Sorry AL West compatriots, you had your chance to end the Angels’ reign of supremacy in the division but despite all their injuries and hardships, guess who is leading the division at the break? At least things are a little closer than last year, so maybe we are in for an exciting finish to the season. As such, let’s check in with the rest of the division to see who might give the Angels a run for their money in the second half.
TexAss Rangers
The Rangers looked like they were going to be the ones with all the momentum headed into the break by taking two of three games from the Halos in their own yard. Apparently they forgot they had another series to play before the break though and ended up coughing up their 1/2 game lead and now find themselves 1 1/2 games back. Oops! Things are looking up Texas though as they did recently get back injured slugger Josh Hamilton. Too bad though that Hamilton can’t pitch (actually he can, but he hasn’t since being drafted) because the Ranger pitching staff is finally starting to crack. Vicente Padilla has been battling arm problems and “ace” Kevin Millwood is starting to fall apart, looking very mediocre in his last three starts, so as usual it looks like Texas just doesn’t have the pitching to be taken seriously. Let’s just hope that their owner doesn’t decide to become a big spender at the trade deadline and make a play for Roy Halladay.
Get used to the sight of a forlorn Millwood leaving the field, Ranger fans.
Seattle SeaMen
Don’t you people ever die? The Mariners continue to hang around despite the fact that on paper they, what’s the word… oh yeah, suck. However Seattle has been overcoming that little deficiency by getting healthy, while they did recently lose Adrian Beltre (who had been decidedly terrible) they countered that loss by getting Kenji Johjima, Erik Bedard and Mike Sweeney back from the DL in the last few weeks. Bedard is an especially huge addition to a pitching staff that has been getting dominating performances from Felix Hernandez and Jarrod Washburn all season long. If this team ever learns to hit on a consistent basis, that four-game lead the Angels have on them could disappear in a hurry. Fortunately, it seems that the SeaMen are more inclined to try be sellers at the deadline rather than buyers and make it that much easier for the Angels to take the AL West crown yet again.
Beltre gets hurt and the Mariners surge. Coincidence? Methinks not.
Oakland AthleDicks
The poor, poor A’s. They are probably the only team in the division out of the race, but they are the only club making moves to get better. Inexplicably, Billy Beane swapped some minor league prospects to acquire Scott Hairston to upgrade his outfield. Perhaps Beane was too busy banging Hooters waitresses to realize that his team is 12 games back and should be trading talent to acquire prospects rather than the other way around. Oakland’s season outlook got even worse when they lost SP Josh Outman to Tommy John surgery. Outman had been one of the Athletics’ best starters this year and now is out probably until 2011. Excuse me if I fail to shed a tear for this sad news. With his precious young pitching falling apart, expect Beane to wise up soon and start selling his veterans off to the highest bidder by the end of the month followed by the release of Michael Lewis’ rumored sequel to Moneyball. I believe the working title is Moneyball 2: The Fire Sale, but I could be wrong.
In retrospect, I can see why Billy Beane was too distracted to check the standings.