ANGELS / THE WEEK AHEAD

TODAY-THURSDAY

AT CHICAGO

* Schedule: 5 tonight; 5 p.m. Wednesday; 11 a.m. Thursday. * Television: KCAL tonight; WGN Thursday.

* Radio: KLAC (570 AM), XPRS (1090 AM), all three games.

* Pitching matchups: Steve Sparks (5-9, 4.90 ERA) vs. Jaime Navarro (7-10, 6.02) tonight; Tim Belcher (5-7, 6.91) vs. James Baldwin (6-11, 5.04) Wednesday; Ramon Ortiz (major league debut) vs. Jim Parque (9-8, 4.33) Thursday.

* Last series: Chicago split four games with the Angels in Anaheim in early May. In the last game of that series, an 8-1 Angel loss, Tim Salmon injured his left wrist diving for a ball and missed 62 games.

* About the White Sox: The White Sox are in second place in the Central Division but are are 17 games behind Cleveland, which is on its way to a fifth consecutive division title. The White Sox are fresh off a series in which they won three of four against the Texas Rangers, including a doubleheader sweep Saturday. Frank Thomas, Chicago’s mainstay at first base, said recently that he no longer wants to play the position and is content being a designated hitter.

FRIDAY-MONDAY

VS. DETROIT

* Schedule: 7 p.m. Friday; 7 p.m. Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday; 7 p.m. Monday.

* Television: Fox Sports West Friday and Saturday; KCAL Monday.

* Radio: KLAC (570 AM), XPRS (1090 AM), all three games.

* Last series: The Angels broke out of their year-long hitting slump to score 24 runs and take two of three games in Detroit last weekend. It was encouraging, but not terribly impressive, considering the Tigers have the worst record in the major leagues.

* About the Tigers: Entering the season, Detroit had high hopes for a wild-card spot because of its talented young team led by new manager Larry Parrish. But with less than two months remaining, speculation in the Detroit papers has Parrish on the hot seat. Justin Thompson, one of the Tigers’ top pitching prospect when the season started, has been replaced in the rotation by Willie Blair. Thompson was hit hard in the Tigers’ 10-2 loss to the Angels on Sunday and has a 9.92 ERA in his last four starts.