John Lackey

The stadium where John Lackey helped secure the most momentous victory in Angels history seemed a bit foreign Monday afternoon. Unsure of the location of the visitors' clubhouse, the pitcher entered the field from an opening in right field before descending into the dugout along the first base line. He eventually found his clubhouse locker beneath the stadium and slipped on the gray uniform of the Boston Red Sox. But the right-hander plans on making himself at home again here Tuesday, when he starts against his former team at Angel Stadium for the first time.

Torii Hunter glanced at the television in the Angels clubhouse Saturday afternoon and noticed the New York Yankees leading the Boston Red Sox by eight runs after three innings. "The Sox are trying to give it to us, man," Hunter said, marveling at Boston's spectacular collapse and the American League wild-card window that has opened. "We'll take it. " No Angels player looks as if he wants it more than Hunter, the 35-year-old right fielder who has been to the playoffs six times but has never reached the World Series.

John Lackey's self-imposed deadline of opening day for a contract extension appears to be fluid, now that an elbow injury has forced the Angels' right-hander to the disabled list. General Manager Tony Reagins says he is open to negotiating during the season, and Lackey, though he didn't address the issue directly, also appears open to further talks. "Opening day is not my opening day anymore," said Lackey, who was shut down two weeks ago because of a forearm strain.

The money could have been greener on the other side of free agency — and the country — but not necessarily the grass. Jered Weaver endeared himself to a legion of sports fans, if not his agent, on Tuesday when he acknowledged hours before the Angels' game against the Chicago White Sox that he had allowed a considerable hometown discount to sign a five-year, $85-million contract extension. The 28-year-old right-hander and two-time All-Star, who grew up in Simi Valley and played at Long Beach State, would have become a free agent after 2012.

John Lackey celebrated the century mark today, with a victory party at the expense of his favorite opponents. The Angels' ace earned his 100th career victory, scattering five hits over eight innings in a 9-1 triumph over the Oakland Athletics. The Angels scored four runs in the fifth inning and five more in the eighth, highlighted by three-run home runs from Torii Hunter and Kendry Morales. Morales' home run was his 30th, making him the first Angel to hit 30 since Vladimir Guerrero in 2006.

The Angels, as expected, offered arbitration on Tuesday to pitcher John Lackey and third baseman Chone Figgins, assuring them of maximum draft-pick compensation should the free agents sign elsewhere. But in something of a surprise, the team did not offer arbitration to veteran reliever Darren Oliver, the 39-year-old left-hander who was 5-1 with a 2.71 earned-run average in 63 games last season, when he earned $3.665 million. The Angels also did not offer arbitration to outfielder Vladimir Guerrero, so they will not receive a draft pick should the 35-year-old slugger depart after six years in Anaheim.

Angels ace John Lackey is expected to open the season on the disabled list after an MRI test revealed inflammation in his throwing elbow, a setback that casts further doubt on a rotation already racked by injury. Manager Mike Scioscia said Friday that "right now, it's definitely unlikely" Lackey will be ready to pitch the April 6 season opener against Oakland. Ervin Santana, an All-Star in 2008, is expected to miss most of April because of a sprained elbow ligament.

It was a marquee pitching matchup that didn't disappoint, a pair of aces bringing out the best in each other but dueling to a draw. Neither Angels right-hander John Lackey nor Kansas City right-hander Zack Greinke figured in the decision Saturday night, which was probably fitting, because neither deserved to lose. Not until the 11th inning, after Lackey and Greinke combined to put up 15 zeros and give up two runs, was this one decided. Torii Hunter, who knocked in the tying run with a clutch, two-out, single off Greinke in the eighth, singled to lead off the 11th, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Erick Aybar's two-out single to lift the Angels to a dramatic 2-1 victory in Kauffman Stadium.

The cold weather tonight -- temperatures for Game 1 are expected to be in the low 40s, with a wind-chill of about 30 degrees, could affect the pitchers' ability "to spin the ball," Manager Mike Scioscia said. That could make it difficult for Game 1 starter John Lackey to snap off his curve ball against the Yankees. But otherwise, Scioscia doesn't expect Lackey to be bothered. "John has a great ability to filter out distractions," Scioscia said. "I think that's what the weather is really, a distraction that needs to be filtered out. "You need to bring your game onto the field under any circumstances, whether you're in a visiting ballpark, or you're playing in a little drizzle, or you're playing when it's cold, or you're playing when the guys behind you have missed a couple of plays.

An Angels camp that has been buoyed by the uplifting story of Kelvim Escobar's remarkable recovery from shoulder surgery was hit by a double dose of bad news Wednesday. Ace John Lackey was shut down because of elbow tightness, an injury that could jeopardize his opening-day start against Oakland on April 6. And Torii Hunter was knocked out of Wednesday's 18-11 exhibition victory over Colorado in the first inning when Jeff Baker's long drive hit the wall and caromed into Hunter's nose.

