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Cabrera, Tavarez make it personal

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Times Staff Writer

BOSTON -- The way Orlando Cabrera tells it, Julian Tavarez believes his own shortstop cheats.

After Tavarez hit the Angels’ shortstop with a pitch in the third inning Sunday, Cabrera gestured and yelled toward the Boston pitcher. Benches cleared, but no punches were thrown, and order was quickly restored.

Cabrera said he believed Tavarez was throwing at him intentionally. When the Angels and Red Sox played in Anaheim earlier this month, Tavarez lectured Cabrera about stealing signs.

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Tavarez said he told Cabrera not to peek at where the catcher set up. Cabrera said Tavarez told him not to steal signs when on second base and flash them to Vladimir Guerrero and Garret Anderson.

“I said, no, I don’t do that,” Cabrera said. “He said, ‘You’re like [Boston shortstop] Julio Lugo. You like to give signs. If Lugo played for another team, I would have hit him.’

“So it didn’t take much to know he was going to hit me. I thought it was intentional. I said, ‘Are you satisfied now?’ ”

Said Tavarez, in a stream-of-consciousness confirmation and denial: “The only thing I said to him in Anaheim was, ‘Don’t look at the location, because if you do it, you’re not doing the right thing. I will hit you if you keep on doing it.’

“He said he’s not doing it. I said OK. So I think it was stupid for him, trying to think that I hit him on purpose.”

Tavarez said that, after hitting Cabrera and hearing from him, “I said, ‘Instead of walking to first base, why don’t you just come out here so we can finish this?’ ”

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Said Cabrera: “If I would have done that, he probably would have tried to hit me again.”

Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said Tavarez was “out of line.”

“We are not stealing signs,” Scioscia said. “If we are, change your signs.”

Scioscia firmly rejected any thought that the Angels -- or pitcher Jered Weaver, in particular -- would retaliate against Boston’s David Ortiz for his antics after his grand slam Saturday. Before Ortiz started to trot around the bases, he flipped his bat and lingered to admire his shot, prompting a long stare from Weaver.

“I’ll remember it the next time we play them, that’s for sure,” Weaver said after the game. “I’m not saying anything is going to happen, but it’s definitely in the back of your mind.”

Said Scioscia on Sunday: “He’s going to remember, first of all, to make a little better pitch. I didn’t take it [Weaver’s comment] along the lines of any retaliation. There won’t be. That’s not what we’re about.”

Scioscia said hitters watching their home runs and pitchers pumping their fists after strikeouts are simply part of the game these days.

“People express themselves differently on the baseball field,” he said. “You can’t get caught up too much with that.”

Infielder Erick Aybar suffered a strained left hamstring and will be evaluated today. Scioscia said the Angels would probably activate second baseman Howie Kendrick today, regardless of whether Aybar goes on the disabled list. . . . First baseman Kendry Morales, who figures to be among the Angels’ September call-ups, is on a tear at triple-A Salt Lake. In a six-game stretch through Friday, he hit three home runs and drove in 14 runs. He’s hitting .429 since the All-Star break, with 12 extra-base hits and eight strikeouts in 21 games.

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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