The AL West is living up to its billing as the best division in baseball as three teams are virtually playing .600 baseball.

Location, location, location, the mantra of the real estate industry applies to the west tonight. The Angels play in NY against the Rivera-less Yankes, the A’s play the friendly Indians, and the Mariners face the suddenly “win at home” Tigers in Detroit.

The Cardinals take another get well pill at home versus the Pirates and the Dodgers return to LA to face the troublesome Marlins.

Pretty good for Tuesday.

The A’s are rolling once again. Art Howe has made a significant line up change at precisely the right moment to jump start the offense.

Last year, the moves involved Johnny Damon and Terrence Long in the outfield. Once the boys swapped positions things got better for the A’s. This time Art has moved Eric Chavez into the clean up spot just as the somewhat inconsistent Chavez is heating up for his typical second half run. Jermaine Dye is swinging with power right now, the ball is jumping off his bat, so the fifth spot is secure. Miguel Tejada has long since claimed the three spot.

But the other move of putting David Justice in the six hole, where his walks can keep a rally going, after the big boys do some damage ahead of him, coupled with the RBI bat of Mark Ellis in the seventh spot is what makes the line up potent.

Ellis makes contact, hits with some authority and is better than Long or Hernandez at driving runners in. Now, Justice doesn’t have the pressure of producing extra base hits, which was difficult for him to do.

Ray Durham has yet to have a big hit for the A’s, but his time will come if he plays every day. Over the course of a season Durham produces, if he plays sporadically you never know if you have picked the right spot for him. I say, make him the permanent lead off hitter/DH, and the numbers will be there.

The A’s pitching is clicking at the time when pitching will win a pennant. Ricardo Rincon is better than Magnante, Holtz, and Venafro combined. Bradford is not showing any signs of fatigue, Tam is back and Billy Koch may end up with the best relief season in the AL.

The A’s location in Cleveland, Detroit and KC for the next nine days will put them in the lead in the AL West.

The Angels play against the Yankees. Aaron Sele hasn’t won a meaningful game in NY in his life. Andy Pettitte is the hottest pitcher on the Yankees. The Angels miss Tim Salmon, still out with a bruised wrist or hand, which has prevented him from gripping the bat.

The Angels have hit lefties hard recently, but this is NY and Pettitte, I see trouble brewing for the Seraphs tonight.

Seattle hasn’t hit with any authority this season. Mike Maroth a lefty has had his moments on the hill. Freddy Garcia needs to come back to his early season form. Ruben Sierra took himself out of the game last night after straining his leg running down a single in the corner in right field. If Detroit can get a lead into the 7th inning, they are now very tough. The A’s and the Angels got help last night from the Tigers who are playing much better at home, but tonight should be a different story.

By the way, Comerica Park is one tough place for righties to hit the ball out. The left center field wall is close to 400 feet away and center filed is a shot too. A team better be prepared to hit doubles and singles to win in this park. The Mariners do that very well. Small ball helps too. The A’s better be on their toes this weekend because I see some low close games coming up for them in Detroit.

Giants fans are already singing the blues after the team lost four games on the road trip. With 39 games to go and plenty with the Dodgers, why panic now? The season is far from over and the Mets may be a better match for SF than the Marlins are in LA tonight for the Dodgers.

Amazing, AJ Burnett throws a shut out against the Giants and yesterday goes on the DL probably for the rest of the year with a bruised elbow. How did that happen?

Derek Lowe throws his sinker today in Fenway. The Red Sox get the Rangers at home at the right time. Texas is a weaker team on the road and if you pitch around A Rod things should work out for the Sox. Tonight starts the Red Sox run of 28 games in 29 days, barring the strike. Reliever Alan Embree threw so well in Minnesota that the Sox are excited about their bull pen again.

St. Louis got another gem from Andy Benes. I’ve been on the Benes bandwagon ever since seeing him pitch in Pac Bell in late July. He looks like a different pitcher and right now is the best starter Tony La Russa has going for him. The Pirates are pathetic, don’t score runs, and are allowing the Cards to get some breathing room before September. Kris Benson needs a full season to recover from his arm surgery, check him out next August. He will be back.

Last time Cincy was in Arizona last year Randy Johnson struck out 20 Reds. I’ll say 16 tonight.

Montreal comes to Pac Bell this weekend. Bartolo Colon, Javier Vasquez, and Tomo Ohka will definitely be a major test for the Giants offense. For SF to put pressure on the Dodgers, they must play well at home. The Expos will be tough.

Houston is the fashionable choice to overtake both the Giants and Dodgers in the NL Wild Card race. Kisk Saarloos pitches against Carlos Zambrano tonight in Houston. Time for the Astros to make a move in this race, don’t you think. I see it happening this week.

It all depends on where you are in the schedule.

Just like in real estate.