Scioscia Suggests Mediation

Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said he was “troubled” by talk of another player strike and suggested the owners and players’ union submit their labor dispute to a mediator. That approach failed during the last strike in 1994, when the Clinton administration appointed former Secretary of Labor William Usery as a mediator in a dispute that ultimately required court intervention.

Scioscia pointed out that a stoppage of play would hurt the sport not only in the United States and Canada but all over the world, with baseball’s popularity increasing abroad even as it declines at home.

Major League Baseball generates enormous interest in Asia and Latin America, as native sons increasingly populate the majors. A World Cup of baseball is on the horizon, All-Star game ballots are distributed in English, Spanish and Japanese, and, according to ESPN.com, annual international revenues shared among major league owners have increased from $10 million in 1989 to $80 million today.

“With the kind of interest and worldwide attention and excitement baseball is generating, this is a golden opportunity to expand on that,” Scioscia said.

*

Lou Pote pitched so well last season that the Angels reserved him a spot in their bullpen this season. Good thing for him, because he wouldn’t have made the team off his Cactus League statistics--a 15.00 earned-run average in 12 innings, with opponents batting .426 against him.

The Angels stuck with him, and they’ve been rewarded. He checked out some old video, changed a grip on his split-finger pitch and the results have been terrific: a 1.71 ERA in 21 innings, with opponents batting .134 against him.

TONIGHT

ANGELS’

RAMON ORTIZ

(4-3, 2.63 ERA)

vs.

WHITE SOX’S

GARY GLOVER

(0-0, 3.48 ERA)

Comiskey Park, Chicago, 4 p.m.

Radio--KPLS (830), XPRS (1090).

Update--In his last four starts, Ortiz is 3-1 with a 1.69 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 32 innings. Reliever Donne Wall pitched 12/3 innings and gave up one run in a rehabilitation assignment with triple-A Salt Lake on Friday. He will rejoin the Angels today and could be activated Sunday.