Anaheim Angels

Time: 7 p.m. Where: Angel Stadium TV: Fox Sports West Did you know: The Angels entered Monday's game with a 9-19 record against the AL West and 21-20 in all other games. Numbers game: 2 — Inherited base runners the Angels had allowed to score –...

Although the Angels wouldn't want to demean the Seattle Mariners by admitting it, this four-game series against Seattle ought to present an opportunity for the Angels. The Mariners enter the series a half-game ahead of the Angels, but they have been...

During the recent draft, I happened to be on vacation, and even though I love this game and I LOVE prospects, there isn’t much that could take my focus away from my wife, the Atlantic waves and a cocktail. Still, I’d done some homework before the draft on some players and did a little more digging following the draft as well. We here at MWAH do our best to talk to the right people when dealing with prospects we haven’t scouted for ourselves. Of the ones I have had the opportunity to watch, it’s been in shorter video clips, so I did the best I could. Obviously, we’ll all get a better read on these guys once the season starts and can start watching them on a regular basis. However, for now, here’s what we have on the newly drafted Angels prospects. *Note – If you don’t see anything on a particular prospect that was drafted, just know that I couldn’t find anything substantial on them and have heard nothing from anyone within the Angels organization about this player either. 36th round pick Brandon Bayardi – He’s a very well-built corner OF from UNLV. An impressive blend of speed, strength and power. I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking at here, but I am impressed by the numbers Bayardi put up against competition that wasn’t exactly the easiest among the college ranks. 35th round pick Eric Weiss – A third baseman from the University of Texas. He played for the Team USA collegiate team, so obviously he was a decent college player. He doesn’t have a ton of power, but there’s lots of athleticism and projection here. Very similar to a high school player in that he’s raw but has upside. Listed as a catcher on the Angels website, so that’s either a mistake or a move they’re hoping to make. 34th round pick LF Eric Aguilera – Aguilera fits the profile of a big athletic OF whose value is tied into his ability to climb the ladder quickly. Collegiate 34th round picks rarely make any headway in the minors but Aguilera actually has quite a bit going for him. There’s considerable power, and he has a sweet swing from the left-side. His coach even claimed he was one of the best hitters in the Midwest. We’ll have to take a closer look. 28th round pick Miguel Hermosillo – This one I’m actually a bit excited about. Hermosillo was a running back for the University of Illinois and was considered to be one of the better RB in the country, even projected to possibly play in the NFL. He’s reportedly excellent defensively, very explosive and quick. He’s probably the best pure athlete of the draft, and that’s saying something considering who the Angels drafted in the 3rd round. 24th round pick Mark Shannon – Before you do anything else, check out this catch he made: [youtube]rng_l0KBV78[/youtube] He has a solid mix of speed and gap power. 23rd round pick Matt Hernandez – 6’2" LHP has been clocked at 92 mph with his fastball and has a soft breaking ball in the upper 60’s/low 70’s. 22nd round pick Trevor Foss – I really like what I’ve heard about him and seen from video on this kid. He’s a big RHP from Texas A & M Corpus Christi. He has a slow but deliberate delivery that can really throw hitters off. Really good arm action for a starter, he hides the ball extraordinarily well. Big, bending slider that lacks drop but cuts well. There isn’t much to speak of as far as stuff, but it looks like he can get hitters out. 20th round pick Brian Loconsole – 6’2" RHP with a low 90’s fastball. He was a closer at a small college back East. 19th round pick Cole Swanson – 6’5" LHP, has a pulse, will likely make the major leagues because of the aforementioned factors. Fastball reportedly has good late movement, his best pitch is a change up. Looks

