Sure the 2008 LA Angels of Anaheim finished with 100 wins.

Sure they won yet another AL West title finishing a whopping 21 games ahead of the second place Rangers.

Sure we made a blockbuster trade landing us All-Star first baseman Mark Teixeira for the last few months of the season (and boy did he make a difference).

Sure last year we still had one of our greatest closers in the history of the Angels, Fransisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez who set a major league record with an astonishing 62 saves.

Sure this year Teixeira, K-Rod, Garret Anderson, Jon Garland, and the recently released Justin Speier are no longer Halos.

Sure the Halos have been plagued by injuries to their three biggest bats (Vlad Guerrero, Torii Hunter, and Juan Rivera) and numerous pitchers (Lackey, Escobar, who has still not returned, Saunders, Santana, etc.).

Sure we've had to put rookie after rookie on the mound on a nightly basis (who had ever heard of Sean O'Sullivan, Matt Palmer, Jason Bulger, Trevor Bell, Kevin Jepsen, Shane Loux, and company before this year?).

Sure Big Daddy Vladdy is in the worst shape of his career.

And sure the 2009 season started on an awful note after the death of a Halos fan on Opening Night at Angel Stadium and Nick Adenhart being killed a few days later.

But despite all these things, I strongly believe that our Angels this year are much deeper. Why you ask?  To start us off, the Angels lead the league in batting average after only batting a mediocre .268 all of last year ("good" enough for 7th place in the AL alone). This year they lead the league in BA. Look at their stats. All of them (except for maybe one or two hovering just below it) are batting .300+. Even Mike Scioscia admitted to being impressed by that.  Heck the only ones batting below the .300 line are the bench/utility guys who don't play every day (Willits, Matthews Jr., Kendrick, Mathis, Quinlan, Wood, etc.).

Onto pitching.  All of our starting five (Lackey, Weaver, Saunders, Santana, and Palmer, O'Sullivan, and Trevor Bell taking turns in the 5th slot) have winning records.

Moving along now to our replacements. We have seen the breakout of a future All-Star in Kendry Morales who replaced Tex.  Look at his stats he is batting over .300 and is leading the club in slugging %, home runs, and RBIs.  I think he is a more than adequate replacement for Mark Teixeira.

Now to Brian Fuentes, K-Rod's replacement. He is 2nd in the league in saves with 35 (one beind Mariano Rivera and 8 ahead of K-Rod). While nothing close to K-Rod's performance last year, it definitely gets the job done.

Over to Bobby Abreu, the world's most patient hitter, who replaced Garret Anderson. He is second on the team in RBIs, is batting over .300, and is a stolen base threat. A lot better than the slow and double play prone Garret. Remember, I am talking about the 08 Anderson vs. the 09 Abreu. GA is one of the greatest Angels of all time but Abreu has a higher BA, Slugging %, and OBP as well as more swiped bags, BBs, and HRs and equal RBIs through 117 games played than Anderson had all season last year (he played 145 games).

Finally, Garland's replacement in the rotation, Matt Palmer. Palmer has gone 9-1 while Garland has cleared waivers for the cellar-dwelling D-Backs. I consider Palmer to be Garland's replacement because he has started more games and won more games than anyone other than Lackey, Saunders, Santana, and Weaver (O'Sullivan, Bell, Loux and Co. included).

And the defense. The entire infield is capable of winning a Gold Glove. The Angels are one of the league's best in fielding %. From Figgins with his rocket arm at the hot corner to Erick Aybar with his throws from the left field grass (who by the way leads the Angels in BA) to  Izturis at 2nd base stopping any ball that goes up the middle or through the right side to Kendry Morales with his masterful scoops at first base (who leads the Angels with a .994 fielding % good enough for 14th in the entire league). Add those four to Torii Hunter over in center (always a Gold Glove candidate and winner of 8 straight) and the Halos could be hauling in numerous Gold Gloves at season's end.

The 2009 Angels are also faster (at least five players have swiped at least ten bags with two, Figgins and Abreu, over the 25 mark). Their bats are also better as six are in double figures in HRs and nine have at least 40 RBIs with about 40+ games remaining.

I have to admit, the 2008 Angels were damn good. This years' Angels are just better. And what will seal the deal in the debate that this years squad is better? If they at least make it past the ALDS (something they could not do last year).