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Angels: Hideki Matsui OK but gets a day off anyway

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After playing in the outfield Monday for the first time in nearly two years, Hideki Matsui was a late arrival to camp on Tuesday. Not that it mattered. Matsui was one of many regulars who got the day off from Manager Mike Scioscia.

Matsui, who said he had no pain in his knees Tuesday morning, stayed back to get some treatment from the trainers and to hit in the batting cages, while the Angels drove 45 minutes up the freeway to play the Seattle Mariners. It rained most of the morning in the Phoenix area, leaving the field at Tempe Diablo Stadium unusable, so the Angels who stayed behind hit in the covered batting cages while the travel squad worked out at the Mariners’ complex in Peoria.

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In addition to Matsui, others who didn’t make the trip included outfielder Michael Ryan, who has had an impressive spring. But Ryan collided with shortstop Gary Patchett in Monday’s game with the Dodgers, sustaining a swollen cheek and a deep cut above his left eye. Ryan said he felt fine Tuesday morning.

Erick Aybar, who on Monday played his first game in the field in more than a week, was in the lineup Tuesday but as a designated hitter to give his sore right arm a rest.

Ervin Santana was originally scheduled to start the game, but he was scratched and replaced with right-hander Tommy Mendoza, who was later replaced by right-hander Garrett Richards.

The lineup:

DH - Aybar

SS - Izturis

1B - Morales

RF - Rivera

2B - Kendrick

3B - Wood

C - Mathis

LF - Quinlan

CF - Evans

P - Richards

-- Kevin Baxter in Tempe

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