Best Record in Baseball

The Angels won again, this time beating the Mariners so the magic number is down to 1. After lasts nights game I'm very excited that we will likely clinch the west in front of the Mariners. I can't wait for them to watch us celebrate on the field.

Jorge Campillo is officially one of the biggest douche bags in Major League Baseball, I'm writing his name down right next to AJ Pierzynski. Who do you think you are Jorge? Coming into last nights game you had a full 12.1 innings pitched in your entire career, and what do you do with your first pitch? You throw behind Mathis' head. Then after being warned, you still have the gal to throw behind Vlad Guerrero's head? Welcome to the majors rookie, Vlad Guerrero is going to hit home runs off you. Are you trying to gain respect from your teammates? If that's the case I hope you enjoy your respect while you spend the rest of next season in the minors. I hope you get suspended so you can't pitch anymore this season and you have to wait 11 more months until another September call up in 2008.

On a much happier note, the bullpen did a pretty decent job last night. Scot Shields was nasty, throwing two complete innings and allowing no hits while striking out 3. Darren Oliver also threw a scoreless inning in preserving Jered Weaver's 13th win of the season.

The Angels now hold the best record in baseball on their own. I'm very optimistic about what lies ahead. All we need to do now is keep winning and we get home field advantage for every series throughout the playoffs. Since the Angels have the best home record in baseball this would be a huge advantage.

Slowly but surely we're getting healthy and heading in the right direction for October. There is a good chance Figgins will be back hitting right handed tonight against Washburn. He will definitely be an important part of our line up for the playoffs. Now we just need Gary Matthews back in center and Vlad's tricep to heal and we'll be back at full strength.

Ten Games to Go

With ten games left to play, and the magic number down to 3, the Angels are poised to clinch the west at home this weekend. Clinching so early should give the Angels plenty of time to line-up their starting rotation for the start of the division series. The top two starters are clear, but who will fill in the three and four positions still remains unclear. It is unquestionable that John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar are the Angels clear #1 and #2 starters, but who should throw behind them? Weaver has been throwing well and is a likely candidate for the #3 spot, but a battle ensues for the fourth starter position. Joe Saunders has been the most consistent of the candidates while Ervin Santana has shown signs of brilliance, but continues to be inconsistent. Bartolo Colon, the veteran contender for the fourth spot has been both inconsistent and injured much of the season. It seems unlikely Colon would even be considered for the 25-man playoff roster while Santana may remain available for long relief situations.

I really like what I have seen from Nathan Haynes, and he should unquestionably be granted a spot on the playoff roster. Even if he isn't needed for defense he would be a great player to have to come off the bench as a pinch runner just as Figgins did in the 2002 playoffs. He has tremendous speed and would be a great pinch runner for vlad, Anderson, or one of the catchers late in the game.

Leading into the final homestand of the regular season I hope the Angels are able to clinch at home giving the fans something to cheer about before the playoffs start. The mood around Anaheim Stadium has been pretty calm lately, as it feels like the games don't really mean too much. Win or lose, the lead is big enough that we are going to make the playoffs either way. It's time to get that fire back and start gearing up for the playoffs.