It’s Vlad All Over Again in Angel Victory

Oakland Manager Ken Macha seemed amused when the subject of Vladimir Guerrero’s slump came up last Monday. A reporter had just begun asking about the Angel right fielder’s struggles when Macha cut off the question mid-sentence.

“Vladdy can un-struggle in a second,” Macha said with a smirk. “He can explode at any minute.”

The A’s were spared of Guerrero’s wrath -- the slugger had one single in 11 at-bats as Oakland won two of three games against the Angels -- but the New York Yankees were not.

Guerrero hit his second game-altering home run of the series, turning a two-run deficit into a one-run lead with a three-run shot in the third inning Saturday night, propelling the Angels to an 8-6 victory over the Yankees in Angel Stadium.

The Angels, perhaps feeding off the momentum of Guerrero’s homer, added four runs in the fourth and held on behind the bend-but-don’t-break pitching of rookie starter Ervin Santana (5-4) and the resilient late-inning bullpen tandem of Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez.

The Yankees scored once off Santana in the fifth and pulled within 8-6 in the seventh when Jason Giambi hit a two-run homer off Esteban Yan, ending the Angel bullpen’s string of 24 2/3 scoreless innings since the All-Star break.

But Shields and Rodriguez, both pitching for the third consecutive night, blanked the Yankees in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, Rodriguez collecting his 24th save, to put the Angels in position today to do what they have never done in the 45-year history of the franchise: sweep a four-game series against the Yankees.

Guerrero has only two hits in the series, but both have been huge. Thursday night, with the Angels trailing, 5-2, in the seventh, Guerrero hit a dramatic grand slam off reliever Tom Gordon to give the Angels a 6-5 victory. Saturday night he tagged Kevin Brown for his homer, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead.

“You always heard about Vladimir Guerrero, but getting to see him play every day is something special,” Shields said. “Not only now, but years down the road, I can look back and say ... I got to play with him, and he’s awesome.”

Solo home runs by Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano had given the Yankees a 3-1 lead in the top of the third, but Brown, suffering from a sore lower back, walked Adam Kennedy and Chone Figgins to open the bottom of the third.

Darin Erstad flied to left, and up stepped Guerrero, who began the game mired in a five-for-50 slump that had dropped his average from .344 to .307 in 13 games. Guerrero crushed a 1-and-0 pitch over the wall in center to give the Angels a 4-3 lead.

“The good thing about Vlad struggling is, look out, he’s going to get hot,” Erstad said. “We’re still winning without him hitting like he normally does, and that’s a good sign.”

Another good sign: Santana, the erratic right-hander who has alternated between brilliant and brutal, won a second consecutive start for the first time in his 10-game big league career, pitching his way out of several jams and refusing to succumb to one of baseball’s most imposing lineups.

“He did a good job of keeping his head in the game,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “It could have gotten away from him, and it wasn’t as clean as you’d like, but he gave us a chance to win.”

Santana wavered in the first three innings, giving up three runs and five hits, but after Guerrero’s home run, he breezed through a one-two-three fourth. Brown, the former Dodger, was knocked out in the bottom of the fourth.

Jeff DaVanon walked and Kennedy singled. Figgins doubled to right-center for one run, and Yankee Manager Joe Torre summoned left-hander Alex Graman. Erstad ripped a two-run double to right, giving making it 7-3, and Steve Finley blooped an RBI single to right-center for an 8-3 lead.

Santana got into more trouble in the fifth; a leadoff single by Jeter, a walk to Cano and Gary Sheffield’s RBI single that made it 8-4. But the 22-year-old struck out Alex Rodriguez, then got Hideki Matsui to ground into a fielder’s choice and Giambi to fly to right.