RANK PLAYER CHANGE COMMENTS 1 -- 0 Last Week: 1 Mike Trout - With the week he just had, the Angels should see to it that his entire extended family attends every single one of his games. I imagine giving him a fat contract extension would allow for him to pay for that himself. Sounds like a win-win. 2 -- 0 Last Week: 2 Howie Kendrick - It is official, Kendrick is in the conversation for a batting title now. I never thought this day would come. I can't wait to see how he screws it up. 3 +2 Last Week: 5 Jason Vargas - It was good to see him have a strong bounceback start in a bandbox stadium against potent lineup. 4 -1 Last Week: 3 Jered Weaver - That's weird. It is almost like him recovering a few ticks of velocity didn't fix everything. 5 -1 Last Week: 4 Mark Trumbo - Trumbo seems to be starting his second half swoon a little bit early this year. 6 +1 Last Week: 7 Albert Pujols - A great week for The Machine marred by him ending it with a strikeout to abort what would've been an epic comeback victory for the Halos. 7 +1 Last Week: 8 Kevin Jepsen - He allowed his first run since coming back from injury, but it was unearned. He is making this not believing in him thing really difficult. 8 +4 Last Week: 12 Ernesto Frieri - Three innings, no hits, no walks and six strikeouts. Now this is the Ernasty we've been looking for. 9 +1 Last Week: 10 Chris Iannetta - He can't throw out base stealers, but at least he can pick guys off now. 10 +1 Last Week: 11 Michael Kohn - Two appearances, two batters faced, two strikeouts. Talk about making the most of limited opportunities. 11 -5 Last Week: 6 Erick Aybar - How has nobody mentioned that Aybar has ONE stolen base this season?! 12 +2 Last Week: 14 C.J. Wilson - Wilson had one of his best starts of the year but did it without Conger catching. Maybe Scioscia should see if that can become a trend. 13 +3 Last Week: 16 Tommy Hanson - Hanson looked fantastic this week, but was it because he was facing a lame Yankees lineup or because he is finally rounded into form after his long layoff? 14 -5 Last Week: 9 Jerome Williams - Solid start against a good team? Still not good enough to replace Joe Blanton. 15 -- 0 Last Week: n/a Peter Bourjos - After his home run robbing catch against J.J. Hardly, I think we can all put the "Trout belong in center" debate to bed. 16 -3 Last Week: 13 Scott Downs - Downs has one job, getting lefties out and now he can't even do that right. 17 +4 Last Week: 21 Garrett Richards - It has got to be the lack of nasty, crunchy long hair. 18 +4 Last Week: 19 Hank Conger - The whirly, over-the-head follow through on Hank's home run swings give me a great deal enjoyment. 19 -4 Last Week: 15 Alberto Callaspo - Callaspo has a .541 OPS this month. In completely unrelated news, Luis Jimenez has a .908 OPS this month. If you try and tie those two facts together to form a roster move suggestion, that's on you.

You can call him AlIf Albert Pujols is going to be a shell of himself, we might as well call him Al instead of Albert. Think about the song by Paul Simon…A man walks down the streetHe says why am I soft in the middle nowOkay, Al may not be soft in the middle per say, but he’s certainly soft in the middle of the Angels lineup.Why am I soft in the middleThe rest of my life is so hardWe’d like to know why you’re so soft too, Al. The rest of your life is going to be hard? Not with the kind of cash you’re making – now your life on the baseball field… well, we shall see.I need a photo-opportunityI want a shot at redemptionA walk of hit yesterday would have gone a long way toward both.Don't want to end up a cartoonIn a cartoon graveyardWell… only you can do something about that.Bonedigger BonediggerDogs in the moonlightFar away my well-lit doorMr. Beerbelly BeerbellyGet these mutts away from meYou know I don't find this stuff amusing anymoreAnd Al, we are not amused with the lack of production in key moments of a game. This is not the Albert Pujols we thought we were getting. The “dogs” in the moonlight – are you and Josh Hamilton who aren’t living up to expectations.If you'll be my bodyguardI can be your long lost palI can call you BettyAnd Betty when you call meYou can call me AlMark Trumbo has done everything he can to protect you… but I don’t think you should call him Betty. Now, about being called “Al;” I’m all for that.A man walks down the streetHe says why am I short of attentionGot a short little span of attentionAnd wo my nights are so longFocus bro; focus. See the ball; hit the ball. Got it?Where's my wife and family?I hope they’re not back in St. Louis. I hope that distraction has been resolved. Just saying.What if I die here?Well… you’re killing us, Al.Who'll be my role-modelNow that my role-model isGone GoneYou mean Torii? Yeah, we miss him too.He ducked back down the alleyWith some roly-poly little bat-faced girlAll along alongThere were incidents and accidentsThere were hints and allegationsThe only hints and allegations around here about whether or not you should be on the DL and although some people question your actual age – I’m not going there.If you'll be my bodyguardI can be your long lost palI can call you BettyAnd Betty when you call meYou can call me AlCall me AlAgain, talk to Mark Trumbo.A man walks down the streetIt's a street in a strange worldMaybe it's the Third WorldMaybe it's his first time aroundHe doesn't speak the languageHe holds no currencyHe is a foreign manI know this hitting .250ish is a strange new world for you. We don’t like it much either. Something has to give.He is surrounded by the soundThe soundCattle in the marketplaceScatterlings and orphanagesHe looks around, aroundHe sees angels in the architectureSpinning in infinityHe says Amen and Hallelujah!Umm… those are Angel fans. Most haven’t taken to booing you just yet… and I for one, would never do that – but the natives are getting restless.If you'll be my bodyguardI can be your long lost palI can call you BettyAnd Betty when you call meYou can call me AlCall me Al You got it, Al. You’re Al to me until Albert shows back up.

