Glaus to Bat Fifth, Guillen to Follow

TEMPE, Ariz. —  Manager Mike Scioscia has not settled on a fifth starter for his rotation, but he has decided who will fill the all-important fifth spot in the batting order: Troy Glaus. Jose Guillen will hit sixth and Tim Salmon will bat seventh.

Guillen has been the Angels’ hottest hitter this spring, with a .389 average, six home runs and 15 runs batted in. But Glaus, who was limited to 91 games because of a shoulder injury in 2003, has a better career on-base percentage (.357) than Guillen (.315) and is considered a better baserunner.

Glaus, who will hit behind Vladimir Guerrero and cleanup batter Garret Anderson, averaged 106 runs a year from 2000-02; Guillen has never scored more than 77 runs in a big league season. Glaus also averaged 102 walks a year from 2000 to ‘02; Guillen has 120 walks in his 6 1/2-year big league career.

“We want to get Troy into a spot where he can be a table-setter and a run-producer,” Scioscia said. “He takes his walks, he knocks in runs, and he runs the bases well. Plus, we’ll have two good bats behind him.”

Most important, Glaus’ considerable power -- he averaged 39 home runs from 2000-02 -- should deter opponents from pitching around Anderson.

“I’ve never been a guy who needs a big guy hitting behind me to be successful,” Anderson said. “It’s more so they don’t walk me. If they want to pitch around me, they’ll walk me, but I can’t do anything about those intentional walks. Those are situations when you need someone hitting behind you.”

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The Angels have no shortage of rotation candidates, but the quality of their starting pitchers has not matched their quantity.

Every starter except Jarrod Washburn has struggled at times this spring, and John Lackey had another rocky outing Friday in a 9-8 exhibition victory over the San Diego Padres, giving up five runs on five hits in four innings, including Ryan Klesko’s three-run homer in the first.

Lackey gave up two more runs in the second inning and has a 9.53 earned-run average in five spring starts, but he was at least encouraged by an adjustment he made after the second. The right-hander retired six of seven batters in the third and fourth innings.

“I picked up the tempo of my delivery, got my hand out of my glove and my arm moving quicker -- Bud [Black, Angel pitching coach] noticed that,” Lackey said. “You don’t want to give up runs, but I felt I made a good adjustment.”

Said Scioscia: “It’s a concern if no adjustments are made and a guy continues to struggle, but John made some adjustments, and that will lead to outs.”

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Considered a lock for a bullpen spot after throwing 13 innings without giving up an earned run in September, Derrick Turnbow was reassigned to minor league camp Friday.

After throwing a scoreless eighth inning Thursday night against Kansas City, Turnbow blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, and the hard-throwing right-hander had an 8.00 ERA in nine spring innings.

“He was good in the eighth, but he was totally overthrowing in the ninth,” Scioscia said. “He hasn’t found his release point and rhythm. His arm, without question, is major league, but he has some things he needs to improve on to become a major league pitcher.”

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Shortstop Alfredo Amezaga had three hits, two runs and two RBIs, Anderson knocked in three runs and Shane Halter and Rob Quinlan each had two hits and an RBI on Friday. Reserve catcher Josh Paul hit a tie-breaking RBI double with one out in the ninth for the victory.... Seattle has chosen its starters for the season-opening series against the Angels at Safeco Field on April 6-8. Jamie Moyer, Joel Pineiro and Freddy Garcia will pitch for the Mariners. Scioscia has not named his opening-day starter, but it is expected to be Bartolo Colon.