Sports briefs 11/25/03

Baseball

Right-hander Kelvim Escobar and the Anaheim Angels agreed Monday to a three-year contract.

Escobar, 27, was 13-9 with a 4.29 ERA and four saves in 26 starts and 15 relief appearances for Toronto last season.

Curt Schilling is headed to the Boston Red Sox -- if he waives his no-trade clause with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Boston would give up left-hander Casey Fossum, several baseball officials said on the condition of anonymity. Reliever Brandon Lyon, minor league pitcher Jorge De La Rosa and outfielder Michael Goss also would be moving to Arizona, according to several reports.

College

Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel said Monday he'd like to spend the rest of his coaching career with the school, as he completed a new deal to stay through 2008.

Pinkel, 51, signed the new contract Friday. It begins Jan. 1, 2004 and ends in 2008.

The deal pushes Pinkel's guaranteed salary to a little over $l million a year, with other incentives, not guaranteed, that could net him an additional $457,000.

"I'm committed to this place," Pinkel said on the day his contract was notarized. "A career commitment, if they'll have me that long. I'm not interested in going anywhere else."

Football

Rams defensive end Leonard Little is expected to return to the lineup this week after missing four games with a partially torn pectoral muscle.

Coach Mike Martz said that Little, who leads the team with seven sacks, will get a full load in practice on Wednesday.

Hockey

Mario Lemieux will be out indefinitely because of an injured left hip that already has sidelined him for more than three weeks.

The Pittsburgh Penguins' star center will miss three games this week and possibly many more.

-- From wire reports