The June 17th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Scioscia to keep Hamilton in two-hole, the Dodgers cost the Angels TV revenue and much more... The Story: Joe Blanton will return to the rotation on Tuesday. The Monkey Says: Which you probably figured out after Jerome Williams threw three innings of relief on Sunday. This is absolutely the wrong move, but at least Scioscia seems to be inching closer and closer to finally pulling the plug on Blanton. Then again, he is only setup for success facing a lineup like Seattle, which was probably the whole point of pushing back his turn in the rotation. The Story: The Dodgers ended up costing the Angels potentially billions of dollars in their TV contract. The Monkey Says: Frank McCourt cut a sweetheart deal with Fox so he could try and use the money to pay his own personal debts. The league didn't allow it, but the Angels used that contract as a model for their own deal with Fox Sports. Had Moreno known how much the Dodgers would've ended up getting, he might've been able to get more, but I doubt he would have matched the deal. The impulse here is to blame McCourt for artificially lowering the value of TV contracts at the time, but it seems to me that the fault here lies more with the Angels for not reading the tea leaves properly. Not that they got a bad deal, but it would've been nice to get even more money. The Story: Mike Trout is holding steady at second in the AL oufielder All-Star voting. The Monkey Says: He is also holding steady as the only Angel with a chance of getting voted in. Howie Kendrick is having a monster season and still can't crack the top five at his position. He'll surely get picked as a reserve, but it goes to show just how stupid the All-Star balloting process really is. The Story: Mike Scioscia intends to stick the lineup arrangement that has Josh Hamilton in the two-hole. The Monkey Says: The move has done nothing to jump start Hamilton, but even Sosh knows that one week is too small of a sample to make any real judgment. What I would like Scioscia to at least consider is not having Hamilton bat second against a lefty. Perhaps that will be the case given that Scioscia had a last minute change of heart yesterday when he pulled Josh from the lineup against a tough southpaw. The Story: A look at the Albert Pujols vs. Mariano Rivera matchup from Sunday. The Monkey Says: Wow, it is almost like Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher of all-time for a reason or something. The Story: The Angels signed right-handed reliever Mike Ekstrom to a minor league deal. The Monkey Says: I'm done considering these throwaway signings. With De La Rosa and Coello, Dipoto has demonstrated a knack for finding command challenged relievers that can miss bats like Ekstrom and turning them into somewhat viable big leaguers. That doesn't mean we should expect anything from Ekstrom, just that we should at least keep an eye on him. The Story: The Angels signed left-handed reliever Dustin Richardson to a minor league deal. The Monkey Says: Same as above only Richardson is coming off a PED suspension. I don't know if that makes any kind of a difference in the assessment, just that it something to know about him. The Story: An idiot fan tried to climb on the Angels Post-Game Live set, only to fail spectacularly. The Monkey Says: C'mon, people, we're better than that. Stop acting like Dodgers fans. [follow]

