Guerrero, Guillen Throw a Scare Into Baserunners

The arms race in the American League is not confined to the mound. While pitching will go a long way toward determining who makes the playoffs, the Angels believe their rifles in the outfield -- the arms belonging to Jose Guillen in left and Vladimir Guerrero in right -- will factor into the outcomes of several games.

Guillen has one of baseball’s strongest throwing arms, and he showed it off again Thursday, nailing Seattle’s Randy Winn at the plate as Winn tried to score from second on Bret Boone’s first-inning single.

Guerrero’s arm is just as strong, and he seems to have a gunslinger’s mentality, often throwing behind runners who take wide turns around first or second and sometimes hesitating as he charges the ball in hopes an opponent will run on him.

Both outfielders tend to make mistakes of aggression -- Guillen committed 12 errors in 122 games for Cincinnati and Oakland last season, and Guerrero made seven errors in 112 games for Montreal -- but when harnessed properly, those arms can be valuable weapons.

“When you have an opportunity to shut down guys going from first to third, and you have to get two hits instead of one to score a guy from second, in the long run, it will save us a lot of runs,” shortstop David Eckstein said.

It won’t always show up in the statistics. Guillen had only 13 assists last season, and Guerrero had 10. But baseball does not chart the number of baserunners who hold up because they don’t want to challenge an outfielder.

“If we throw a guy out, great, but the beauty of those arms will be on the preventive side,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “You’re going to see more runners stop at third than are thrown out at the plate.”

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Angel reliever Scot Shields, who walked three and gave up four runs in his first outing of the season Tuesday, rebounded strongly Thursday, retiring all six batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings, striking out three, to gain the victory. ... The Angels’ 25 runs in the first three games were the most they’ve scored in the first three games of a season in the franchise’s 44-year history.

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ON DECK

Opponent -- Texas Rangers, four games.

Site -- The Ballpark in Arlington.

TV -- Fox Sports Net today and Sunday; Channel 9 Saturday and Monday.

Records -- Angels 3-0, Rangers 1-2.

2003 record vs. Rangers -- 9-10.

Today, 11 a.m. PDT --Ramon Ortiz (16-13, 5.20 in 2003) vs. R.A. Dickey (9-8, 5.09 in 2003).

Saturday, 5 p.m. -- John Lackey (10-16, 4.63 in 2003) vs. Kenny Rogers (0-0, 3.86).

Sunday, 1 p.m. -- Bartolo Colon (1-0, 0.00) vs. Chan Ho Park (0-1, 3.52).

Monday, 5 p.m. -- Jarrod Washburn (1-0, 10.13) vs. Colby Lewis (1-0, 1.69).