Alas, pennant fever is passing us by yet again.

Around here, it seems we can’t even catch a good cold, much less a bona fide, gives-me-the-shakes case of pennant fever.

Not that most of us really had jacked our hopes up much, but it was hard not to notice as the first post-All-Star break Monday rolled around this week that the only division race not tightening up is the one in the AL West.

While our suddenly ice-cold-with-the-bats Texas Rangers were struggling to salvage a single win Sunday in their three-game series at Minnesota, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were sweeping the Boston Red Sox and making a mockery of what’s left of the division race.

The Rangers woke up Monday morning the furtherst behind the Angels, at 9 1/2 games, that they have been at any point this season and half a game behind the Oakland A’s.

The Angels, you may have noticed, are the anti-Rangers.

While the Rangers were placing four red-hot position players on the All-Star team — three of them having career years — the Angels countered with three pitchers.

The Angels don’t have a position player on pace to drive in 100 runs for the first time since 1998. Their only .300 hitter, Howie Kendrick, has missed almost half of the team’s games.

They rank 11th in the American League with a .258 team batting average, which would be their lowest since 1999 if it doesn’t improve. They’re ninth in homers, 10th in runs, 10th in RBI, 10th in slugging percentage, 11th in hits, 12th in on-base percentage and 13th in walks.

And they own the best record in baseball at 60-38.

Why? Because the Angels have a combined 49 victories from their starting rotation, an amazing 40 saves from their lock-down closer and rank among the best in baseball in defense.

Can the message be any clearer?

For all the headlines that offense generates, as much as we love home runs, the game is still about pitching and defense. That’s what wins in the end.

Duh!

The Angels would certainly appear to be one of those teams that could use an offensive boost — a Milton Bradley at DH, for instance, but that’s not going to happen — yet they seem uninterested in getting involved in looking for a bat before the trade deadline. They may regret that when the playoffs arrive, but you can’t argue with their formula for getting there.

At least the Angels’ relentless march towards the division title means Rangers’ brass can feel justified in not dealing prospects for overpriced rent-a-players at the upcoming trade deadline and concentrate instead on being on the other end of that annual give-and-take.

Still, it is with a wistful, wish-it-was-us eye that I focus on the other pennant races around baseball, and there are some beauties taking shape.

AL Central

What looks like a two-horse race might be deceiving. The Chicago White Sox went into Monday night’s game with the Rangers clinging to a half-game lead over the Twins, but the team to watch is preseason favorite Detroit.

After a horrible start, the Tigers have clawed their way back to .500 and are just 6 1/2 games behind the White Sox with plenty of time left to make up that deficit. The impetus has been Justin Verlander finally pitching like the ace he’s supposed to be. He has an eight-game unbeaten streak and faces the White Sox later this week.