Texas vs. Guerrero still an inside joke

Don’t get Vlad, get even.

That was the theme of the night for Angels right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, who continued to brush off Texas right-hander Vicente Padilla’s brush-back pitches by swatting his other offerings all over the yard.

Guerrero, who so owns the Rangers he could take out a home-equity line of credit against them, had four hits, including a laser of a home run to left-center field, and three runs batted in to lead the Angels to an 8-3 victory over Texas on Tuesday night in Angel Stadium.

Since joining the Angels in 2004, Guerrero has a .440 average (96 for 218) with 21 homers and 49 RBIs against the Rangers. He’s a .412 hitter (14 for 34) with three homers against Padilla.

“I don’t know why they throw inside so much to Vladdy,” said Angels pitcher Kelvim Escobar, who gave up three runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings to get the win. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s had so much success against them, but if you can’t get him out throwing the ball across the plate, do something else. When you go up and in, it’s dangerous.”

Three of Guerrero’s hits, including the homer, came against Padilla, who drilled Guerrero in the left arm and threw two more fastballs near Guerrero’s head at Texas last Aug. 15. Guerrero responded by crushing a three-run home run off Padilla.

Padilla also hit Juan Rivera that night, intimidation tactics that sparked a beanball war and benches-clearing brawl between the teams the next night.

So, there were more than a few raised eyebrows in the Angels’ dugout Tuesday when Padilla whizzed a first-pitch fastball directly at Guerrero’s left shoulder.

“There’s some history there, but you like to give a guy the benefit of the doubt,” Manager Mike Scioscia said. “A lot of teams try to pitch Vlad in, but we’re here to play baseball; we’re not going to spend time wondering what’s going on.”

Neither is Guerrero, who shrugged off the pitch and hit an RBI single to left to score Gary Matthews Jr., who had two singles and two walks. In the third, Guerrero lined a homer to left-center for a 3-1 lead.

In the fifth, one pitch after Padilla came up and in -- but not close to Guerrero’s head -- Guerrero hit an RBI single to left, part of a three-run rally that included singles by Matthews, Orlando Cabrera and Casey Kotchman and gave the Angels a 6-2 lead.

Guerrero was intentionally walked in the sixth and singled off Bruce Chen in the eighth.

“Like any major league hitter, he’s not going to be intimidated,” Scioscia said of Guerrero. “He’s not going to back down.”

Though the Angels out-hit Texas, 13-4, and pulled away with runs in the sixth (Matthews’ RBI single) and seventh (Howie Kendrick’s RBI single), they needed another bullpen bailout to prevent the game from turning in the sixth.

Escobar, who struck out Sammy Sosa with the bases loaded to end the fifth, “the biggest out of the game,” he said, left with a man on first, one out and the Angels leading, 6-2.

But Hector Carrasco gave up a double to Gerald Laird and walked Ian Kinsler. Darren Oliver gave up a sacrifice fly to Kenny Lofton and walked Matt Kata to load the bases.

Justin Speier, who escaped a two-on, no-out jam in the sixth Monday night, needed one pitch to retire Michael Young on a fly to right. Speier added a scoreless seventh, and Scot Shields retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth innings.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com