Posted 12:56 PM by Sean
John Lackey stood on the Tigers' necks for eight innings last night before giving up a home run to Bobby Higginson to start the ninth. Lackey has struggled some this season - his first full season in the Majors - but it's encouraging to see him dominate a team, no matter how awful they happen to be.

The win is the Angels' third in a row, and fourth out of their last five. At this point, with forty games to play, they need:

5 wins to avoid a 100-loss season
10 wins to avoid matching their worst loss total (65-95 in 1980, 67-95 in 1968)
23 wins to finish at .500
Any combination of 16 Angels wins and Tigers losses to avoid finishing with the worst record in the AL
Any combination of 38 Angels wins and Rangers losses to avoid finishing last in the AL West

One step at a time. One step at a time.