ANGELS, SEATTLE BRAWL : SEATTLE 8, ANGELS 5.

Byline: Fred J. Robledo

Ken Griffey Jr. didn't give the Angels the finger - he gave them the pointed-bat instead before an old-fashioned middle-of-April brawl broke out Sunday at Edison Field.

When it was over - after three Angels and Griffey were tattooed by pitches - the Mariners defeated the Angels for the second consecutive night 8-5 in front of 37,465 to take two of the three in the weekend series.

The melee started in the third inning when Griffey was hit in the back with a two-out, bases-empty fastball from Angels starter Steve Sparks. As Griffey walked to first, he pointed his bat toward the Angels dugout - as if to signal this was far from over. Edgar Martinez followed with a double to right and Jay Buhner knocked a two-run homer to give Seattle a 5-2 lead.

Then it was the Mariners turn to plunk.

Troy Glaus led off the fourth inning with a solo homer to left-center off Seattle starter Brett Hinchliffe. The next pitch, Hinchliffe nailed Todd Greene on the left elbow. Green charged Hinchliffe as if he were trying out for the NFL draft, and both dugouts and bullpens met at the mound to settle matters for the next 10 minutes.

Because Greene charged the mound so quickly, it took some time for his teammates to help him.

``With those screens they put up (by the dugout as the result of Mo Vaughn's injury opening day) all my players had to run around it to get me some help,'' Greene said. ``But I got there pretty fast. . . .''

Greene didn't think Hinchliffe's throw was the result of Griffey's taunting an inning earlier.

``I saw what he (Griffey) did, but if they wanted to retaliate for hitting Junior, they would have done it that same inning,'' Greene said.

When it was over, Greene and Hinchliffe were both tossed along with Angels pitcher Tim Belcher, who had no idea why he was ejected.

``I don't want to talk about it,'' said Belcher. ``I didn't get an explanation.''

Angels manager Terry Collins and Griffey had a few words during the altercation.

``That's between him and I. I told him it was a nice day at the park,'' Collins said sarcastically.

Greene said ever since Glaus and Orlando Palmeiro were hit by Seattle starter Jamie Moyer on Friday, tensions have been tight.

After Glaus smacked that homer and he was hit by Hinchliffe, Greene said he had no choice but to test his right cross.

``If they're going to hit people, you got to understand we're going to hit you back,'' said Greene. ``I don't know what he (Hinchliffe) was thinking, but in my opinion it was on purpose and you have to let them know enough is enough. Whether it serves a purpose or not, I don't know, but I'm not going to take it.

``It wasn't like Troy tried to pimp that home run. He ran around the bases like you're supposed to.''

With a 5-3 lead, Seattle struck again in the fifth. Martinez hit his second double of the night to score Griffey from second. The Mariners added another run before the inning was over to take a 7-3 lead.

Palmeiro was hit with a curveball to lead off the fifth inning for the Angels. Randy Velarde followed with a double down the left-field line to score Palmeiro; Valerde reaching third on the play at the plate. Darin Erstad walked (runners on the corners), then Tim Salmon singled to center, scoring Velarde, cutting Seattle's lead to 7-5, but that was as close as the Angels would come.

Ken Claude (1-1) picked up the victory for Seattle. Sparks (0-3) suffered the loss for the Angels.

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Photo

PHOTO The Angels' Randy Velarde upsets Seattle's Domingo Cedeno but is out on a fielder's choice.

Tammy Lechner/Associated Press