays with me most is her strength. Her women tended to be strong and resilient, no-nonsense types, whether they were running a theater company as she did in "Chuck & Buck," dealing with a rebellious daughter in "Real Women Have Curves," or picking up after some well-heeled white family, as she did in"The Goonies. "There was a "I have seen it all" quality that danced in her eyes, more bemused by the frailties of the human race than bitter about them.

Welcome to this rite and ritual of an American spring, breaking in a new glove. As with anything in baseball, there are 100 views on the proper way to do this, all argued passionately. Glove gurus, some more guru than others, recommend treating a stiff new glove as either your best friend or roadkill. You can drown a glove, you can bake it, you can run it over with the car. Breaking in a baseball glove isn't science so much as a form of testosterone-fueled witchcraft. Tony Pena, former major league backstop and current New York Yankees bench coach, reportedly goes ape on a new catcher's glove, turning it inside out, outside in, punching, prodding, mugging it into submission — it's almost hard to watch.

CHICAGO - Major League Baseball suspended the crew chief and fined all four umpires who botched a simple application of the rules in Thursday night's game between the Angels and Astros in Houston. Angels Manager Mike Scioscia protested the ruling, which was dropped after the Angels rallied for a 6-5 win, but MLB acknowledged Friday that the "rule covering pitching changes was not applied correctly by the umpiring crew. " MLB later announced that crew chief Fieldin Culbreth received a two-game suspension for the "misapplication" of baseball rules, and the other three members of the crew - Brian O'Nora, Bill Welke and Adrian Johnson - were fined.

After watching Josh Hamilton strike out five times in eight at-bats in the first two games against Baltimore, Angels Manager Mike Scioscia had seen enough of his struggling outfielder to know that he needed something more than just a pep talk. So rather than risk another poor performance in front of a national TV audience, Scioscia held Hamilton out of the starting lineup Saturday. "It's 100% a mental day," Scioscia said of Hamilton, who had more than twice as many strikeouts (13)

"Don't go there," a well-traveled friend said when I mentioned my plans to visit Capri, a sunny island off southern Italy. Why? "You're not going to want to come home," he said. I laughed. My friend, a know-it-all author, loves to give advice. I didn't need it; I already knew I would fall in love with Capri. It's been one of Europe's favorite island getaway for more than 2,000 years, enthralling a cast of characters ranging from Roman emperors to 21st century luminaries and A-listers.

- There is already speculation that Albert Pujols' 10-year, $240-million contract will become as heavy a burden on the Angels as Alex Rodriguez's 10-year, $275-million deal is on the New York Yankees. Pujols, 33, is in the second year of his deal. His salary jumps from $16 million this season to $23 million in 2014 and will increase by $1 million a year until 2021, when he'll make $30 million. While the 6-foot-3, 235-pound slugger was productive in 2012, hitting .285 with 30 home runs and 105 runs batted in, his average, on-base and slugging percentages have dropped for three straight years.

As if the pitching-thin Angels need another reminder of what might have been, there it is, on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, New York Mets ace Matt Harvey, the one who got away. The Angels picked Harvey in the third round in 2007 knowing it would take first-round money to sign him out of high school, but when owner Arte Moreno authorized an offer of only $1 million - half of what Harvey wanted - the right-hander went to the University of North Carolina. Harvey signed for $2.6 million with the Mets in 2010 and, armed with a 97-mph fastball and devastating curve, has emerged as a Cy Young Award candidate this season, going 5-0 with a 1.55 earned-run average in his first nine starts.

Obviously the owners of the Angels and Dodgers have never heard of team chemistry. Arte Moreno and the Guggenheim Guy thought they could build better teams just by adding more expensive elements. Here's a lesson from Chemistry 101: You won't improve water (H2O) by replacing the O (oxygen) with Au (gold). H2Au won't work: Just ask Torii Hunter, the professor of Team Chemistry 101. Steve Stanage Corona :: I hope Angels management, and fans, can look between the lines of T.J. Simers' smarmy Josh Hamilton piece and realize that what they have in Hamilton is nothing compared to what they had in Torii Hunter.

