A SPECIAL REPORT: BASEBALL

PLAY BALL: With the exhibition Freeway Series out of the way (C3), baseball begins for real this week with a different look. The Angels open Tuesday at Minnesota, but the teams are no longer American League West rivals. . . . Realignment has pushed the Twins, who have won two of the past seven World Series, to the new AL Central. “I’m not going to miss those guys,” said Mark Langston, the Angels’ opening night pitcher. “They were dangerous. You never knew when they were going to have a great year.”

STAR QUALITY: When he was still with the Kansas City Royals, new Angel outfielder Bo Jackson was clowning around before a game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Jackson, who bats right-handed, told Twins All-Star Kirby Puckett he could hit from the other side. Puckett didn’t believe him. . . . So Jackson turned around and hit a batting-practice pitch 450 feet into the stands left-handed and had a new fan. “You’re my idol,” Puckett said. Jackson has been less successful in games there, with just a .184 average and four home runs in 87 at-bats.

SHOW TIME: Credit patience or a change of scenery, but Westminster High graduate Ryan Klesko has finally earned a spot with the Atlanta Braves after five seasons of trying. The former first baseman will share left field with two other rookies, including former Los Alamitos standout Mike Kelly. . . . “It’s a new challenge for me,” said Klesko, 22. He has been in the minor leagues since the Braves drafted him in 1989.

ACTION! Infielder Kevin Elster’s comeback was stalled last week when he was released by the San Diego Padres. But Elster, who played for Marina High and Golden West College in Huntington Beach and then the New York Mets before shoulder surgery in 1992, might have a career alternative. . . . He recently had a role in “Little, Big Leagues,” an upcoming film about a kid who inherits a team and names himself manager. “I had to read for the part and then go back and read for it again,” Elster said. “That was more pressure than anything I’ve ever experienced in baseball.”