Angels

Scott Boras, often visible in his box behind home plate at Angel Stadium, remains in a stare-down with Angels general manager Tony Reagins over Adrian Beltre. There's no better fit for Beltre, but Boras is trying to get him the best deal possible. Texas has some interest, but it will disappear if the Rangers re-sign Vladimir Guerrero. … With Cliff Lee off the board, Carl Pavano is the most attractive free-agent starter available. He'll sign with the first team that offers him three years.

He saw his first Blue Angels show in Detroit at age 6, and Thomas Frosch says the experience inspired him to want to become a pilot. He saw four more performances while attending the Naval Academy, including one the "Blues" put on before his graduation in 1992. Now commander and flight leader of the Blue Angels, Frosch, a Navy commander, was looking forward to returning to Annapolis this week, where he would have led his team through its traditional jaw-dropping show as part of the Academy's graduation week.

  Adrian Beltre's signing with the Rangers was another major blow to the Angels, who haven't added anyone more significant than reliever Scott Downs this winter. They had seemed a perfect fit for Beltre, as third base is a glaring weakness, but owner Arte Moreno believes increased payroll would force him to raise ticket prices. He has kept the Angels' average ticket price at $19, lowest in the American League according to Team Marketing Report. The Angels drew 3.25 million fans a year ago, ranking fifth in the majors.

Note: Since I recap both Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance and they're overlapping seasons this week and next, I'll be covering both nights in one recap for these first two weeks. They open with past winners and notable contestants being interviewed about how their life changed by putting on a number and getting in the audition line. My favorite bit is Mary with a giant, tight, curly hairdo, like when we had perms in the '80s. Tuesday Night - Los Angeles Auditions We're in Los Angeles at the Orpheum Theatre.

Whispers Can the Angels catch the Rangers? They went 19-4 in the first 23 games outfielder Mike Trout started, including a 10-1 record in starts since he rejoined the roster in August. Trout was just named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year. … The Rangers went 12-11 in a stretch playing 23 games against teams with winning records. They believe that's when they would have collapsed if they were going to but aren't taking a playoff spot for granted, not with a season-ending series in Anaheim.

The California Angels held cap night May 5 at Anaheim Stadium.They had 55,000 to distribute; 30,230 showed up.So what happens to the other 25,000 caps?Team president Richard Brown said the Angels keep all promotional leftovers and hand them out during hospital visits, Christmas events and other charity functions.

Jason Hammel's bid to become an All-Star for the first time in his career took a big hit Wednesday night. The Orioles right-hander struggled through his worst outing of the year, lasting just 3 1/3 innings (his shortest outing of the season) and tying a career-high with eight runs allowed. Hammel entered the night having not allowed an earned run in his last 19 innings of work and yielded just six hits over his last two outings, one of them a complete-game, one-hit shutout at Atlanta on June 16. Until tonight, Hammel hadn't allowed more than four earned runs in a game this season.

Former Dodgers GM Dan Evans and White Sox assistant Rick Hahn are both under strong consideration for the Angels, although it remains unclear if Hahn formally has thrown his hat in the ring. Kim Ng, the former University of Chicago softball player who has been an assistant GM for the Yankees and Dodgers, is considered a serious contender, with Arte Moreno among the few owners who would be bold enough to hire baseball's first female GM. Evans and Ng also have ties to the White Sox. … The Athletics don't think coach Curt Young was what went wrong with the Red Sox's pitchers in September.

Robin Walker, unable to sleep, called up her online layaway account in the middle of the night, ready to make some grim choices about which presents her grandchildren wouldn't get. The answer, she feared, was most of them. She opened the first account, shocked to see the balance read "$1. " A computer glitch, she suspected. But when the second account said the same thing, as did the one after that, she started laughing. Someone, she began to realize, had paid all five of her layaway accounts down to a dollar.

Once again the popular preseason pick to win the American League West, Los Angeles has jumped ahead in the division with one of the best hitting lineups in the majors. The Angels are led by infielder Chone Figgins, who is in the top 10 in batting average and multi-hit games, and outfielder Torii Hunter, who is having another All-Star year with the glove and bat. The Angels' pitching has been disappointing - the staff has the third-worst ERA in the American League. The Orioles will catch a break as Los Angeles' hottest pitcher, Jered Weaver, isn't scheduled to start in the series.

