Posted 2:37 PM by Sean
Tonight, the Angels start a stretch of 12 games in which they'll be playing the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. After facing relatively stiff competition to this point in the season (with a couple of exceptions), the Angels really need to step it up and take care of business against these guys if they want to get into the pennant race.

Last year, it was clear that the league was made up of haves and have-nots: the Angels, A's, Mariners, Yankees, Red Sox, and Twins were clearly playoff-caliber teams, while almost everyone else was clearly not. Only the Blue Jays seemed to be in the middle, playing well on some days and poorly on others. This year, the Angels are in danger of dropping into that middle zone, and it's this stretch of games that might well determine whether they light out for the sweet side of .500 or remain mediocre.

Rick Helling and Kevin Appier will be the starters tonight. Everybody remember when Helling won 20 games for Texas in 1998 thanks to ungodly run support? I'd say these two starters are roughly equivalent in effectiveness, so look for offense and bullpens to decide this one, in which case the Angels have a clear advantage. Let's hope they can get the homestand off to a good start.