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The Angels seem to do everything right. Their starting pitching is phenomenal. Anytime Jon Garland is your number five starter and you had 2 starters in the all-star game, neither of them being your ace John Lackey, and you are doing this all with a guy who nearly won the Cy Young last season, Kelvim Escobar, having missed the entire season with injury, your starting pitching is historically good.

The Los Angeles Angels earned themselves a weekend sweep at home of the defending World Series champion Boston Red Sox and I mean earned. They came from behind twice, both times late in the game. The Angels now have the Major’s best record and, I’m not giving up on the Red Sox, but they look for real and have the look of a champion.

Their bullpen may be even better. They have an excellent set up crew and do not often give leads back. Francisco Rodriguez has 40 saves and, no it isn’t September; it’s July. K-Rod has the chance to not only break, but shatter the all-time single season saves record of 57.

Their offense doesn’t have true homerun power, but they can hit homeruns and they manufacture runs. Chone Figgins is one of the most underrated players in baseball. He may have been the MVP of the league last season because of what he does for this team. He’ll hit at a .300 clip and steal bases almost every time he’s on. That means there is a 30% you’ll have a man at 2nd, with none out, in the first. Casey Kotchman is the type of #2 hitter than can handle the bat, get Figgins over to 3rd, and get a single up the middle if no one is on. Then, you get to the “power” guys in Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter and you have a good chance to score in every inning and slowly build leads, or chip away at them.

They also have one of the best coaches in the world in Mike Scioscia and a very underrated GM. Their GM has taken a lot of heat for not making moves in the past, for big power hitters. He took heat for not trading for Mark Teixiera last season or Miguel Tejada in the off season or even Matt Holliday now. However, he doesn’t need those guys and the guys that would have had to give up, normally become stars. Last season they had the opportunity to trade Casey Kotchman, Joe Saunders, and Ervin Santana to the Rangers for Mark Teixiera. At the time, that might have seemed like a good move. Santana was struggling, Saunders was a sort of middle of the road prospect, and Teixiera would have been a huge upgrade over Casey Kotchman at first base. Now, Kotchman is a .300 hitter and both Santana and Saunders are all-stars, this season.

The Angels have a system in place with their manager and GM. They draft guys in a mold and call them up, without ever really having to go outside of the organization for help. They make do with what they have moneywise, which is not really that much. They aren’t necessarily like the Marlins who wait 5 years to be very good for 2-3 years or even really the A’s, who are good for 4-5 years, and then have 2 off years. They are like the Braves in the 90s, who had the established manager in Bobby Cox and the homegrown talent built in a mold.

That Braves team won the division every year for 14 years. The Angels are like that. They are in it every year, without having to have a giant payroll. They have been in it every year since 2000 and, while they only have one World Series title, in 2002, they have been very close other years and always give themselves the chance to win. This might be the year they win again.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Former major league pitcher Geremi Gonzalez, who won 11 games for the Chicago Cubs in 1997, was killed by a lightning strike in his native Venezuela on Sunday. He was 33.

Emergency management official Herman Bracho said Monday that Gonzalez was struck by lightning at a beach.

Gonzalez pitched for five major league teams from 1997-2006. The right-hander appeared in 131 games with 83 starts, compiling a 30-35 record.

Gonzalez also played for the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets. He made a combined 24 appearances for the Mets and Brewers in his final major league season in 2006.

Ryan Braun agreed to the largest contract in Milwaukee Brewers’ history.

Braun’s contract, which runs through 2015, replaces the $455,000, one-year renewal the Brewers gave him in spring training. It includes a $2.3 million bonus this season and could increase to $51 million through escalators.

The deal surpasses the $42 million, four-year contract the Brewers gave free-agent pitcher Jeff Suppan got before the 2007 season.

General manager Doug Melvin said Braun made a commitment from the start, just like when he immediately signed after being selected with the fifth pick of the 2005 amateur draft.

Braun’s power was never a question from the start, but his league-high 26 errors last season forced the team to move him from third base to left field. Braun has not had an error there in 39 games this season.

He becomes the first player with a long-term deal among the Brewers’ young core, which includes Prince Fielder, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy. Braun hopes the others get long-term contracts.

So was this the best game Ervin Santana ever threw?

“So far,” said the Los Angeles Angels’ unbeaten right-hander, a sly smile spreading across his face.

In his first complete game since the night he got his first major league victory in 2005, Santana (6-0) allowed four hits and no walks and struck out nine in a masterful 4-0 victory Monday night over Kansas City.

Garret Anderson and Brandon Wood hit consecutive homers in a four-run ninth for the Angels, who now have a claim to pitching fame to go along with the 21 wins that tie them with Boston for the most in the AL.

Santana joined teammate Joe Saunders at 6-0, becoming the third and fourth Angels pitchers to open a season 6-0 or better. Since 1920, Saunders and Santana are just the eighth pair of teammates to start 6-0.

It’s a startling difference from last year for Santana, who was just 7-14 in 2007.

“He got a little frustrated last year because he was going out there at times without the tools he needed to do what he’s doing now,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. “He needed to work on his delivery and get back into his game. When he’s out there on the mound and he has his mechanics together, it’s a great combination. He got a little frustrated last year.”