It’s Blastoff for Guerrero

The calendar shows that six months really did elapse between last season and this season, that 2004 didn’t simply merge overnight into 2005, but you could hardly tell by watching Vladimir Guerrero, who seems stuck in some blissful time warp, where he can’t get the Angels off his back.

Not that he’s complaining.

If almost single-handedly carrying the Angel offense is what is required from the 2004 American League most valuable player, Guerrero will gladly oblige, as the Angel right fielder did in Tuesday night’s season opener against the Texas Rangers.

Guerrero ripped a solo home run to right-center field against Ryan Drese in the first inning and hit a run-scoring double against Drese in the sixth to lead the Angels to a 3-2 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 43,590 in Angel Stadium.

Bartolo Colon survived a rocky start to go 6 2/3 innings for the victory, Francisco Rodriguez breezed through a 10-pitch ninth for a save in his new role as full-time closer and Bengie Molina provided a key two-out run-scoring single in the seventh for a 3-1 lead, an insurance run that loomed large when Mark Teixeira homered against Scot Shields in the eighth.

But it was Guerrero, who hit .536 with six home runs, 11 runs batted in and 10 runs over the final seven games of 2004 to help the Angels overcome a three-game deficit to win the AL West, who carried the biggest stick. Again.

If Guerrero gets any better, “We’re going to have to find a new league for him,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “Drese has been tough on us, but Vladdy gave us a big lift. He does everything that’s asked of a player.”

Drese, the Rangers’ fifth different opening-day starter in five years, had retired 15 in a row from the first through sixth innings when Jeff DaVanon singled sharply to center field with two outs in the sixth and the score tied, 1-1.

Guerrero, who hit a 2-and-0 pitch for his home run and grounded out on a 1-and-0 pitch in the fourth, lashed Drese’s first pitch to the wall in left-center field to score DaVanon, who slid home with the go-ahead run just ahead of shortstop Michael Young’s strong relay.

The crowd began serenading Guerrero with chants of “MVP! MVP!”

“I felt good about that, but that was last year, this is a new year, and I have to put last year behind me,” Guerrero said through an interpreter. “This team is capable if every player does his job. One day it will be me, another day it will be someone else.”

Garret Anderson, Darin Erstad, Troy Glaus and Curtis Pride delivered some huge hits in the final week of 2004, but Guerrero mashed for the entire month of September, hitting .371 with 10 homers and 23 RBIs and adding another homer and two RBIs in October.

“The last two weeks of his season were possibly the best performance I’ve seen by one player considering what was at stake and how some guys were struggling,” Scioscia said. “He’s going to be there, he’s going to keep doing what he does, but we’re going to have to be more than Vlad.”

They were Tuesday night. Colon, who was 6-0 with a 2.14 earned-run average in six starts against Texas last season, gave up only one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking four, but it wasn’t as seamless as his line score would suggest.

Colon labored through the first three innings, throwing 62 pitches and giving up Young’s double and Teixeira’s run-scoring single off the right-field wall in the third. But Colon found his rhythm after the third, holding the Rangers hitless until Alfonso Soriano’s two-out single in the seventh.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I was nervous, a little unsettled, in the first few innings,” Colon said through an interpreter.

“I had a lot of family members here, and I haven’t started a season opener at home in a long time. But I finally relaxed after the first few innings.”

Shields replaced Colon and was given a two-run cushion when Robb Quinlan doubled to center field with one out in the seventh, took third on Orlando Cabrera’s groundout and scored on Molina’s single to center.

The Angels backed their strong pitching with superb defense, including a fine play by left fielder Garret Anderson, who raced toward the line to field Gary Matthews’ fourth-inning hit, whirled and fired a one-hop throw to second baseman Chone Figgins to nail Matthews, who tried to stretch a single into a double.

Rodriguez, relying mostly on his slider, then put the finishing touches on the victory and began the post-Troy Percival era with a one-two-three ninth.