AL West

Ichiro Suzuki is trying to reach 200 hits for his tenth consecutive season, but is still 73 hits short after slumping since the All-Star break.

He has only nine hits in 52 at-bats since the break while hitting .173 in that span.

Only one of his 22 hits in July has been for extra bases, when he doubled on July 15.

He was hitting .360 on May 15 but his batting average has dropped to .307 after an 0-for-4 game yesterday against the Chicago White Sox.

The Seattle Mariners already pulled off the one big deal they had planned to make leading up to Major League Baseball's trading deadline.  The Mariners traded away Cliff Lee for one of the best offensive prospects in the game in Justin Smoak (plus other prospects).

Despite being seven games behind the first place Texas Rangers in the American League West, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are not going down without a fight. Earlier in the week, they acquired Alberto Callaspo from the Kansas City Royals and now they have perhaps acquired the best pitcher left on the trade market.

The Angels have acquired RHP Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks for LHP Joe Saunders and minor leaguers Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodriguez, and Tyler Skaggs.

Entering Sunday, the Los Angeles Angels were six games back of the Texas Rangers in the American League West.

The Angels currently have the worst pitching in the division and are ranked 11th in the AL in ERA.

Sunday the Angels decided to do something about that.

Dan Haren was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks for Joe Saunders, minor league pitching prospects left hander Patrick Corbin, right hander Rafael Rodriguez, neither of which are top Angels prospects, and a player to be named later, which one would imagine will be a higher prospect.

The Los Angeles Angels aren't ready to concede the American League West to the Texas Rangers just yet. 

And Sunday, the organization made an aggressive move to help bolster its chances. 

Los Angeles will send LHP Joe Saunders, LHP Patrick Corbin, RHP Rafael Rodriguez and player to be named later to Arizona in exchange for All-Star RHP Dan Haren. 

According to The Arizona Republic Diamondbacks' beat writer Nick Piecoro, the player to be named later will be LHP Tyler Skaggs (the No. 40 overall pick in the 2009 Amateur Draft).

The Arizona Diamondbacks have announced that they have traded RHP Dan Haren to the Los Angeles Angels in return for RHP Joe Saunders and others.

The deal also involves Patrick Corin, Rafael Rodriguez, and a player to be named later for Haren.

MLB's second-half of the season is officially in full swing

Thus far, in 2010 is proving to be one for the books. With so many tight division races, fans will have plenty of excitement to keep them occupied.

After beginning the second half with a three-game sweep against the Kansas City Royals, the Oakland Athletics are ready to make a run at their first American League West title since 2006.

The A’s are currently 46-46 and seven games back of the division-leading Rangers. This may seem like a lot of ground to make up, but Oakland has their schedule and their pitching on their side.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Mariners’ management is taking heat for including Josh Lueke in the package of prospects they received along with Justin Smoak for Cliff Lee.

The last stop on our trade deadline needs tour is in the American League West. The West has two teams that will be buyers and those teams are the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

We have already seen how serious the Rangers are this trade season as they acquired Cliff Lee from division rival Seattle earlier in the week. Here are the deadline needs for the Rangers and Angels.

Texas Rangers

Record: 50-37, first place in AL West

Needs: Starting Pitching, Backup Infielder