The Angels on Sunday reached agreement on a five-year, $85-million contract extension with Jered Weaver , extinguishing fears among the team's fans that the ace right-hander would leave as a free agent after the 2012 season. The deal, which will be officially announced Tuesday in a 2 p.m. news conference, reportedly includes a full no-trade clause and will keep Weaver, who was entering his final year of arbitration this winter, in Anaheim through 2016. The deal, with an average annual value of $17 million, will make Weaver, 28, the highest-paid pitcher in franchise history.

Detroit Tigers Manager Jim Leyland , in the wake of the four ejections that marred the Angels' 1-0 win Tuesday night, said tension between umpires and teams is so high right now that it is palpable. "There's just too much tension," Leyland said before Wednesday's game. "I mean, you can feel it. Managers, coaches and players are on edge. Umpires are on edge, and it leads to blow-ups. It's not a good situation. " It seemed to get worse on a muggy 87-degree afternoon Wednesday in Angel Stadium, where tempers, especially in the Angels dugout, flared again.

New scouting director Ric Wilson said Monday's selection of Utah slugger C.J. Cron in the first round didn't necessarily signal a shift in the team's draft strategy away from high school players and toward more advanced college players. But Wilson's actions seem to be speaking much louder than those words. USC pitchers Austin Wood and Logan Odom were among the 23 college or community college players the Angels selected with their first 29 picks of the draft, which ran through the 30th round Tuesday.

Reporting from Arlington, Texas The slow pace of Kendrys Morales ' rehabilitation from a broken ankle this spring allowed rookie Mark Trumbo to win some unexpected playing time at first base. But now that Morales is officially done for the season, Trumbo doesn't plan to change anything. "I'm not going to approach it any differently," he said. "All along I never knew quite where he was at, but it never seemed that he was knocking on the doorstep. It's nice that I'll get a few more chances, but I'm going to do exactly the same thing I have been doing.

Technically speaking, Arte Moreno owns the Angels. But these days, on the field at least, so do the Boston Red Sox. Boston completed a four-game sweep of the Angels on Sunday, beating them 7-0 before 35,107 at Angel Stadium behind a brilliant performance from former Angels ace John Lackey. The Red Sox have taken 13 of 14 from the Angels since the start of the 2010 season and outscored them 20-5 in this series. "Those guys took it to us," said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, who met with the team after it was shut out for the second consecutive game and told his players to mentally move past the sweep.

On Wednesday, Angels center fielder Peter Bourjos made an at-the-wall catch in his club's 4-1 win at Texas that was so good his teammate Jered Weaver referred to it as "The Catch. " It was the kind of highlight many expected from the speedy 24-year-old, who drew rave reviews in the minor leagues for his defensive excellence in center field. But Friday, Bourjos cost the Angels some runs in their 4-3 loss to Boston after a head-scratching drop of a fly ball that left some criticizing his center-field inexperience at this level.

Reporting from Boston -- John Lackey does not seem bitter about his departure from the Angels after 7 œ years because they "definitely made a run to try to keep me, for sure," he said. But the former Angels ace, who will face his old teammates for the first time in Fenway Park on Wednesday night, couldn't help but notice some irony in the Angels' failure to match the Boston Red Sox 's bid for his services last winter. "It is different," Lackey said, when asked about the Angels' tendency to let their own veterans leave as free agents.

Technically speaking, Arte Moreno owns the Angels. But these days, on the field at least, so do the Boston Red Sox. Boston completed a four-game sweep of the Angels on Sunday, beating them 7-0 before 35,107 at Angel Stadium behind a brilliant performance from former Angels ace John Lackey. The Red Sox have taken 13 of 14 from the Angels since the start of the 2010 season and outscored them 20-5 in this series. "Those guys took it to us," said Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, who met with the team after it was shut out for the second consecutive game and told his players to mentally move past the sweep.

Success seemed to come easily for Jered Weaver in 2006, when he went 9-0 to start his big-league career, finished with an 11-2 record and 2.56 earned run average and held opponents to a meager .209 batting average. So when then-teammate John Lackey began harping on him to increase the intensity of his workouts between starts, Weaver all but ignored him. Who needs direction from a more experienced pitcher when you're rolling through the American League as if it were the Big West Conference?

In the subject field of one recent e-mail to Angels owner Arte Moreno were the words: "Cheap, cheap, cheap!" In the body of another was a plea: "If you can't afford to play the game, sell the team and let's get an owner who can do this. " The Angels closed 2010 with a payroll of $121 million, seventh-highest among baseball's 30 teams, "and now I'm cheap because I won't spend $200 million on Mark Teixeira and $150 million on Carl Crawford?" Moreno said Friday, his voice rising with indignation.