Arm injury could sideline Guerrero for three games

The Angels have survived -- even thrived -- this season despite injuries to Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar, Jered Weaver, Garret Anderson, Chone Figgins, Juan Rivera, Howie Kendrick, Mike Napoli, Maicer Izturis, Justin Speier and Erick Aybar, some of whom were sidelined for months.

So, what’s a few days without Vladimir Guerrero?

The Angels will find out after Guerrero was scratched Thursday night because of an inflamed right triceps, an injury that could sideline the right fielder for two or three games and could relegate him to designated hitter for a week or so.

“It’s just a little tightness -- he’ll probably need a day or two to calm it down,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “This is relatively minor. It should clear up in a couple of days, where he should at least be able to swing the bat. There’s a lot of baseball left. It makes sense to calm this down rather than play through it.”

Guerrero, who is batting .326 with a team-leading 22 home runs and 110 runs batted in, came down with a sore arm from throwing earlier this week, and it flared up to the point where the slugger cut his batting-practice session short Thursday.

Guerrero is among the toughest players in baseball -- he missed only two games after being hit on the right wrist by a 95-mph Josh Beckett fastball April 16 -- so for him to put down his bat and head for the training room, he had to be in some pain.

But an X-ray showed no major abnormalities, and the Angels are confident that the one player many believe they cannot afford to lose will not be gone for long.

“How our lineup changes depends on how long he’s out,” shortstop Orlando Cabrera said. “Hopefully, it won’t be too long. We’ve got [an eight-game] lead over Seattle, so if he needs some days, he can get them.”

Guerrero has started all but five of the Angels’ 140 games. Reggie Willits replaced him in right field and hit ninth Thursday. Scioscia moved cleanup batter Garret Anderson into Guerrero’s third spot and DH Kendry Morales into the cleanup spot.

Both times Colon came off the disabled list last season and this season, the right-hander was inserted directly into the rotation no matter how good his replacements -- Weaver in 2006 and Joe Saunders this year -- were pitching.

Not this time. Colon completed a three-start minor league rehabilitation stint for triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday, but Scioscia said his rotation of Escobar, John Lackey, Weaver, Saunders and Ervin Santana would remain intact for the time being.

“We’re going to get through the weekend, see how Bart comes out of it, see where our pitching is and evaluate things Monday,” Scioscia said. “Certainly, he’s going to add some depth to the rotation . . . but when he’s going to pitch is undetermined.”

The New York Times reported Thursday that investigator George Mitchell wants to speak with 45 current and former players about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

If Angels center fielder Gary Matthews Jr., who allegedly was sent a shipment of human growth hormone 3 1/2 years ago, is on Mitchell’s list, that would be news to him.

“I haven’t heard anything from [Mitchell], and I don’t know if my agent has,” Matthews said. “It’s not something I’ve discussed or thought about. My job right now is to play baseball.”--

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com