ANGELS TAKE HITS, THEN RALLY GUERRERO PLUNKED, THEN HITS 3-RUN HR IN VICTORY ANGELS 9, TEXAS 7.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA Staff Writer

ARLINGTON, Texas -- With this much bad blood brewing, the American League West might just need a transfusion.

The latest incident came Tuesday as Vladimir Guerrero was hit by a Vicente Padilla pitch in the third inning, nearly was hit by another in the fourth and then delivered a three-run home run in the Angels' 9-7 come- from-behind victory over the Texas Rangers.

Two batters after Guerrero went deep, Juan Rivera was plunked by a Padilla pitch, and the Rangers' right-hander was ejected.

It was the second consecutive game between the teams that a Rangers starter was ejected after Adam Eaton was tossed Aug. 6 when he threw behind Rivera in a game at Anaheim.

The Angels already have gotten into it with the Oakland Athletics when Jason Kendall charged John Lackey in a May 2 game.

It nearly came to another incident in the eighth inning when Rangers reliever Wes Littleton threw up and in to Guerrero. The Angels slugger stared down Littleton and Angels players shouted toward the mound from the dugout.

``I don't know what message those guys are trying to send, but it's happened a couple of times,'' manager Mike Scioscia said. ``I hope the league takes appropriate action.''

Guerrero would be an obvious target. He now has a hit in 45 of the 46 games he has played against the Rangers in his career and is batting .442 against them with an .818 slugging percentage.

Padilla would be the obvious Rangers pitcher to throw at somebody. He now leads the American League by hitting 14 batters and was tossed out of a game earlier this season for hitting the Chicago White Sox's A.J. Pierzynski twice.

Scioscia was asked if he thought a suspension was in order for Padilla.

``It's warranted,'' he said.

Angels starter Ervin Santana did not retaliate in his five innings and neither did any of the four Angels relievers that followed.

But the Rangers didn't seem to be on the same page with their pitcher.

Padilla doesn't speak to the media, and no Rangers players were willing to speak for him.

``I just hope it doesn't reflect poorly on us,'' the Rangers' Mark Teixeira said. ``It's going to look bad publicly. I can't speculate on what he was thinking.''

Rangers manager Buck Showalter tried to sidestep the issue.

``One of the reasons (Padilla) has been successful is that he pitches inside and he will continue to do so,'' he said.

Scioscia reiterated that the Angels do not play the retaliation game, so Adam Kennedy was asked if an Angels pitcher should have come inside.

``Not tonight,'' Kennedy said, leaving the door open for future retaliation.

``It's not something we do as a team but Vlad is our guy and we love him. Somebody might have that on their mind, who knows?''

It was a typical Ameriquest Field game with runs coming in bunches. The Rangers led 3-0 after twoinnings and the Angels cut it to 3-2in the third.

A Maicer Izturis RBI single in the fourth tied it before Guerrero dusted himself off and hit his three-run homer that gave the Angels a 6-3 lead.

``They can continue to make Vlad mad all they want,'' Kennedy said. ``It will only benefit us. If they think they are sending a message that's wrong thought process.''

Home runs from Hank Blalock, Michael Young and Rod Barajas put the Rangers up 7-6 through seveninnings.

In the eighth, Reggie Willits followed a one-out Jose Molina single with a double. Chone Figgins then delivered a two-run triple.

``If you're going to battle the Rangers at their park, you're going to have to score some runs,'' Scioscia said. ``We got behind but we kept playing. It was a big (home run) from Vlad to put us in the lead and the bullpen did their job.''

Santana, who was pitching fivedays after he was drilled in the left knee by a line drive at Cleveland, was shaky throughout. He gave up six runs on seven hits in five innings and allowed threehome runs.

J.C. Romero pitched a scoreless sixth, Hector Carrasco gave up a run in the seventh, Scot Shields gave up two hits but no runs in the eighth and Francisco Rodriguez closed out the ninth for his 31stsave. Carrasco (3-3) earned the victory.

Despite a sore foot, Molina extended his hitting streak to a career-high 12 games. Guerrero extended his hit streak at Texas to 23 games. After missing three games with a tight lower back, Garret Anderson went 1 for 4 with an RBI and is batting .304 this month.

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1) Chone Figgins connects for a two-run triple off Texas reliever Wes Littleton in the eighth inning of the Angels' victory Tuesday.

Linda Kaye/Associated Press

(2) Ervin Santana tags out Texas' Gary Matthews Jr., after Matthews was picked off trying to steal second.

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Box:

ANGELS at TEXAS

- Doug Padilla