Santana

Angels' E. Santana agrees to 4-year, $30 million deal baseball Right-hander Ervin Santana and the Los Angeles Angels agreed to a four-year, $30 million contract yesterday, a day after their scheduled arbitration hearing was postponed. Santana's deal includes a $13 million club option for 2013 with a $1 million buyout. The 26-year-old is the youngest active major league pitcher with at least 50 wins. He rebounded from a sub-par season in 2007 to go 16-7 with a 3.49 ERA for the American League West champion Angels last year, striking out a career-high 214 in 219 innings with only 47 walks.

Now that I've seen Darrius Heyward-Bey play regularly, I have little doubt about his pro potential. It's not only that he's fast, but he also has a Santana Moss-like ability to go up and get the deep ball in traffic. Quite a few of his catches have come on throws that are less than perfect. The only mystery is why he goes stretches without seeing the ball. Is it that he has problems getting open? I think it's more a combination of defenses rolling toward him and the Terps simply not being able to deliver him the ball.

Last month, a Boston reporter sat down with Minnesota Twins center fielder Carlos Gomez and asked him what he thought of Jacoby Ellsbury, whom the writer assumed Gomez would often be compared to. Gomez, 22, who is wearing out reporters' notebooks and tape recorders throughout the American League on his way to a Most Valuable Quote Award, said this to The Boston Globe reporter: "Who's that? I don't know him. What's his name?" An astonished Twins teammate had to explain to Gomez that Ellsbury was Boston's standout rookie center fielder before Ellsbury's name finally registered on the Go-Go meter.

Carlos Santana and Derek Trucks have been listed by Rolling Stone as some of the best guitarists of all time. Maintaining his fusion of Latin style and smooth riffs, Santana has enjoyed a continuing resurgence in popularity. As a member of the Allman Brothers Band, Trucks is known for his silky blues guitar. The gates open at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Tickets are $35-$75. Merriweather is at 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Call 410-547-7328 or go to ticketmaster.

Befuddled birds Changing teams and leagues didn't make Johan Santana any less imposing to the Orioles. The two-time Cy Young Award winner tossed six scoreless innings last night, scattering five hits, walking one and striking out seven. He fanned Luke Scott three times, twice looking, and catcher Guillermo Quiroz twice. Santana threw 87 pitches and left to a loud ovation after retiring Jay Payton to end the sixth and strand Aubrey Huff. Huff and Scott Moore singled twice against Santana, who held on to a 2-0 lead, and Luis Hernandez doubled.

Moves Baseball METS -- Acquired P Johan Santana from Twins for OF Carlos Gomez, P Philip Humber, P Kevin Mulvey and P Deolis Guerra. Agreed to six-year contract with Santana . NATIONALS -- Agreed to two-year contract with P Jon Rauch . College MISSOURI -- Reinstated F Leo Lyons and F Marshall Brown to men's basketball team.

News item: Roger Clemens now says that personal trainer Brian McNamee did give him injections several years ago, but all that was injected was the local anesthetic lidocaine and vitamin B-12. My take: It would be a semiplausible alibi if Clemens had said that in the first day or two after he was named in the Mitchell Report, but any excuse that takes three weeks and a team of lawyers to cook up is going to be a hard sell - even on 60 Minutes tonight. Related news item: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has shifted gears and decided to call players - including Clemens and Andy Pettitte - to testify at next week's steroid hearings.

BIG FISH HAVE LANDED The first significant move of the winter meetings happened early last evening. The Detroit Tigers landed two stars, third baseman Miguel Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis, for a six-player package that includes outfielder Cameron Maybin and pitcher Andrew Miller, Detroit's top two prospects. The Tigers paid a heavy price for the future, but their present looks very bright. Their lineup is stacked, with Cabrera joining Magglio Ordonez, Gary Sheffield, Ivan Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Placido Polanco and Carlos Guillen.

Record night Rarely does a walk get so much attention, but Kevin Millar received a loud ovation because of one. Millar has reached base in 50 consecutive games, breaking Ken Singleton's club record. He checked his swing on a 3-1 pitch in the fifth, took a step toward first base and froze when plate umpire James Hoye called a strike. The next pitch was inches off the plate, and Millar again checked his swing, but first base umpire Chris Guccione ruled it a ball. Fans stood to applaud. Long ball Aubrey Huff has 10 RBIs in his past eight games, a total he padded last night with a bases-empty homer in the second inning.

A concert review in Monday's Today section did not specify who turned off the microphones at the Lil' Wayne and Juelz Santana show Saturday night at the Clarence H. Du Burns Arena. Samuel T. Daniels Jr., the executive director of the city liquor board, ordered the microphones shut down; it was not promoter Ikon Entertainment.