Newly acquired Angel Mark Teixeira strikes out in the fourth inning last night.

Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

BOSTON — As Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero walked into the Angels’ clubhouse yesterday afternoon at Fenway Park, Mark Teixeira’s eyes widened.

The newest Los Angeles star hopped up from his chair and made a beeline toward the two players he’ll be hitting in front of as the Angels make a run at a World Series.

“Never thought we’d be together here,” Hunter said as he hugged Teixeira.

Guerrero, who wore a Superman T-shirt, clasped hands with Teixeira and wore a wide, welcoming smile.

“I’m very excited,” said Teixeira. “If you’re going to get traded, you want to go to a team that can win it all, and this is a great team here. This team knows how to win and I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Teixeira, who was traded from Atlanta to L.A. on Tuesday in exchange for Casey Kotchman and a minor-league pitcher, didn’t do much in his Angels’ debut but he didn’t have to. His new team still flattened Josh Beckett and the Red Sox, 9-2. The win completes a three-game sweep in which L.A. outscored Boston, 22-9. The Angels beat Boston for the eighth straight time and finished the season series, 8-1.

“Those guys are a deep club,” Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia said of the scuffling Red Sox . “They’ve struggled a little bit the last couple of series but they’re going to be there. We feel fortunate to get three wins here but you have to play well to beat them.”

The Angels now sport a major league-best 67-40 record and are running away with the A.L. West. At this rate, they may clinch before the NFL even kicks off.

Inserting Teixeira into this team almost seems unfair. While Kotchman, 25, is a good young player, Teixeira is a star. He’s parked 30 or more homers and knocked in 105-plus RBI in each of the last three seasons. He had 20 homers, 78 RBI and was hitting .283 with the Braves.

“We’ll miss Casey. The Braves are getting a good player who helped put us in first place,” said Hunter. “But Teixeira, he’s a big-time player. He can carry a team.”

Scioscia chose to tweak his lineup only slightly to accommodate his new star. Soscia moved Howie Kendrick from second to seventh, bumped Maicer Izturis to second from third, and inserted Teixeira into the key third hole. Guerrero, Hunter and Garret Anderson follow. The Teixeira-Guerrero-Hunter-Anderson stretch, as good as any in baseball, combined for eight hits and six RBI last night even though Teixeira was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

““We were starting to feel more balance in our lineup even before Mark got here,” Scioscia said, “but this gives us not only balance but a deeper lineup. We’re a better offensive team now than we were yesterday.”

Teixeira came to Los Angeles cheaply in large part because of his contract status. He will earn $12.5 million this year but will be a free agent at the end of this season.

Hunter says he’s not worried. “I’ll show him the town. He’ll love it here,” Hunter said.

Teixeira says he isn’t worried about next year. He’s excited about the present, especially since he’s never tasted the playoffs in his first five seasons as a major-leaguer.

“That’s what every guy plays for,” he said. “I’ve never played in the postseason in my five years, but this is my sixth season and hopefully I’ll get that shot. If we do our jobs every night, we’ll get that shot.”

kmcnamar@projo.com