Mariners left-hander  Erik Bedard has been scratched from his scheduled start today against the Angels due to the same inflammation in his left hip that caused him to miss a start last week.

Angels right-hander John Lackey (strained triceps) threw in the bullpen this morning. The 47-pitch session was his second off a mound since spring training and the first to include breaking balls.

“It was another positive step,” Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher said. “We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves but right now he looks good.”

Other news:

Chris Bootcheck (strained oblique) threw two perfect innings for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga in his first rehab appearance Saturday. Torii Hunter is out of the lineup entirely today after DHing yesterday due to a jammed big toe on his left foot. Juan Rivera gets his first start of the season. Howie Kendrick and his .469 average move up in the lineup.

And a correction from last night — Gary Matthews Jr. wasn’t the second Angel in franchise history to hit into three double plays in the same game, joining Chad Curtis in 1993. They have a third in their group — Jim Fregosi also did it on July 14, 1963 against the Boston Red Sox.

Today’s lineup (vs. Mariners’ fill-in starter Cha Seung Baek):

3B Chone Figgins

CF Gary Matthews Jr.

RF Vladimir Guerrero

LF Garret Anderson

2B Howie Kendrick

1B Casey Kotchman

DH Juan Rivera

C  Jeff Mathis

SS Erick Aybar

P Joe Saunders

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 12:17 pm and is filed under Angels, Casey Kotchman, Chone Figgins, Garret Anderson, Gary Matthews Jr., Howie Kendrick, Jeff Mathis, Joe Saunders, John Lackey, Starting Lineup, Torii Hunter, Vladimir Guerrero. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.