ANGELS NOTEBOOK: ESCOBAR WON'T LET UP.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA  Staff Writer

CLEVELAND -- Kelvim Escobar's biggest challenge tonight, as he takes the mound for the first time since signing a lucrative extension, might just be his battle against complacency.

Escobar came out of spring training wanting to show the Angels he was worth more than the two-year, $15 million offer they extended him during camp. So he knuckled down this season and, despite a cracked fingernail and blister, had a 3.96 ERA through 10 starts.

So what will motivate Escobar now that he got the three-year, $28.5 million deal he was looking for?

``I'm the type of guy that, first of all, has a lot of pride,'' Escobar said. ``I want to be the best. I want to continue to work even harder to stay healthy and go out there every five days and try to take this team to a championship.

``I want to go out there and show them that I'm worth it, that I can pitch.

--Back in the swing: Kendry Morales snapped on 0-for-15 slide in the sixth inning when he connected on a single against Indians reliever Guillermo Mota. In recent games he has looked nothing like the hitter who had three three-hit games right after being recalled from the minors.

``It's always a game of adjustments,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``I think Kendry is starting to make adjustments. He just missed some pitches the other day.

``There were reports on him before he got to the big leagues. Once you start playing here in the big leagues those reports become more specific. As a league they'll start to do some things to see if you can handle stuff. As a player you have to adjust.''

--Injury update: Darin Erstad and Maicer Izturis, who both are rehabbing at Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, will be evaluated next week to see if they are ready to return to the major-league club.

Izturis' rehab from a strained left hamstring already is a week old.

``There is one thing about feeling good and you're ready to go, and there's another thing called baseball shape that is a different animal,'' Scioscia said. ``You start to play and there are things you haven't done in a month to six weeks and he's going to feel some muscles he hasn't felt in a while.''

--Date set: The Angels' makeup game with the Chicago White Sox was made official for Aug. 7. The game originally was scheduled for May 11 at U.S. Cellular Field but was rained out.