The Deuces Are Wild

Through complete happenstance, the Angels and Dodgers both ended up at the All-Star break two games behind their respective division leaders. Both are flawed teams, yet both play in flawed divisions in which no team is truly out of the chase, but none has established itself as the one to beat, either. In the American League West, everybody's got something to kvetch about:

• The fourth-place Mariners are only two and a half games back of Oakland and Texas, who are currently tied for the division lead. The M's rotation has been surprisingly sturdy, though their bullpen, expected to be a strength this year, has seen significant declines, and their offense is just plain mediocre.
• The Texas Rangers, believe it or not, have actually struggled this year to score runs; in fact, they're smack dab in the middle. Big surprise: they're getting it done despite a rotation that's third worst in the league; the shocker is they've got a 3.98 bullpen ERA, good for fifth in the league, and better than the Angels' for a change.
• Oakland's fans find their unofficial motto of "In Billy We Trust" decreasingly relevant, and confess their disbelief at a team whose 380 runs scored is dead last in the league. Oakland may be famous for their second-half rallies, but the first half has taxed some of their paying customers' patience.

The Angels' troubles are well-known: they've got a phenominal rotation, perhaps the best in the league outside of the Tigers, but their bullpen has descended into mediocrity and has become scary-thin as pieces like Brendan Donnelly age and decline, and Bill Stoneman spackles the other parts with free agent pieces (Hector Carrasco) and trades of dubious results (J.C. Romero). The Angels' offense has a ton of non-producers and question marks, including an aging left fielder who shouldn't be even starting in that position (Garret Anderson), a fourth outfielder being treated like a starter (Juan Rivera), an exciting young bat who can't start every game (Mike Napoli), a third baseman who can't stay healthy and still hasn't proven himself offensively (Dallas McPherson), a super-utility guy at leadoff stuck in a season-long slump (Chone Figgins), and an inexperienced first baseman trying to learn the ropes while being expected to thump (Kendry Morales).Yet somehow, the Angels pulled off three consecutive victories following a 7-5 stumble on Thursday. Thursday's game featured another game-spinning error, this time by Kendry Morales, who got confused by the umpire behind him and missed a foul popup; on the next pitch, Jay Payton drove in a pair on a bases-loaded RBI single, which proved to be the difference.

Friday and Saturday's games more than made up for that disappointment with a pair of top-rate starting pitching performances. In the first game, John Lackey surrendered a leadoff double, but came back to retire the next 27 A's in a row, the first time this has happened in the majors since Jerry Reuss did the same thing for the Dodgers on June 11, 1982 — coincidentally, with Mike Scioscia behind the plate. It was also, unfortunately, the game where Orlando Cabrera ended his amazing 63-game on-base streak, the sixth-longest in major league history; three of the other five belong to Ted Williams, and the other two are Joe DiMaggio's.

Saturday, Jered Weaver mystified the A's through seven, but he sat in the dugout and glowered nervously as Brendan Donnelly loaded the bases in the eighth — and Francisco Rodriguez, brought in to calm things down, allowed all his inherited baserunners to score. The Angels held on for a 6-4 win, but it was a painful reminder of just how inadequate their bullpen has become.

Following those two gems, Ervin Santana also posted another fine performance on Sunday, getting to ten wins ahead of all other Angels pitchers. But maybe most importantly, Figgins closed out the series with multi-hit games in three of the four games, even going 4-5 on Saturday, a real high note on which to end the first half.

The Dodgers find themselves in a very similar situation vis-à-vis their division:

• San Francisco's league-leading rotation more than makes up for their mediocre offense (third in the division by runs scored), but Giants fans cringe when their bullpen — the second worst ERA in the division — takes the ball. With the big problems of keeping Barry Bonds, and maybe more importantly, Steve Finley and Moises Alou in the outfield and operable, the Giants season turns on health more than any of their other competitors.
• The Diamondbacks are a schizophrenic mess of declining, erstwhile marquee players like Shawn Green and Luis Gonzalez, and interesting, inexperienced youth (Chad Tracy); they don't look quite like the contender the other teams in this division do. With a slate of inept relievers and an unimpressive rotation, the Snakes look like an also-ran, but at only five games out, it's still too early to write them off.
• Perhaps the most interesting team in the division is the Rockies, if only because they've made it to the halfway point at three and a half games out of first. The Giants, Padres, and Rockies — in that order — have the top three rotations in the league. Whether you want to credit their humidor or their scouting department, with the right breaks, the Rockies could contend this year.
• Finally, the division-leading Padres have the best bullpen in the league, the second-best rotation — but thanks, in part, to their cold, cavernous home at Petco, the worst offense in the division, and the second-worst in the league. Former Dodger Mike Piazza has helped to keep them above water, but like everyone else in this division, they're hardly an imposing team.

With the late Giants series going, see-saw fashion, 5-4 Giants, 9-7 Dodgers, 11-7 Giants, and finally 3-1 Dodgers, readers can be forgiven the urge to reach for some dramamine. Mark Hendrickson did what he usually does — give up a pile of runs and hope his offense will bail him out. Yeah, that worked well, and on Thursday he took the well-earned loss after giving up five runs. For nostalgiacs, old friend Gio Carrara made his second appearance in a Dodger uniform this year, and struck out three over a pair of scoreless innings.The Dodgers came back the next day behind rookie starter Chad Billingsley, who was about as good as Hendrickson if you only looked at the scorebook. Also giving up five runs, he demonstrated the happy things a fully functional offense can do for pitchers' numbers — except that Billingsley will have to wait another day to notch his first major league win, as he got a no-decision thanks to the Dodgers' offense waking up for the game-winner in the bottom of the eighth.

Saturday, Dodger pitching suffered another collapse, as Derek Lowe had the worst outing of the season, giving up seven runs while failing to get out of the fifth. Maybe more ominous is the increasing strain shown on rookie reliever Jonathan Broxton, who gave up three earned runs in the ninth inning. Broxton has gotten more and more wobbly over time; his monthly ERAs now look like this:

Month   ERA
===========
May    1.13
June   4.41
July   9.00

Grady Little has thrown Broxton into the deep end of the pool mainly because there's no better options. Unfortunately, it's clear that the league is adjusting to him faster than he's adjusting to the league.

At last, Sunday's triumph, an effort that shockingly had a great deal to do with Cesar Izturis's bat (he actually drove in a run), and less surprisingly, with Andre Ethier's, Nomar Garciaparra's, and Juan Cruz, Jr.'s. Before leaving my brief synopsis here, allow me to note that Aaron Sele, a non-roster invitee in spring training, now holds down one of the better records among the Dodgers' starting rotation, 6-2 with an implausible 2.91 ERA. Not that anyone should expect this to last, but the All-Star break is as good a time as any to savor the miraculous.