BASEBALL: DAILY REPORT : ANGELS : Finley Scheduled to Skip His First Turn

Chuck Finley will skip his first scheduled pitching turn in order to give his still-sore left big toe additional time to heal. Finley, who underwent off-season surgery on that toe, was scheduled to start Friday but he hyperextended the toe in last Sunday’s Freeway Series finale.

Manager Buck Rodgers said Tuesday he can’t pick a replacement until he sees how much work is required of his relievers in the first four games of the season. His top candidates are Scott Lewis, Scott Bailes and Chuck Crim.

Matt Keough had hoped to be in uniform for opening night at Anaheim Stadium. But after undergoing surgery March 16 to remove a blood clot from his brain, being able to throw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday was an accomplishment in itself.

Keough, who was applauded warmly by the crowd as he strode to the mound, threw a high, looping pitch to catcher Mike Fitzgerald. The two embraced on the mound after Fitzgerald made the catch.

“I obviously would have liked this to be under different circumstances,” said Keough, who was hit on the right side of his head by a line drive while he sat in the visitors’ dugout at Scottsdale Stadium. “But I don’t think (former A’s owner) Charlie Finley would have asked me to do this (if Keough were still with the A’s)--he would have asked me to pull the tarp on the field after the game.”

The Angels reached agreement with a pitcher and two infielders from the Commonwealth of Independent States after a trip by Bob Fontaine, the club’s director of scouting. Siberian-born Rudolf Razhigaev, 23, who played at Moscow State, reached a firm agreement with the Angels. Tentative agreements were reached with infielders Ilya Bogatyrev, 21, and Yevgeny Puchkof, 21, of the Moscow Mendelayer Institute team. All three are expected to report to to Angels’ rookie league team in Mesa, Ariz., in July.