The surge continues for Angels’ Guerrero

And, in Anaheim, there is Vladdy being Vladdy.

The Dodgers got Manny Ramirez. The Angels got Mark Teixeira. But Guerrero served notice Wednesday that the best player in the Southland might be the one who did not change teams at the trading deadline.

Guerrero hit a home run and drove in four runs, leading the Angels to a 9-4 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The Angels got a big bat in Teixeira, but Guerrero remains their biggest bat.

“The guy is a Hall of Famer,” Torii Hunter said. “Other pitchers and other teams know that.

“Vladdy can get on base any time he wants to. They’re not going to give him anything to hit. He can swing and get you anyway.”

That makes him the opposite of Teixeira, who is an extremely disciplined hitter, and provides the Angels a formidable 1-2 punch in the middle of their lineup. Teixeira hits his home runs but takes his walks too. He got on base ahead of Guerrero three times Wednesday -- on a single, double and walk -- and he scored every time.

“If you’re hitting ahead of him, it’s a good spot,” Manager Mike Scioscia said of Teixeira. “If you’re hitting behind him, it’s a good spot.

“Not only is he a presence in the middle of the lineup, he sets the table well. The guy gets on base a lot.”

That won’t mean much for the Angels if Guerrero doesn’t get the guy home. In the eight games since Teixeira showed up, Guerrero is batting .333, with three home runs and 10 runs batted in.

But his surge started long before Teixeira got here. Since June 1, Guerrero is batting .330, with 13 home runs and 36 runs batted in.

Guerrero did not make the All-Star team this season, for the first time since 1998, save for an injury-interrupted 2003 season. On May 18, he was batting .259 with four home runs, and his streak of consecutive seasons batting .300 with 25 home runs appeared to be in danger.

Yet he now appears poised to extend that streak to 11 seasons, which would tie him with Lou Gehrig for the major league record. Guerrero hit his 20th home run Wednesday, and his batting average now stands at .287.

“Early on, he was chasing a lot of pitches, which he always does,” Hunter said. “Now, the pitches he is chasing, he is crushing.”

Said Scioscia: “Although he was batting a mere mortal .270 for the first part of the season, I don’t think there was any doubt what he was going to bring to our lineup for the long haul.”

Even Garret Anderson appears to have erased some doubts. He had three hits to boost his average to .290, as high as it has been since the opening week of the season. He is batting .414 since the All-Star break.

The Angels scored all nine runs in the first four innings, more than enough offense for Ervin Santana to win his 13th game, one behind Joe Saunders for the team lead and two behind Cleveland’s Cliff Lee for the American League lead. Santana gave up four runs over seven innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts.

That left the Angels to enjoy a day off today, to celebrate what might be the most productive duo in the league, what with David “Big Papi” Ortiz alone in the Boston Red Sox lineup, without Ramirez.

“We don’t want to do the Manny-Papi thing,” Hunter said. “We want to do the Tex and Vladdy thing.”

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bill.shaikin@latimes.com