Rodriguez’s Family to Join Him in Houston

The anxiety and frustration of a stress-filled week for reliever Francisco Rodriguez melted away Friday night, his spirits lifted by developments on and off the field.

Before the game, Rodriguez learned that his grandmother, two brothers and a sister had secured visas to travel from Venezuela to Houston for Tuesday’s All-Star game, an upset of sorts considering Rodriguez had little hope his family would join him.

Rodriguez’s dominant performance in the eighth inning Friday night, when he retired the side in order to help the Angels to a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays, made up for Thursday’s three-run, eighth-inning blown save in Chicago. It also made the earlier news even sweeter.

“I can’t wait to get to Houston to see my mom,” Rodriguez said of his grandmother, Isabel, whom he refers to as his mother because she raised him in Venezuela. “I talk to her every day, but that’s not the same as seeing her. I have to thank my agent, the Angels, and the U.S. government. They talked to the [Venezuelan] consulate a lot. I’m going to give her a big hug. I miss her so much. I love her so much.”

Isabel has never seen Rodriquez pitch in the U.S., not even during the 2002 World Series, so Rodriguez will have more than enough motivation if he gets into the game for the American League team.

“That would be great,” he said. “I will do my best. I’ll give 2,000 percent. To know my mom is in the stands watching ... I don’t know how to describe it.”

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Manager Mike Scioscia may keep an eye on the radar gun when Angel pitcher Kelvim Escobar makes his first start against his old team today. Not because he’s concerned the velocity of Escobar’s fastball might be down, but that it might be up.

“Any time you face your old team, you want to pitch to the level that makes them say, ‘God, we wish we still had him,’ ” Scioscia said. “We’ll watch to make sure he doesn’t try to throw 102 mph, and he sticks to what he’s been doing.”

Escobar, who spent 11 years in the Toronto organization, says he has no grudge against the Blue Jays but admits he felt slighted when they signed young pitchers Roy Halladay, Billy Koch and Chris Carpenter -- but not him -- to multiyear deals in 2000. He also believes his development may have been stunted by shuttling between the Toronto rotation and bullpen for five of his six seasons.

Escobar signed a three-year, $18.75-million deal with the Angels last winter, and he has been the Angels’ most consistent starter this season, with a 4-5 record, 3.94 earned-run average and eight quality starts in his last 10 games. And today, he gets a chance to show the Blue Jays what they’re missing.

“I appreciate a lot of the things they did for me there,” Escobar said, “but I always felt when this day comes, I want to show them what I’m capable of doing.”

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The New York Daily News, citing unnamed sources, reported that pitcher Randy Johnson has agreed to waive his no-trade clause so Arizona can deal him to a contender, and a National League source said Friday that he heard the 6-foot-10 left-hander “is on the market.”

But Alan Nero, Johnson’s agent, said Johnson has not asked for a trade, and the Diamondbacks have not approached Johnson about waiving his no-trade clause.

“The rumors are so strong, this thing has taken on a life of its own,” Nero said. “Nothing would surprise me. Things might change. But there’s nothing to report now.”

The Angels, Yankees and Red Sox are among the teams expected to pursue Johnson if he is available, and many believe the Angels, with a surplus of attractive prospects, might be the best match for Arizona.

“Randy has a home in Newport Beach, and the Angels have the deepest farm system in the business, but Randy has to come to grips with, ‘Do I want to be away from home?’ ” Nero said. “And Jerry [Colangelo, Arizona owner] has to determine how he would sell a trade as being best for the organization. Neither of those has happened.”