A few years ago, Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit. It is hard to say if this is a cause for celebration. While Jeter is undeniably a great player, he is a Yankee. If he played for any other team, his 3,000th hit would have got some coverage and that would have been that. But the Yankees get more than their fair share of coverage. They get more coverage than they have earned. When the owner of a team huddles with his front office after a slow start it might not even get mentioned by any of the beat reporters covering 29 of baseball's 30 teams. When George Steinbrenner once called a conclave in Tamp after his team had a .500 April a few years ago, it was the lead story on almost every sports news show. Video of cars in a Tampa parking lot were played and replayed as news instead of highlights from games involving everyone else. The reason for this is that the major broadcast media in this country is all centered in Manhattan. The Yankees are television's hometown team. When they win they get more coverage then other winners. When they lose the drama unfolds as a lead story. Their rivalry with the Red Sox became a central drama to the point that no other baseball rivalry existed and it ended up elevating Boston to a national prominence far more than the city's size would garner. The only story that the national media doesn't cover regarding the Yankees is the resentment that the endless coverage of the team engenders toward the media. Enter the Angels. This is a team that is mocked by the national media for having a Rally Monkey mascot, for having a laidback California fan base, for beachballs in the stands and for having contractually-obligated geography accompany the team name. When they do get around to saying anything nice about the club, their ignorance of the basics shines in an instant. This weekend Fox's national baseball color man, Tim McCarver said he preferred Mike Trout in Centerfield over Peter Bourjos because Trout had a better arm, a demonstrably false assertion to anyone who has watched a few Angels games - which of course, national broadcasters simply have not done. Of course McCarver said this on a broadcast of a Yankees-Angels game. You can bet the lead team of the network would never be caught dead at an Angels-A's game. And so, stuck with our second fiddle, the one thing Angels fans as well as the fans of 29 other teams can do is heartily boo the Yankees. Ironically, Boston fans should be the only other fan base cheering the Yankees - as the overdrive coverage of "The Rivalry" elevated Boston to its lofty status. But fans of all 29 other teams boo the Bronx Bombers and all they represent, all the frontrunner scorn their fans deserve and all the extra media coverage their ordinary news receives. It is all fair game and in the culture of baseball fans it is a time-honored tradition. And yet, when a guy gets his 3,000th hit, it is a big deal. Even if you hate the team he is on, as a baseball fan you have to cheer for a great of the game. When the greatest relief pitcher of all time is retiring and comes to your stadium for the last time, why wouldn't you want your team to honor him and what he represents to the game of baseball? Well when that great player is a Yankee, his greatness has contributed to the acidic ignoring of 29 teams in baseball for one. The New-York-centric media has elevated his greatness above and beyond its true impact. Would Craig Biggio have missed out on the Hall of Fame's first ballot if he had been a Yankee instead of an Astro? Of course not. And so fans of teams who are fans of the institution of baseball could be forgiven for feeling conflicted when the owner of their favorite team honored a Yankee great before an Angels-Yankees game. When Jeter got his 3,000th hit the Angels honored him with a painting prior to a home game. Actually, news of the pregame ceremony leaked and created a fan backlash that caused the Angel to announce there was no ceremony scheduled. Then during that g

Alright, a 4 game series! Lets see how this turns out.Here's the weekly results thread if you missed it / can't find it. Loading...

June 17 7:05pm, June 18 7:05pm, June 19 7:05, June 20 7:05pm Another week, another Angels series. Over the weekend we were treated to a series win against the Yankees -- almost taking out the broomsticks for the final game. Now Mike Scioscia will look for his Halos to this four game set against the Seattle Mariners. Luckily, Scioscia will get an edge in Monday's game. Aaron Harang will be on the hill for the M's. Last time out against the Angels, on May 21, Harang didn't escape the fourth inning. He let up seven runs through nine hits. On the other side of the mound will be Jason Vargas -- one of the more consistent pitchers for the club. Vargas' last outing resulted in a loss; however, he did improve upon his beatdown from the Cubs. The series then hands things off to... ugh... Joe Blanton. After Joe is C.J. and Tommy Hanson. Both Hanson and Wilson performed well in the weekend's Yankee series. Over the weekend, everyone seemed to hit the ball well except for Josh Hamilton. Albert Pujols and Mark Trumbo both had three hit games and Mike Trout improved his average to .305. Also, you can't help but mention Howie Kendrick. The second baseman is on a tear this season! His average is up to .335 and if he doesn't make the All-Star Game, I will be VERY disappointed. One can hope this four game series will be when Hamilton gets the ball flying frequently because now is when it's needed. The only thing standing between the Angels and fist third place are the M's. While being eleven games behind in the American League West, they are just eight games back in the American League Wild Card. There's still time! Probable SPs -- Aaron Harang / Jason Vargas, Jeremy Bonderman / Joe Blanton, Joe Saunders / C.J. Wilson, Felix Hernandez / Tommy Hanson Poll Results for the series? "No [games] for you!" or just one Split Three games, Joe couldn't close his. SWEEEEEEEP! 1 votes | Results

Sorry for the lateness! Let's get right into the details. angelsncrkrjks had the best score for the week, by scorin an impressive 11! joeyz34 missed barely by falling short by 2... angelslogic, im4kiss, tanana40 each grabbed 8 points for the week! Full results here. Overall, Ant Fan has retained the top spot, but rmhalofan has reclaimed it as well! They are both tied with an overall score of 64. atlantangel is right behind, trailing by 1. angelslogic, blast21dave, bc56274 are behind the leaders by only 2 points! It's a close battle! Full results are here.