Guerrero Enhances His MVP Credentials

One name stood out among the list of Angel heroes who delivered the American League West-clinching victory Saturday, one name that stands above every player in the league.

We’ve seen Darin Erstad and Garret Anderson deliver big October hits for the Angels before, seen a pumped-up Francisco Rodriguez rack up strikeouts and Troy Percival finish it off.

What was different this time -- what they needed this time -- was the man whose name deserves to be on the 2004 AL Most Valuable Player Award: Vladimir Guerrero.

Even in a lineup heavy with guys who have won a World Series, Guerrero is the difference. Or you can write the formula another other way: Angels minus Guerrero equals no division championship.

Guerrero’s last and final argument, after a September that served as a monthlong physical filibuster demonstrating his value to the team, was his two-run home run in the sixth inning that got the Angels on the scoreboard and on their way to a 5-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

It came at the end of a week in which he practically wrecked Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas, and batted .519 (14 for 27) with five home runs and nine runs batted in. It came on the heels of a month in which he hit .371 with a .431 on-base percentage, 10 home runs, 23 RBIs, six doubles and 24 runs.

The Angels needed to win almost every game down the stretch to have a shot at this, and darned if they didn’t get eight of nine.

“Guerrero put us on his back,” Percival said. “Flat and simple, for the last week he put us on his back, unlike any great player that I’ve ever seen.”

That’s the truest definition of greatness, the ability to come through again and again when it matters most. Before this season, Guerrero hadn’t played in many meaningful games. That’s what happens when you spend the first seven years of your big league career with the woeful, soon-to-be-ex-Montreal Expos, who never come near the playoffs.

That explains why Guerrero was the last to leave the gathering of happy players on the field after Percival recorded the final out, and why he couldn’t stop bouncing up and down in the clubhouse as his teammates sprayed him with champagne.

“I’ve been watching so many games on TV in October in the past that I’m ready to, hopefully, bring something to the fans to watch this whole ballclub,” Guerrero said through an interpreter.

His teammates knew they’d be sitting in front of the big screens this time around had it not been for him, which is why he was the Most Soaked Player in the clubhouse.

He started the season off right by driving in two runs with a double in his first game as an Angel. When he isn’t starting he’s finishing, or finding himself right in the middle of a rally.

For MVP consideration, his main numbers are a .337 batting average, 39 home runs and 126 RBIs. Oh, and those 12 outfield assists.

But the award shouldn’t be about numbers. It should be based on impact. Guerrero is a difference-maker.

“The difference is, eight guys can have a bad day and you can still win the game, because he can come up with big hits,” shortstop David Eckstein said. “He’s a game-turner, every single time he steps on the field.”

There are few more awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping sights in baseball than Guerrero connecting with a pitch. (One of the only contenders might be Guerrero uncorking a throw from right field.)

From the outside it appears the strategy is to see the ball, then swing as hard as possible at it. But sometimes there’s more to it than that.

The Angels trailed, 2-0, when Guerrero came to the plate for his third at-bat. He knew Oakland starter Barry Zito had got him to fly out to left field on a fastball in the first inning, and induced a grounder to short off a curveball in the fourth. He knew Zito was nearing the 100-pitch range, that he might be tiring, that his fastball wasn’t that fast even when he’s fresh so he’d try to get him with a curveball.

Guerrero crushed it to center field. After Oakland scored two runs in the bottom of the inning, Erstad tied the score with a two-run double.

What Guerrero and Erstad’s hits had in common was they drove in Figgins, the Angels’ mini-MVP. Figgins is like TiVo: didn’t seem so necessary at first, but now it’s impossible to imagine life without him. Anderson put the Angels ahead with a single that drove in Erstad.

The other MVP is owner Arte Moreno. He could have stopped shopping after spending $76 million on Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar and Jose Guillen. But he parted with $70 million more when he had the chance to get Guerrero.

“I don’t even look at it as a premium,” Moreno said. “I look at it as an investment. He’s been tremendous for us.”

Normally, you wouldn’t consider paying Cristal prices for a couple of cans of Budweiser a good investment, but that was the joyous return Moreno had for the money he sank into Guerrero.

In the middle of the clubhouse, Guerrero emptied the contents of two beer cans onto Moreno’s head as the owner laughed, knowing full well the man who poured the drink was also the man that stirred it this season.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.