ANAHEIM -- The toughest pitcher for the Angels to figure this season is John Lackey, but their confidence in the big right-hander is holding firm so he'll keep getting the ball as he works through a rough start.
Lackey has been the model of inconsistency during his two-plus seasons with the Angels, looking brilliant in one outing and ordinary in the next. A curious problem has arisen this season as Lackey has shown that tendency within the same outing.
In his first start, Lackey needed just 49 pitches to get through four hitless innings, but he fell apart in the fifth when he threw 48 pitches and still didn't escape the frame. Last Sunday in Oakland, Lackey struggled early, and then put up some zeroes for three innings before hitting the wall again.