AL West

The spring training struggles for Scott Kazmir translated into an awful performance in his first regular season start. 

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are looking at 2011 as a rebirth of sorts. The former dominant team in the American League West has a pretty solid lineup anchored by Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells and a solid rotation led by Jered Weaver. 

When the Oakland Athletics signed Coco Crisp to a two-year contract (one year guaranteed with a team option for a second season) beginning last season, they did not anticipate that they would only have their new center fielder on the diamond for only 75 games in his first season in green and gold.

Off to a rip roaring start for the Texas Rangers.

Not only did it start off with Ian Kinsler hitting a home run in the leadoff spot on Friday, but he did it again on Saturday, becoming the first man in MLB history to accomplish that feat. 

Nelson Cruz and Kinsler have hit a home run in all three of the games so far this season.

Adrian Beltre belted out a “Grand Salami” on Saturday as well.

Seasons can't be won in April and May, but they sure can be lost.

It's imperative to hit the ground running, and the Texas Rangers looked good. They looked VERY good this weekend, outscoring the Boston Red Sox 26-11 in the three game sweep at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

The knee-jerk reaction is to say "The Rangers might be serious this year."

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let us remember it is not a sprint, but a marathon race instead. This Ranger fan is excited though.

Some could argue that the Texas Rangers had a devastating offseason. That wouldn’t be too far from the truth.

The loss of key personnel (Cliff Lee), as well as losing guys to injury in spring training (Tommy Hunter), and the mix-up in the outfield—Nelson Cruz dropping the first fly ball because of Julio Borbon bumping into him in the home opener—the Rangers have a long season ahead of them.

Two games into this long 162-game season, however, the Rangers have had some great things happen already.

Solid pitching and waiting for the A’s to implode—such has been the formula for success for the Mariners in their first two games this season.

The first part of that equation was Jason Vargas’ impeccable performance on the mound Saturday night that kept the M’s in the game. Showing impressive command of his pitches, Vargas nearly rivaled King Felix’s gem Friday night. He mixed his different pitches with success and kept the A’s off balance all night.

Entering the 2011 season, the Oakland Athletics bullpen was projected to be one of the deepest and most solid relief cores in baseball. After the first two games of the season, the bullpen looks anything but what was projected.

Saturday night the Mariners roughed up the Oakland bullpen for the second night in a row to give the A's an 0-2 start for only the second time in their past 12 seasons.

Solid pitching and waiting for the A’s to implode—such has been the formula for success for the Mariners in their first two games this season.

The first part of that equation was Jason Vargas’ impeccable performance on the mound Saturday night that kept the M’s in the game. Showing impressive command of his pitches, Vargas nearly rivaled King Felix’s gem Friday night. He mixed his different pitches with success and kept the A’s off balance all night.

Saturday night, Ichiro Suzuki connected on a pitch from Oakland reliever Brian Fuentes to surpass Edgar Martinez for the Seattle Mariners' franchise lead in total hits (2,248).

It's no surprise; throughout Ichiro's career, he has been a record-setter for the Mariners.

Seattle Mariners fans have been tormented over the past few years with incredibly disappointing seasons.  This is in part due to the unfairly high expectations that have been set by analysts.

Other factors include poor performance, inconsistent pitching, injuries, and bad management; but let's put those behind us and examine the successes of 2011.