You may have noticed the Angels playing some very good baseball lately. They haven’t wilted despite numerous injuries to key players. Few people expected them to go 20-9 in the direct aftermath of Kendry Morales’ devastating injury at home plate on May 29. But that’s exactly what the Halos have done in the last month or so, even with injuries to Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar adding to the difficulty of the challenge.

Problem is, this 20-9 stretch hasn’t been enough to gain any ground in the standings. As a matter of fact, they’ve lost ground. The Angels were 2.5 games behind Texas on the day of Morales’ injury (May 29), and as the calendar turns to July, they sit 4.5 back. The reason: the Rangers have been the hottest team in baseball the past month, going 21-6.

The Rangers have a reputation of being good up into the summer, then wilting in the Texas heat. But they sure look the part of a team that will finally hang around come this September. The Rangers’ starting rotation has been uncharacteristically solid and the team has solidified its usually-troubling bullpen, with Neftali Feliz emerging as one of the game’s top closers. Oh, and their lineup is pretty good too – the lowest batting average of their first six hitters is .294.

Making matters a little more troubling to Angel fans is the fact that the Rangers owe a good deal of their success to former Halos. Vlad Guerrero is absolutely crushing the ball for the Rangers this season as if he were 28 again, causing some to speculate that the fountain of youth may indeed be in Arlington, Texas. A big part of the Rangers’ bullpen success has been relievers Darren O’Day and Darren Oliver.

But while the Angels didn’t catch Texas with their 20-9 run, they did keep themselves within striking distance. They still have a good chance of claiming their sixth division title in seven years. And if they do, it will be perhaps their hardest earned AL West crown. In a division that has been relatively void of intense competition in recent years, the Halos look to finally have a formidable challenger on their hands.

Mike Scioscia’s steady guidance will keep the Angels surging towards their goal. The starting rotation has settled in nicely and the bullpen is continuing to get stronger. Role players have stepped in and done commendable jobs for injured starters. The Halos will likely be right there in the season’s final month. Whether they win the division will have a lot to do with how successful they are in messing with Texas from here on out.

In an odd scheduling twist, the teams have only met four times thus far, leaving 14 games between the two rivals going into Thursday’s series finale. The Angels and Rangers will meet for two series in late July and then again for two series in late September, which could go a long way to determining the division champ. The Halos conclude the regular season with a four-game set in Arlington. It certainly looks to be an interesting summer…

By Blake Warren

Vladimir Guerrero returned to Angels stadium last night, and Angels fans were very respectful. The experience, however, was filled with mixed emotions. Part of me wonders why Vlad decided that this season, he would lose weight and perform to his full ability. Another part of me tries to rationalize the situation by seeing his success with the Rangers as inflated due to the ballpark he plays in. But mostly, I feel anger. In terms of running an organization, I believe the Angels are the greatest in all of sports, but I’m also not afraid to point our when they are wrong.

As I said when the deal happened, if given the same salary, Vladimir Guerrero is more valuable than Hideki Matsui. Although Matsui’s numbers have been fairly consistent throughout his years in the majors, he has bad knees (which was our major concern about Vlad), and he has never even been close to being a league MVP. I like Matsui, and his clutch postseason hitting may help us this year, but that doesn’t mean this was the right decision. Money talks, and Matsui brings a lot of attention from the Japanese market. Arte Moreno is a great owner and usually deserves the benefit of the doubt, but not here. This was a purely business decision, just like partnering with ESPN, and we shouldn’t be happy about it. Typically, I understand these kind of moves if it is for the betterment of the team. That is not the case here. Judging from his comments before the game on Tuesday night, Mike Scioscia is also not happy about seeing him on another team in the same division.

It’s ok to be upset about this. We don’t have to defend ever move this organization makes. In fact, I think we are worse off if we do. Vladimir Guerrero should have been the Angels first Hall-of-Famer, but now he will likely enter as an Expo. But when the dust settles and the game of baseball no longer includes Vladimir Guerrero, I know that all Angels fans will welcome him back as one of the greatest players in the history of the franchise.

So we are all pretty confident that the Angels are going to clinch the division during this series against the Rangers. Last year the team clinched the division with three weeks left in the season and the team became complacent. They lost there fire and weren’t ready for the, again, Red Sox.

This year winning the division would come with less than a week left in the season, and given what the Angels have gone through this year I doubt the leaders of this team will let them lose their fire. But this still leaves us with a final weekend series in a crowd-less Oakland Coliseum. So how should the Angels treat this final weekend?

Part of the success of the Red Sox has come with their “I’m not worried about it” mentality, but the Angels just aren’t this way. Many have called for the Angels adoption of this New England style, but that’s not are game.

