Guillen Might Take the Fifth
Manager Mike Scioscia hasn’t decided how to align Jose Guillen, Troy Glaus and Tim Salmon in the fifth through seventh spots, but Guillen is making a strong case to hit fifth behind cleanup batter Garret Anderson.
Guillen, 27, continued his torrid spring Sunday by hitting a towering seventh-inning home run against Kansas City reliever Jamie Cerda, a drive that cleared a second fence about 50 feet beyond the left-field wall in Tempe Diablo Stadium.
He also made a strong throw from medium center field to cut down the speedy Carlos Beltran, who was trying to tag and score on a fly ball in the third inning of the Royals’ 3-2 exhibition victory. Guillen is batting .367 (11 for 30) with a team-leading five home runs and 10 runs batted in despite sitting out five games last week because of a rib-cage injury.
“He has incredible hands, he can stay inside [on pitches] and work the right side of the field, and that’s important in RBI situations,” Scioscia said. “He’ll be productive, no doubt about it....
“But I don’t see it as a competition [for who bats fifth]. I see it as having three guys who, however they line up, are going to be strong....Our club is so deep, you’re going to see a guy hitting seventh who could hit third or fourth in another lineup.”
Guillen doesn’t care where he bats, as long as he’s in the lineup. Playing for his fifth team in four years, Guillen has criticized previous managers for pulling him from the lineup unexpectedly or not giving him enough playing time. But Guillen, the Angel left-field job secured, has been practically giddy all spring.
“Hopefully this is the beginning of my new career and things will work out the right way,” Guillen said. “This is where I’ve been the most happy in spring. It’s a great group of guys, I’m really having fun, and I’m really looking forward to the season.”
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Three innings into his first game since the March 5 Cactus League opener, catcher Bengie Molina, sidelined because of sore hamstrings, was having flashbacks. Beltran was tagging, Guillen’s throw was high, and Molina feared a repeat of the Sept. 3 collision with Minnesota’s Dustan Mohr that broke his left wrist and ended his 2003 season.
“All I was thinking was I’m gonna get run over,” Molina said. “I said, ‘Be ready, go down, block the plate, and whatever happens, happens.’ It’s a good thing the throw was high, because the runner usually goes down and slides.”
Beltran did slide, there was no collision, and Molina caught all four innings of Bartolo Colon’s start, in which the right-hander gave up a three-run home run to Mike Sweeney in the first but looked sharp the rest of the way.
“My legs felt great,” Molina said. “I could have gone more, but they don’t want to push anything.... I was very happy to be in the game, not only for me but hopefully for the team, so the pitching staff can get used to me again.”
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Scioscia said reliever Brendan Donnelly, who had a second surgery Saturday on his broken nose and is questionable for the start of the season, was resting in Scottsdale Memorial Hospital and could be released today.
Donnelly was having persistent nosebleeds, and in Saturday’s procedure, the blood vessels in his nose were cauterized.
Said Scioscia, he of the prominent proboscis: “I’m just jealous he got a nose job and I didn’t.”
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Pitcher Kelvim Escobar is expected to return Tuesday after leaving the team Friday to travel to his native Venezuela, where, according to agent Peter Greenberg, his mother suffered minor injuries in an automobile accident last week.... Utility player Chone Figgins left the team to attend his grandfather’s funeral in Tampa and is expected back by Tuesday.... The Angels reassigned pitchers Dusty Bergman and Pete Zamora, infielders Casey Kotchman and Brian Specht and catcher Tom Gregorio to minor league camp, bringing the number of players in major league camp to 35.
