Its A Race Again.

Dan Haren. 'Nuff Said.

While Dan Haren and Alberto Callaspo aren't exactly the same as Cliff Lee and Bengie Molina, they might be just enough to make this a race again. Even though the Halo's lost three of four over the weekend in Texas, they still only find themselves 7 back with 10 left to play against Texas, including three this weekend in Anaheim.

Dan Haren is not having the best year of his career, but when you consider the fact that he was pretty much stuck on a go-nowhere team that had just about no chance of going anywhere, he obviously knew he couldn't do it all by himself. I don't want to say he gave up, because he didn't. He is still top 10 in the league in terms of strikeouts, and was having an above average year, but you could tell he wanted out of the desert.

Alberto Callaspo is not going to be an all-star, on or off the field, but he is a better option at third base than Brandon Wood or Robb Quinlan, and with Macier Izturis back from injury, our infield depth is at a season high.

The best thing about Dan Haren, while not only does it make the 1-2-3 punch of Weaver-Haren-Santana sound fantastic for a postseason series (should they make it that far), is that he is signed on through at least the 2012 season, with a club option for 2013.

The Angels have exactly two playesr who will be free agents at seasons end, Brian Fuentes and Scot Shields. If we can manage to trade for or sign another quality closer, pick up Carl Crawford and maybe another arm for the rotation/bullpen (Rich Harden, Chris Young and Matt Thornton look to all be available). The 2011 Angels will be a frightening force to be reckoned with.

Important series starts tonight as the Angels welcome Boston to town for a three game set. I expect everyone to make it out to the game tomorrow to boo the living hell out of a modern day Benedict Arnold, John Lackey.

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Joe Saunders. You will be missed. My favorite memory of you is when you matched the eventual Cy Young Winner Zach Grienke pitch-for-pitch in an amazing 1-0 win over the Royals last season. Grienke was pitching out of his mind, and you beat him. Good luck in Phoenix, Joe.