"They never would acknowledge it, but the Angels get to look forward to a stretch of bad opponents - the sort of opponents division winners would beat up on. Friday was a good start.

The Angels defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 8-3, at Angel Stadium, giving starter Dan Haren some rare early run support and withstanding the Orioles' drip-drip-drip offense.

Excluding head-to-head matchups with the Texas Rangers, the Angels have 30 games remaining. Twenty-three are against teams with losing records, including series against the Chicago White Sox, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins and Oakland A's this month.

Friday's game was a perfect example of the opportunity bad teams give the Angels. They faced a starting pitcher, Jo-Jo Reyes, who had been waived just two weeks earlier. They faced an offense that just traded its first baseman, Derrek Lee, in a deadline deal.

The Angels, meanwhile, played like a contender. They jumped out early with four hits in a row in the first inning, concluding with a Torii Hunter home run, the first of two for Hunter. It was the first time since June 14 they scored four runs in the first.

Hunter's homer in the first extended his hitting streak to 17 games."