VLAD MESSING WITH TEXAS CONTINUES TO OWN RANGERS, HOMERS AND DRIVES IN 3.

Byline: DOUG PADILLA 

Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- Vladimir Guerrero's wake-up call for the season arrived Tuesday in the form of a first-inning pitch under his left elbow.

Why anybody on the Texas Rangers pitching staff would want to light a fire under a tank of rocket fuel is anybody's guess.

Rangers starter Vicente Padilla tried it, though, and Guerrero responded with fourhits and three RBIs in the Angels' 8-3 victory. This would be the same Padilla who hit Guerrero with a pitch last season and nearly hit him with another in the same game. How many bad ideas can one pitcher have?

Already the Rangers' worst nightmare, Guerrero simply added to some eye-popping numbers against Texas. Guerrero is now batting .440 in his career against the Rangers.

In the first inning he followed Padilla's brush-back pitch with an RBI single. In the third, Guerrero smacked a solo home run to left. In the fifth, there was another high and tight pitch that had Guerrero ducking for cover. The response to that one was another RBI single to left.

After an intentional walk in the sixth inning, the most sensible Rangers pitching move of the night, Guerrero closed out his evening with an eighth- inning single to center. The four hits matched a career high -- Guerrero has now done it 20times.

"There is some history there, but you'd like to give the guy the benefit of the doubt," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "A lot of teams will try to pitch Vlad in, but we're here to play baseball. We won't spend time wondering what's going on. I don't think there was a lot of thought given to it."

Angels starter Kelvim Escobar sure appreciated Padilla's move, since it ended up getting him some run support in the the form of Guerrero's RBIs.

"For some reason (Padilla) always goes up there against Vlady," Escobar said. "I don't know what it is. It's kind of weird because he's usually a guy who has good control. I don't know what he's trying to do. The good thing is we won the game and Vlady took him deep."

Poor Rangers defense also helped the cause, although the Angels made a miscue of their own when an error by Howie Kendrick allowed a run to score.

After a 17-minute delay at the outset as the Angels honored the retired Tim Salmon in an on-field ceremony, they scored two runs in the first inning and a Rangers error played a key role.

Guerrero drove in the first run of the game with a single to left, advancing Orlando Cabrera to second. Garret Anderson then bounced into a seemingly certain 3-6-1 double play, but Padilla couldn't handle the throw at first base allowing Cabrera to score.

The Rangers cut the lead to 2-1 in the third inning with Ian Kinsler's second home run in two games. Guerrero answered right back with a third- inning home run of his own.

In the fifth inning, Escobar looked like he would avoid any trouble when Michael Young grounded to Kendrick's left with two outs and a runner on third base. As Kendrick got to the ball, it kicked off his glove, allowing Kinsler to score.

[e-mail]

[phone], Ext. 2731

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Center fielder Gary Matthews Jr. scores the Angels' first run Tuesday on a single by Vladimir Guerrero in the first inning.

Francis Specker/Associated Press