AL West

The Oakland A's took the first two games of the 1972 World Series from the favored Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati. The A's were in an enviable position since no team had ever lost the first two games at home and won the Series.

The teams traveled to Oakland for the next three games, but rain caused the third game to be moved up a day.

In 2009, Brian Fuentes led the Major Leagues in saves with 48. Granted, they weren't all pretty and Angel fans still remember the fastball that Alex Rodriguez belted out of Yankee Stadium in the '09 ALCS; but overall Fuentes has been a solid closer for the Angels.

In a recent CNNSI.com column, Tom Verducci posits that Josh Hamilton is now the best player in baseball. The premise for this supposition is laid out nicely in the following passage from Verducci's column:

On Monday, the Halos agreed to terms on a $2.3 million deal with Kaleb Cowart. Cowart was named the 2010 Gatorade National High School Baseball Player of the Year. The high school pitcher and switch-hitting third baseman hit .654 with 11 home runs, 55 runs scored, 59 RBI, and 36 stolen bases (in 36 attempts) at Cook County.

The Seattle Mariners' Felix Hernandez is a legitimate first starter.  Doug Fister is a second starter type, who is third in the rotation because Jason Vargas is in between. Coming into this year, Seattle had also "imported" two first-starter types in Cliff Lee and Ian Snell.

With that kind of a rotation, Seattle ought to have had a shot at the postseason. No such luck, which is why Lee was re-traded to the Texas Rangers early in July.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is a unique fellow, to say the least.

Now he has become Japan’s version of the “Most Interesting Man in the World” from the Dos Equis commercials.

It seems as though the hit machine is the face of Kirin beer, a Japanese product.

Watch Ichiro act the part of a salesman on TheSportingRave.com.

Apparently, they make excellently processed beer. And that's the way Ichiro likes it.

Angels catcher Bobby Wilson was not a surprise starter on Saturday evening given his success in battery combination with starting pitcher Ervin Santana.

Wilson entered the game with only two major league home runs on Saturday and belted a three-run blast early on to boost the Angels chancing of taking game two against the Toronto Blue Jays. The score was 5-0 after the home runs by Bobby Wilson and Hideki Matsui, who smacked the ball out for the first time in a month.

Via FanGraphs:

Jackson’s profile does suggest that he should have an above average BABIP. He has a line drive rate of 25.8 percent and a ground ball rate above 50 percent, and both serve his speed quite well. As such, an above average BABIP should be expected.

On December 21, 2007, news broke that Josh Hamilton had been traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Texas Rangers for Edinson Volquez and Danny Herrera.  

At the time, it was a fairly big trade; Hamilton had hit .292 with 19 home runs and 47 RBI in just 298 ABs for the Reds, while Volquez was a top prospect in the Rangers organization.  Herrera was not a top prospect, but he has gone on to be a solid bullpen arm.  

But we all know what became of Hamilton and Volquez.  

Back in March of this year, Oakland A’s speedster Rajai Davis made a pretty bold prediction. He believed he could steal 75 to 80 bases in 2010.