In her column ("An Annapolis tradition, grounded," May 13), Susan Reimer writes that Congress should be ashamed that because of sequestration the Blue Angels will skip the U.S. Naval Academy graduation this year. Really? How about President Barack Obama, shouldn't he be ashamed? After all, sequestration was his idea, and Congress wanted to give him the power to decide where the cuts would take place, which Mr. Obama refused to do. Lets see, if the president agreed to that it would have required him to take responsibility for one of his polices, which he never does.

In her column "An Annapolis tradition, grounded" (May 13) Susan Reimer laments the fact that the Blue Angels flyover at the graduation ceremonies for cadets was canceled, and she thinks Congress should be ashamed for cutting funds for such a trivial "carnival act. " Meanwhile, the Obama administration has apparently sicced the IRS on tea party groups for political reasons, the very groups who are fighting to keep such frivolous expenditures off...

My town, Annapolis, is a special kind of college town. The students at the Naval Academy are distinctive not for their backpacks, ear buds and school T-shirts, but for their crisp summer whites and their somber dress blues. The midshipmen take off their hats - their covers - when they enter a building, and they say "sir" and "ma'am" when you greet them. At this college, you don't pay anything unless you quit or get kicked out. About 1,400 arrive every July, but only about 800 will graduate four years later.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The first five weeks of the Orioles' season has included more than its share of hotel rooms and plane rides, ending with a marathon 11-day, 11-game stretch to the West Coast. And while it's still early in the 2013 season, the Orioles' strong showing during a trip that took them through Oakland, Seattle and Anaheim undoubtedly made for an easier cross-country flight back to Baltimore. With their 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, the Orioles finished their trip with a 7-4 record going into Monday's highly anticipated off day. And they did so with the same lunch pail mentality that defined last year's team.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Orioles dropped a 4-0 decision to the Angels on Friday night, but injuries to first baseman Chris Davis (right knee) and right-hander Miguel Gonzalez (thumb blister) -- who both exited the game prematurely -- were even more pressing. Here's what Orioles manager Buck Showalter, Davis and Gonzalez said after the game: Buck Showalter On Chris Davis' injury: “I'm sharing his optimism, but its part of it. We lost some good players last year.

The four-run lead that Orioles right-hander Freddy Garcia took into the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday seemed safe enough, especially given the relative ease in which Garcia had held the Angels hitless through the game's first six frames. “We were on cruise control,” first baseman Steve Pearce said. “And then, boom.” The calm suddenly turned chaotic as the Orioles blew their lead and lost momentum until Pearce - who was 3-for-4 starting at first base in place of the injured Chris Davis - slapped a game-winning single with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Orioles a 5-4 win over the Angels in front of an announced crowd of 32,136 at Angel Stadium.

Brian Matusz had already allowed 11 hits through five innings of work Tuesday night, but Orioles manager Buck Showalter wanted to see if he could scrape one more inning out of his left-handed starter. Showalter believed Matusz earned the right to go out for a sixth inning. He had allowed just three runs and thrown just 74 pitches. The manager wanted to put faith in his young pitcher. And beiginning a stretch of 13 games in 13 days leading up to the All-Star break, one inning would make a huge difference in preserving the Orioles' bullpen.

Bags were packed and travel plans had been arranged. The only thing between the Orioles and the All-Star break was their series finale against the Angels in Anaheim on Sunday. And on a sunny Southern California afternoon, the Orioles played like they where already on vacation. The Orioles finished baseball's first half with an all-around uninspired performance, falling to the Angels, 6-0, in front of an announced crowd of 37,108 at Angel Stadium. The Orioles were shut out in consecutive games for the second time this season.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Orioles' 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night might have come at a greater price. The Orioles' top offensive weapon of the opening month of the season, first baseman Chris Davis, hobbled off the field in the fifth inning with a right knee injury. He is scheduled to get an MRI on Saturday morning. Right-hander Miguel Gonzalez was forced from the game after six innings after opening a blister on his right thumb, putting his next start in jeopardy.