Guillen Expected to Sit if Reinstated

Even if an arbitrator were to rule Friday that the Angels had to reinstate suspended left fielder Jose Guillen immediately, Guillen is not expected to play again for the team this season.

“They can reinstate his standing with the club,” Manager Mike Scioscia said Tuesday, “but I know they can’t force us to put him in the lineup.”

The Major League Players Assn. filed a grievance on behalf of Guillen, who was suspended for the rest of the season without pay for his petulant reaction to being pulled for a pinch-runner Saturday. A hearing is scheduled Friday in Oakland, and the union will ask for a quick decision.

Scioscia hedged when asked if he would play Guillen if the suspension were overturned.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Scioscia said. “Right now, our focus is in a different direction with the club. We won’t make any determination now.”

Most players said they would welcome Guillen back as a teammate -- he was hitting .294 with 27 home runs and 104 runs batted in -- but that he would have to change his attitude.

“If he’s ready to put the team first, and Mike and the staff are willing to have him back, we, as players, will welcome him back,” pitcher Jarrod Washburn said. “But if he didn’t realize it before, it should be loud and clear to him now: The team comes first. That’s the bottom line.”

*

Closer Troy Percival escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam to save Monday night’s 5-3 victory over the Rangers, only the second time this season the veteran right-hander had pitched three consecutive days.

Scioscia said “something extreme” would have to happen for him to use Percival on Tuesday night, but Percival, whose workload has been limited since he returned from the disabled list in late July, was ready.

“I told him I’m fine,” Percival said before the game. “If it’s a one-run game, and he needs [Brendan] Donnelly and Frankie [Rodriguez] in the seventh and eighth inning, throw me out there. I’ve got nothing to save for. I can drive my boat left-handed.”

*

Tickets for a potential one-game playoff between the Angels and A’s to determine the American League West championship will go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. and will be available through the team’s website, www.angelsbaseball.com, Ticketmaster phone lines, (714) 663-9000, or any Ticketmaster center. The game would be played Monday in Angel Stadium, probably at 1 p.m.

If the Angels, A’s and Rangers finished in a three-way tie for first -- a long-shot, but possible -- the team with the best composite head-to-head record (Oakland) could choose to either host two one-game playoffs or go on the road to play the winner of an Angel-Ranger game, which would be played in Texas.