Team, City Discuss a Settlement

Attorneys representing the Angels and the city of Anaheim met Friday to discuss terms for a possible settlement of the city’s lawsuit against the team, but sources on both sides indicated no deal was imminent. The parties are expected to continue talks next week.

The city charges the team’s new name -- the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim -- violates a stadium lease provision requiring that the name “include the name Anaheim therein.” As part of any settlement, the team is believed to want the right to drop the “of Anaheim” suffix and play as the Los Angeles Angels.

The Anaheim City Council would have to approve any settlement. Council members Lorri Galloway and Richard Chavez each said the council had not been informed of any proposed terms but would not vote for any deal in which “Los Angeles” remains part of the Angels’ name.

“I think we’re unanimous on that,” Galloway said. “I don’t think there’s a compromise as far as that’s concerned.”

Said Chavez: “I don’t see how we compromise here.”

The 4th District Court of Appeal has yet to rule on the city’s request to strip “Los Angeles” from the Angels’ name pending trial. On its website, the court this week posted a tentative April 7 ruling date, then removed it. The court must rule by June 27.

The Angels made their 2005 home debut on Friday, with public address announcer David Courtney introducing the team as “your Angels,” with no reference to Anaheim or Los Angeles. The opponents were introduced as the “visiting Dodgers,” with scoreboards referring to that team as “LAD” instead of “LA.”

The Angels have asked opponents to use “LA” or “LAA” instead of “ANA” on scoreboard references. As they tuned up their scoreboards several hours before Friday’s game, one briefly listed the home team as “ANA.”

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The Angels are trying to reach an agreement with infielder Lou Merloni in which he would accept a reduced salary if the team demoted him to the minor leagues within the first 45 days of the season. Otherwise his $500,000 salary would be guaranteed if he made the opening-day roster.

Merloni said he “totally understands” the Angels’ situation because the team might need him in Anaheim only until the return of injured third baseman Dallas McPherson in two weeks and wouldn’t want to be stuck with such a heavy tab for a part-time player, but he remains undecided. The Angels must submit their final roster by midnight tonight.

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Infielder David Matranga fulfilled a promise 23 years in the making when he stepped onto the Angel Stadium field for batting practice in an Angel uniform. The Orange High graduate, one of the Angels’ most pleasant surprises of the spring, had told his late father, Dan, he would play for the Angels when he attended a game at Anaheim Stadium as a 5-year-old.

“To just walk in the clubhouse and be a part of this team and see my name on the back of a uniform means a whole lot,” said Matranga, who plays with a picture of his father taped inside his cap. Dan Matranga died of a heart attack in 1998. “I’ve been waiting for this a long time.”

Matranga, who spent his first seven professional seasons in the Houston Astros’ minor league system before signing with the Angels in November, will probably start the season at triple-A Salt Lake. He grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and played second base in the ninth Friday in the Angels’ 8-3 exhibition win over the Dodgers.

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Shortstop Maicer Izturis, who leads the Angels in runs (17) and walks (11), was the recipient of the Fred Haney Award, given to the outstanding rookie of spring training. Izturis, who would move in with half-brother Cesar, the Dodger shortstop, if he made the Angels’ opening-day roster, said through a translator that he would rather be a reserve with the Angels than an everyday player at Salt Lake “because you don’t just get experience playing, you get experience being around” the major league environment. ... Angel shortstop Orlando Cabrera will be held out of the final two games of the Freeway Series because of a bone bruise in his right hand that has bothered him for the last week. Manager Mike Scioscia said Cabrera should return for opening day.

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Ricky Ledee, not rookie Jason Repko, will be the Dodgers’ left fielder Tuesday when they open the season against Jason Schmidt and the San Francisco Giants.

“There’s a right way to handle a young player, in my opinion,” Manager Jim Tracy said. “I don’t know that your first outing necessarily needs to be against Jason Schmidt.”

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Jeff Weaver, who pitches for the Dodgers tonight, said his brother Jered will be watching from the stands. The brothers had a chance to be in opposite dugouts, but Jered Weaver -- the Angels’ first-round draft choice last June -- rejected what General Manager Bill Stoneman called his last, best offer last month. “He still wants things to work out,” Jeff Weaver said.