John Lackey

Matt Holliday is not coming. Jason Bay might be coming. John Lackey and Chone Figgins are not coming back -- not together, anyway. Those were the highlights of the state of the Angels address delivered by owner Arte Moreno on Thursday, after baseball's owners concluded their meetings here. The free-agent shopping season opens today, with owners citing an uncertain economic forecast in suggesting players might linger on the market well into the winter. Yet Moreno left one thing absolutely certain: The Angels have no interest in outfielder Matt Holliday, perhaps the best position player available in free agency.

Three key Angels headed for free agency -- Chone Figgins, Bobby Abreu and Vladimir Guerrero -- have publicly expressed a desire to return to Anaheim, and center fielder Torii Hunter, after talking to free-agent pitcher John Lackey, is convinced the right-hander wants to remain an Angel. Gary Matthews Jr.? Not so much. The disgruntled outfielder with two years and $23 million left on his contract wants no part of the Angels in 2010, and he reiterated his request to be traded -- or released -- while cleaning out his Angel Stadium locker Tuesday.

A season that began with an unfathomable tragedy did not end in the ultimate triumph. What a story it would have been had the Angels won the World Series and dedicated the title to teammate Nick Adenhart, the 22-year-old pitcher who was killed in an April 9 automobile accident. The New York Yankees tore up that script, ending the Angels' season Sunday night with a 5-2 victory to win the American League Championship Series and earn a berth opposite the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, which begins Wednesday.

That's New York Yankees 3, Angels 2, Mother Nature 1, if you're scoring at home. Game 6 of the American League Championship Series was postponed because of heavy rain in Yankee Stadium a full two hours before the scheduled first pitch Saturday night. The game was pushed back to tonight and should be played under far more hospitable conditions. Today's forecast for New York calls for sunny skies all day, a 10% chance of precipitation and a temperature of about 55 degrees at game time.

The heavens blessed the Angels. The rain won at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, but so did the visiting team. If the Angels get to Game 7 on Monday, following two days off and Game 6 tonight, they could have several attractive choices for their starting pitcher. "Are you . . . me?" John Lackey said. "This is mine." Lackey said that Thursday, as Mike Scioscia pulled him from Game 5 with a shutout intact. Lackey did not say that Saturday, but he did not have to. If the Angels get to Game 7, it's his. All we heard before the series was how the mighty New York Yankees could vanquish the Angels by using CC Sabathia three times.

Some of the highs and lows of watching Angels-Yankees Game 5. Say hey Into the nervous silence that seemed to surround Angel Stadium just before the first pitch, Fox's Joe Buck said, "This crowd may need a little jolt tonight. This place is awful quiet." Say what? If you're looking for a holiday gift for Buck, perhaps a globe? In talking about Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, a pitching prospect, Buck referred to the place where Chapman was now living as "Angora" which is a kind of sweater.

There would be no shame in losing to the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series. They are, quite simply, the best team money can buy, with a $200-million payroll, superstar-filled lineup, dominant starting pitching and the best closer of all time. But there would be little honor in going down the way the Angels have in three of the first four games in this best-of-seven series, which resumes with Game 5 tonight at Angel Stadium, where Angels ace John Lackey will oppose Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett.

John Lackey turns 31 on Friday and the Angels' ace hopes to give himself a birthday present: a sixth playoff game between the Angels and the New York Yankees. The right-hander will start Game 5 of the American League Championship Series tonight as the Angels, in a 3-1 hole in the best-of-seven series, try to stave off elimination at Angel Stadium. Despite New York's comfortable margin in the series -- and despite having beaten Lackey and the Angels in Game 1 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium -- the Yankees hold considerable respect for the 6-foot-6 Texan.

Manager Mike Scioscia said his decision to start Mike Napoli at catcher Tuesday over Game 3 hero Jeff Mathis , whose run-scoring double in the 11th inning gave the Angels a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Yankees Monday, was not that difficult. Napoli caught five of Game 4 starter Scott Kazmir's six regular-season games after the left-hander was acquired in an Aug. 28 trade from Tampa Bay. Kazmir went 2-2 with a 1.73 earned-run average in those games. Napoli also caught Kazmir's division series start against Boston.

There isn't much a baseball player can win that Alex Rodriguez hasn't already won. The New York Yankees third baseman has three MVP awards, two Gold Gloves, a batting title, five home run crowns and he has made 12 All-Star teams. A championship, however, has eluded him. "The one thing that Alex is probably missing that people want to see in his career is a World Series ring," New York Manager Joe Girardi said. And given the way Rodriguez is playing so far this postseason, this could be the year that happens.