Josh Hamilton said he was assured by doctors this week that the allergies that lead to occasional sinus and throat discomfort and dizziness were not caused or exacerbated by his heavy cocaine use from 2002-2005. "You have a hallway up the middle of your nose and sinus cavities on each side," said Hamilton, whose addiction to drugs and alcohol led to a ban from baseball from 2003-2005. "When you breathe air, it goes up and down the hallway. "Same thing when you do drugs, it goes up the hallway, not into the sinus cavities.

It's early, but it's not that early. The Angels began the second quarter of the season with another ugly loss Thursday night, committing two errors plus a crucial mental mistake, throwing a wild pitch that scored a run and issuing a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk to a .185 hitter who had not drawn a free pass all season. The 5-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox dropped the Angels to 15-26, their worst 41-game start since 1976, and 12 games behind Texas in the American League West. There is still time for the Angels to make up ground, but the task ahead is daunting.

There are issues in the starting rotation, in the bullpen, on the bench. For the Angels, those are minor issues. These Angels are built to outslug the opposition. If they don't hit, the rest doesn't matter. Those Angels showed up on Tuesday. For the first time this season, Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton hit home runs in the same game. "If those two guys get going, that's a lot of damage that can be done," second baseman Howie Kendrick said. Kendrick and Mike Trout each hit a home run too, in a 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

The good news for the Angels is that with Monday's off day, they can skip the fifth spot in the rotation, which, until Wednesday night, was held by Barry Enright, who opened the season at triple A and appears headed back there soon. The bad news is they couldn't skip it Wednesday night. Enright got his second start in place of the sidelined Tommy Hanson and provided the fuel for a seven-run third inning that Kansas City rode to a 9-5 victory in Angel Stadium. Billy Butler hit a two-run single and Lorenzo Cain had a three-run double to key the Royals third inning, as the Angels fell to 15-25 and 11 games behind Texas in the American League West, their largest deficit after 40 games since they were 12 games back at this stage of the 2001 season.

"Drugs had destroyed my body and my mind and my spirit. I could no longer experience happiness or surprise. I couldn't remember the last time I felt spontaneous joy. Why was I even alive?" Josh Hamilton in his autobiography, "Beyond Belief" WESTLAKE, Texas -- It was 2 a.m. when Josh Hamilton, strung out on crack cocaine, his once-robust 6-foot-4, 230-pound body withered to 180 pounds, most of his $3.96-million signing bonus squandered on booze and drugs, staggered up the steps to his grandmother's house in Raleigh, N.C. Homeless, dirty and barely coherent, Hamilton was a few days removed from a suicide attempt -- an overdose of pills -- and in the fourth year of a harrowing drug addiction that caused the former can't-miss prospect to be banned from baseball for three full seasons.

Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler won't be broadcasting Angels games anymore. Physioc and Hudler have been told jointly by FS West and the Angels that they will not be part of the Angels' on-air team next season. A statement by Fox and the Angels said that Rory Markas and Mark Gubicza will be the television voices for the team on FS West and KCOP next season, and Terry Smith and Jose Mota will do the radio on KLAA AM 830. Physioc, 54, who has called baseball for 25 years for the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds and ESPN, said the news was "a total shock.

Arte Moreno has placed blame for the team's brutal 2013 start, its failure to make the playoffs for three straight years and several high-priced moves that have paid minimal dividends on the one person the Angels owner can't fire: Himself. "If you're going to blame anyone, you've got to blame me," Moreno told FoxSports.com on Wednesday in New York, where he is attending the owners' meetings. "I'm the one at the end of the day that has the final call. " Moreno orchestrated the signing of first baseman Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $240-million deal before 2012.

A loud screeching sound echoed across the oval racetrack as a driver burned rubber, revving the engine of a silver Mercedes-Benz and spinning the vehicle a full 360 degrees while kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke. This wasn't a stock car race, but a shoot for an upcoming Mercedes commercial that was being filmed at Irwindale Speedway, where about two dozen crew members huddled Monday morning under blue pop-up tents next to camera stands and film equipment to escape the suffocating 104-degree heat.