Mariners-Angels Preview

4/20/2008 1:08 AM

By DAN PIERINGER
STATS Writer

The Los Angeles Angels have won three of the last four AL West titles in part because of their success within the division. If their recent hot streak is any indication, they could be on their way to another crown.

The Angels go for their sixth straight win against division rivals and try to complete a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners in Anaheim on Sunday.

The Los Angeles franchise has won six division titles in its 47-year history - including the AL West crown in 2004, 2005 and 2007 - and has had the best record within the division in each of those seasons.

This year's Angels (12-7) won just one of their first five games against AL West rivals, but have responded with five straight victories - a run that began with a 10-5 win over the Mariners (9-10) in Seattle on April 13.

After beating the Mariners 5-4 in the opener of this series, Los Angeles got eight strong innings from starter Ervin Santana in a 4-1 win on Saturday.

"I don't think it is any secret that they are the team to beat in the division," Saturday's starter Jarrod Washburn told the Mariners' official Web site, "and to get where we want to be, we have to beat them. We have to figure out a way to beat them."

Still, Mariners manager John McLaren isn't panicking.

"There is always an urgency to beat your rivals and the teams in your division, but you can't put so much emphasis on it that it's a do-or-die situation," McLaren said. "Every series we play them, we are looking to win the series and so are they. We beat them last weekend, two-out-of-three, and are looking to win tomorrow."

McLaren will hand the ball to Miguel Batista (1-2, 6.35 ERA), who is coming off his first win of the year. The right-hander was reached for four runs in five innings against Kansas City on Tuesday, but got 10 runs of support in Seattle's 11-6 victory.

Batista is 5-4 with a 5.60 ERA in 13 career games - eight starts - against the Angels, who will start Dustin Moseley (1-1, 7.80).

Moseley gave up four runs, seven hits and five walks in four innings Tuesday, but the Angels rallied for a 7-4 win at Texas. The right-hander has never started against the Mariners, but is 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA in four relief appearances versus Seattle - all last season.

Seattle right fielder Ichiro Suzuki, who has won two AL batting titles in seven seasons and has a career batting average of .332, is hitting just .250 this season and is 3-for-21 (.143) in five games against the Angels.

"We need to get Ichiro hot again," McLaren said. "When he gets on base, things happen. They have done a good job of keeping Ichiro off the bases."

The Angels are aiming for their third sweep of the Mariners since the beginning of last season. They swept their first home series against the Mariners in 2007, as well as a three-game set in Seattle from Aug. 27-29.