Did you know that of the top 5 teams in baseball (record-wise) that three were in Southern California? The Angels are in first place, followed by the two texas teams, the Rangers & Astros, and then San Diego is in 4th and Los Angeles in 5th. But you'd never know by watching Sportscenter or Baseball Tonight. They're all too busy following the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees (7th & 11th respectively). Thanks ESPN for the East Coast bias...maybe now I'll switch to the SCSR.

URL: ESPN.com - MLB - MLB Standings

They finally did it. Alone in first place in the AL West thanks to yet another win - this time over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (6 in a row now and 12 of 14). But they're only 1/2 game up and it's only because Texas didn't play tonight. But no matter. I'll take first place at any point in the season.

URL: ESPN.com - Anaheim Angels - Clubhouse

Most wins in the majors? Boston Red Sox? New York Yankees? World Champion Florida Marlins? Nope. None of the above. There's actually a tie - and you can probably guess the two from the post below. The Anaheim Angels and the Texas Rangers currently have the most wins in the majors - 17. Both are tied for first in what a lot of people figured to be the first or second hardest division in baseball (right behind the AL East I guess). Both have been playing amazingly well over the past couple weeks, but it's only a matter of time before the Rangers realize that they are destined to finish in last place (as they have the past few years) while the Angels continue to put up runs and take the AL West title. 2002 was a great year to be an Angels fan (winning the World Series and all) and while 2003 was a little disappointing, new owner Arte Moreno has beefed up the team and I'm ready to see them get back to the World Series yet again. I mean, 2004 is the year of the monkey, and the Angels do have the most famous [Rally] Monkey in all of the majors...

ESPN.com - MLB - MLB Players

On their most recent roadtrip, the Anaheim Angels won 7 out of 9 games - not only putting up an impressive win percentage of .777 over their longest road trip of the season, but also putting up their best record on a roadtrip of that size since 1980. And all the while, they stayed one game back of Texas as the Rangers swept Boston and just couldn't lose. Finally, tonight, the Rangers lost. The Angels won again (they've won 10 of 12) and they are now tied for first place. And while that's all well and good, we all know that rankings don't really matter this early in the season - but the great thing is, they've won 5 out of 6 without one of their best players - Garrett Anderson. Without his power, they've still been able to put up huge run numbers and they look like the team that won the World Series in 2002.

As an aside, the announcers brought up an interesting stat when the Angels hit 9 runs tonight (they ended with 11). So far, through 5 games this season vs. Detroit, the winning team has had 10 runs or more. Just some amazing run production by both sides:

@DET Win 10-4
@DET Loss 10-2
@DET Win 12-3
v.DET Win 11-9
v.DET Win 11-4

Tomorrow is their last game vs. Detroit until Friday, August 13th, and it should be a good game like all the others this season vs. a surprising Detroit team.

URL: ESPN.com - Anaheim Angels - Schedule

2 days into May and the high today was 101. Yesterday, the high was just 84 and tomorrow it is expected to be in the low 90s. So through the first three days of May, the average temperature will be 92 degrees ([101 84 91]/3). This is just insane, and records were set yesterday, today and most likely tomorrow. Luckily I work in a bank where we have a nice climate controlled experience, but I feel sorry for those who have to work outside. Relief is not on the horizon.

Add to the heat just a little bit of wind and here in Southern California, we're all to familiar with brush fires. Usually they act up a little in the summer but then are mostly evident in the fall as we get the Santa Ana winds roaring through, flaming the fires. There's two fires going right now in SoCal and I would assume that a few more will pop up throughout the week...brush fires, car chases and earthquakes. What a great part of the nation (can't wait to watch my tape of the absurd 10.5 - but still undecided on which is more outrageous - 10.5 or the upcoming movie The Day After Tomorrow - which Democrats are embracing even though all the assumptions in that movie are complete fiction and could never happen...but go ahead and try and make it look like that's what'll happen with global warming...makes y'all look just that much smarter).

URL: weather.com - Local Severe Weather Alerts Details