The Third Place Angels have clinched the West

How can I look at a team that is currently in third place and sub .500 and say they are a lock for the post season?

Easily.

First of all I picked the Angels to win the West... which they have done in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009.

They are in a division with the recently swept Rangers (who always fade in the summer when heat overtakes their pitching), the A's (who have dropped 5 in a row since taking a share of first place and have been playing above their heads all year) and the Mariners (whose clubhouse seems more tense and divisive than District 9).

If any one of those three teams went on a tear in the first month and a half of the season, I would say the Angels would be in trouble.

But none of them did. And now Mike Scioscia has shook up the line up and they have responded with a better offensive attack. And now their pitching is turning around.

Even Joe Saunders, a person I mocked last week, has started to show off the stuff that made him an All Star.

So it won't be long before the Angels emerge as the team from a mediocre pack. They could be the only team of this bunch to finish about .500 when all is said and done.

You missed your shot, AL West.

Hey Mariners... even YOU can score off of Joe Saunders

I am serious Seattle... I know you have NO bats right now.
I know that Ken Griffey SENIOR could probably crack this line up now.

I know you've scored 9 runs all month (and none since Wednesday).

I know you are in a 7 game slide and suddenly that whole "We have Two Aces! We're going to win the West!" sentiment has started to give way to "I hope we can get some good prospects for Cliff Lee" resignation.

But COME ON! You are facing Joe Saunders tonight.
Yeah I know Joe was an All Star in 2008 and a 16 game winner last year. But in 2010 he is one the main culprits why the three time defending division champion Angels look so pathetic right now.

He's let up 5 or more runs in 3 of his 6 starts, is a 1-5 pitcher with a 7.04 ERA.
And his lone win (and only solid outing) was a game on April 17th when he threw 8 innings with no earned runs against a Blue Jays team that was in a horrible slump.

How horrible? Joe Saunders shut them down!

Take out that one game and he is 0-5 with a 9.52 ERA.
That's a run an inning.

You can do it, Mariners. You can score some runs tonight. I bet even the Mariner Moose could go 1-4 against Saunders.

A Mariner win would put the Angels in last place in the loss column.

Let's see what you've got Mariners.

It's Joe Saunders.

Score a run.