In Rocky IV, because it’s always relevant, Rocky isolated himself with one thing on his mind, Drago! Vladdy should have a picture of Josh Beckett on his mirror, and Torii Hunter should be listening to “Hearts on Fire” on loop. Oakland will be the perfect place for the Angels to get their heads straight. In baseball, there is no better isolation than Oakland.

Focus, and keep your eye on the prize.

- Tony C

As Vladimir Guerrero returned from his second trip to the DL, it seemed as though his bat speed was just not up to par. As we have have learned time and time again, we really should just trust the expertise of the greatest coach in the league, Mike Scioscia. Mike Scioscia has insisted for two months now that Vladdy looks great in batting practice and he should come around any time now.

Tonight, we finally saw the Big Daddy of old, as he belted two home runs against Joe Maddon’s Rays, becoming the 45th player to hit 400 homeruns. In addition to Kendry Morales’s two home runs, the Angels were able to get back on track and returned to there winning ways. When Torii Hunter returns there is no telling what is in store for these High Flyin’ Angels.

By: Tony C

I know it is only one game, but this could be the beginning of Vlad’s turnaround. Tonight the Angels gave the Rockies their first series loss in a couple of weeks and Vladimir Guerrero went 2 for 5 with a home run and 3 RBI. The shaved head seemed to just have a delayed reaction, but it sure did work tonight.

We still may be lacking starting pitcher, and our relief pitching may not be up to par, but we have our MVP back. As I said last night, it was really only a matter of time. Vlad isn’t a fluke player, he is a potential hall of famer. As we saw with David Ortiz, these older players just need to make a few adjustments and they will be productive again.

This is the first step in a series of holes that need to be filled for the Angels, but it is sure something to be excited about.

-Tony C

As we all know Vladimir Guerrero has not been the Big Daddy Vladdy that we all know and love. However today he decided that was all going to change. At 3:45pm I was driving home from work, listening to The Drive on 830am only to hear Jeff Biggs announce the news of year. Vladimir Guerrero had shaved his head. The dreads are gone. He wasn’t happy with the status quo and was ready to turn his season around.

Unfortunately, Vlad’s shaved head did not turn his season around tonight as he went 0 for 4 with a strikeout. It did however snap the Angels 3 game losing streak and give the Colorado Rockies only their second loss in 19 games.

I was at the game tonight and Vlad seemed to striking the ball hard, but the swings just resulted in ground-outs. He will come around. He may not be the former MVP anymore but he has the will, the talent, and he is mostly healthy. It is only a matter of time before the ball exits the park.

Game Notes:

Sean O’Sullivan made his second solid start in a row and has been exactly what we needed right now.

Juan Rivera hit another home run to continue his great season.

-Tony C

Many critics have been saying pessimistically that the Angels (35-29) have only been scoring runs because they have been facing the terrible pitchers in the National League West. It is true the Angels have not face the best the San Diego Padres (28-35) and San Francisco Giants (34-31) have to offer, but I still thought it was something to be excited about because they were averaging 9 runs a game during a 5 game winning streak. We haven’t seen this kind of production at all in past years.

Today, the Angels offense proved its critics wrong by scoring 4 runs against the reigning Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (8in, 3ER 9K). This is not the 9 runs they were averaging, but it was a solid number against arguably the best pitcher in baseball.  Not to mention this was without Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter and Bobby Abreu in the starting line-up.

This offense is for real and is ready to take down the best the National League has to offer, our cross town rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers (43-22).

Notes:

Brian Fuentes (4.43ERA, 24K) nailed down his 18th save of the season as is starting to lock down the back of the rotation for the Angels.  However, I still think I would be more comfortable with Kelvim Escobar (0-1, 3.60ERA) there.

-Tony C

Image By: SD Dirk

As we all know, the Angels have had an incredible stream of bad luck to start the 2009 season.  This includes the tragic death of Nick Adenhardt, and the injuries of John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Vladimir Guerrero, Kelvim Escobar, and Dustin Moseley.  However, due to their incredible resilience, the coaching of Mike Scioscia, and a week division; the Angels have been able to remain above .500 and within a few games of the first place Texas Rangers.

Although it is amazing what the injury depleted Angels have been able to do, during the course of a long season, they will need some help.  The good news is the help is here.  Lackey and Santana are back in the rotation, Vlad is due back by the weekend after being sidelined for six weeks with a torn pectoral muscle, and Escobar is set to make a minor league rehab start at Class-A Rancho Cucamonga tonight against the Lake Elsinore Storm.  If all goes well, he will take Matt Palmer’s spot in the rotation.  However, if Palmer keeps pitching like he’s been (5-0 in 5 starts), Escobar will likely be used out of the bullpen when he returns.

With these welcomed returns and a starting rotation that consists of Lackey, Santana, Jered Weaver, Joe Saunders, and either Palmer or Escobar; there is no reason to think that the Angels won’t coast right into the playoffs.

By: Tony C