Angels Raise Price of Almost All Tickets

The Angels raised the price of almost every seat in the house Friday, slapping a stiff increase on their finest tickets.

The Angels also removed about 9,300 seats from the “buy two, get two free” season-ticket program. The promotion, offered for seats in the view level and right-field pavilion, led some customers to act as “speculators,” said Robert Alvarado, the Angels’ director of marketing and ticket sales.

“It made it very inexpensive to buy seats and conveniently dump them,” he said.

The “buy two, get two free” program will remain available -- with no price increase -- for about 4,200 less-desirable seats on the view level, generally above the foul poles. Under that program, seats priced at $15 and $12 can be purchased for $7.50 and $6, respectively.

The Diamond Club seats, sold for $82.50 this year, will jump to $125 for the first row, $104 for the next five rows and $93 elsewhere. The seats behind the dugout on the field level, sold this year at $49.50 for the first row and $42 otherwise, will jump to $58 for the first row, $52 for the next five rows and $46 otherwise.

The Angels raised the price of all other seats from $1 to $4 each. They have not yet set prices for single-game tickets, which are more expensive than tickets bought on a season basis.

The Angels sold a record 32,000 season tickets this year but missed the playoffs for the first time in three years. Spokesman Tim Mead noted that the Angels had the third-highest payroll among the 30 major league teams this year and said that the average ticket price remains below the league average.

-- Bill Shaikin

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Dodgers outfielder Marlon Anderson had bone chips removed from his throwing elbow and is expected to recover in less than a month, the club announced.

Relief pitcher Giovanni Carrara elected to become a free agent after the club removed him from the 40-man roster. Infielder Wilson Valdez who spent the season at triple-A Las Vegas, was added to the 40-man roster.

-- Steve Henson

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As much as Lou Piniella would have loved to manage the San Francisco Giants, he took himself out of the running for the job Friday strictly because of geography.

Piniella, who is broadcasting the American League Championship Series for Fox, lives in Tampa, Fla., and was reminded this week on a long cross-country flight of one of the main reasons why he left as manager of the Seattle Mariners.

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The Chicago White Sox will not renew the contract of bench coach Tim Raines. Hired in November 2004, Raines served as first base coach when the White Sox won the World Series last season before moving to the bench this season.