AL West is gaining on the Angels

The Anaheim Angels may finally be getting some competition in the AL West division that they have dominated for so long.

Certainly the Oakland A’s made a move in the right direction by signing pitcher Ben Sheets … as long as he’s over the elbow surgery that sidelined him all of last season.

Sheets joins a formidable rotation with two-time All Star Justin Duchscherer, Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden.

In addition, the A’s have added punch and pop with new center fielder Coco Crisp and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff.

The Texas Rangers certainly have added power with the free agent signing of former Angel Vladimir Guerrero to an already potent offense.

Plus, with Nolan Ryan included in the team’s new ownership group, look for Rangers’ pitchers to take on some of the toughness Ryan displayed in his Hall of Fame career. No more babying pitchers; let’s see how far they can go in a game rather than how soon they can come out!

As for the Seattle Mariners, the likes of standout pitcher Cliff Lee and former Angel third baseman Chone Figgins will be a definite upgrade in 2010.

The Angels? Not only have they lost top players to division rivals; they also lost ace John Lackey to the Boston Red Sox.

When the Angels look back, they are going to find people are gaining on them this season.

Interleague play: It's an all-American (League) tradition

Boy, are National League teams glad that interleague play has ended!

Once again, the American League dominated the NL, 137-114, in the 251 interleague games this season.

Just look what interleague did for some teams:

The Anaheim Angels, with an interleague-best record of 14-4, moved 2 ½ games ahead of the Texas Rangers (9-9 in interleague) in the AL West.

The Tampa Bay Rays were 13-5 in interleague, jumping back into the AL East race.

Toronto was only 7-11, thus falling one game behind Tampa Bay in the East.

The only other AL teams with losing records – Cleveland and Oakland (5-13 each) and Kansas City (8-10) – are virtually out of the pennant races.

In the NL, the Colorado Rockies were an interleague-high of 11-4, getting back into the NL West (and wild card) races.

The Los Angeles Dodgers only went 9-9, but they’re so far out front in the West that nobody’s going to catch them.

Florida (10-8) and San Francisco and St. Louis (both 9-6) were the lone other NL teams with winning records.

On the other end, it’s no surprise that the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks were each 5-10 … but a bigger surprise that Milwaukee and the New York Mets were also 5-10.

All in all, it’s just nice that teams will be playing within their own leagues from now on.

Padres need to cut ties with Giles, Floyd

The San Diego Padres need to get on with their youth movement and cut ties with Brian Giles and Cliff Floyd.

Without a doubt, Floyd will be the easier choice.

He was brought in at a salary of $750,000 to be a designated hitter at American League parks. The Padres finish interleague play June 28 at the Texas Rangers, so getting rid of Floyd after then should be a no-brainer … unless the team wants to keep a guy batting .125 with no extra base hits who is incapable of running the bases.

Giles will be a much tougher decision.

First of all, he’s making $9 million this year. The Padres would have to eat well more than $5 million of that to cut him now. (And, yes, they could have bought him out in the offseason for $3 million.)

But who knew he would be batting .191 on June 19 with two home runs … not to mention the fact his arm is now well below-average for a right fielder?

Giles may be declining because of age. Or his descent could be due to the mentor factor of going through an ugly lawsuit with his ex-girlfriend where all sorts of woman-beating accusations have come out against Giles.

The Padres need to find out if Drew Macias can be their right fielder for the future.

In a small sampling earlier this season, Macias was leading the team with a .435 on-base percentage. Additionally, all five of his hits (four doubles, one home run) were for extra bases.

Sure, they are bringing up spring training sensation Kyle Blanks this weekend. Sadly, they will probably discover that they are rushing him … especially as a true first baseman playing the outfield.

The Padres will likely finish last with or without Giles and Floyd. It’s high time they discover what the future holds with players such as Macias.

USC-Texas rematch in Holiday Bowl?

Two years ago, USC and Texas played for the college football national championship.

How about a rematch this year in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl?

It won’t be the Trojans of Matt Leinart/Reggie Bush vs. the Longhorns of Vince Young.

But it would still offer coaches Pete Carroll of USC and Mack Brown of Texas, leading two of the most heralded teams annually in college football.

Let’s face it: The Holiday Bowl is only going to get USC on a down year for the Trojans. This may be the year.

Texas was here in 2001 and 2003 for the Holiday Bowl, but the Longhorns would probably welcome a rematch of their title win over USC two years ago. (USC has never played in the game.)

The Dec. 27 Holiday Bowl matches the Pac-10 runner-up against a third selection from the Big 12.

The game could certainly match a pair of current Top 10 teams if Arizona State were to face Missouri. But let’s face it: Those teams don’t have the national appeal of USC and Texas.

Kansas and Oklahoma are other possibilities from the Big 12 if they slip late in the season. Ditto for Oregon in the Pac-10.

But all things considered, the Holiday Bowl can’t do better than a match-up of USC vs. Texas.

Interleague schedule favors Padres

When it comes to interleague play, the Padres have it much easier than their two California rivals in the NL West.

The Padres get to play Seattle each year as their “natural rival.” The Los Angeles Dodgers must face the Anaheim Angels; while the San Francisco Giants are matched up against the Oakland Athletics.

Think about it for a minute. The Padres play a Seattle team that traditionally battles Texas for last place. The Dodgers and Giants are playing the year-in and year-out top two teams in the AL West.

Let the interleague numbers tell the story:

The Padres are 26-24 vs. the Mariners; 48-63 vs. the rest of the American League.
The Dodgers are 26-30 vs. the Angels; 54-51 vs. the rest of the AL.
The Giants are 27-29 vs. Oakland; 59-46 vs. the rest of the AL.

Broken down, the Padres have a winning record against Seattle and losing record against the rest of the AL. The Dodgers and Giants have losing records vs. their “natural rivals,” but winning records against the remainder of the AL.

The next time the Padres complain about their schedule, it could be worse. They could be playing the Angels or Athletics every year in interleague action.