Scioscia given two-year contract extension

Scioscia given two-year contract extension
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- The Anaheim Angels gave Mike Scioscia a two-year contract extension Saturday, just three days after the World Series champions rewarded general manager Bill Stoneman with a four-year extension.
Scioscia's deal, which locks up last year's AL manager of the year through 2007, comes with a one-year club option. In his fourth season with the Angels, Scioscia already has managed the club for more consecutive seasons than anyone since Bill Rigney -- who held the reins through their first eight seasons and was replaced by Lefty Phillips 39 games into the 1969 campaign.
Entering Saturday's game against Minnesota, the Angels were 303-273 under Scioscia -- including a franchise-best 99 wins last season, when they won their first AL pennant and World Series title. The only season of managerial experience the former two-time All-Star catcher brought to Anaheim was one season with the Los Angeles Dodgers' Albuquerque farm club in 1999.
Anaheim entered Saturday in third place in the AL West, 9 1/2 games behind Seattle, but the team had won 10 of 14. A couple of recent decisions by Scioscia demonstrated that he was still on top of his game. He limited struggling right-hander Aaron Sele to five innings per start, and the two-time All-Star responded by allowing one run in 15 innings and winning all three outings.
Wednesday night, Scioscia replaced right fielder Tim Salmon with Eric Owens in the ninth for defensive reasons -- and watched Owens throw out Jarrod Patterson at second base for a double play after Patterson tagged up on a fly to the warning track. On Friday night, Scioscia gave Salmon the green light on a 3-0 pitch and was rewarded with a two-run homer.