- The Story: The LA Times takes a look back at Kendry Morales’ road from playing in Cuba to becoming a cornerstone of the LA Angels. The Monkey Says: I have seen a few of these stories recently and my favorite part is always where they embarrass Morales by making him talk about how he initially got fat on fast food when he first go to America.
- The Story: Halos Heaven crunches the numbers to determine whether or not the Angel pitchers are better off when Jeff Mathis is catching. The Monkey Says: The conclusion drawn is that there is no difference between either catcher, except when Ervin Santana is pitching. If someone could please forward that post to Mike Scioscia, that would be great. I am tired of seeing Mathis’ .200 average replacing Napoli’s power bat every other game.
- The Story: Baseball Intellect reviews Ervin Santana’s mechanics and believes that Santana is officially back on his game now. The Monkey Says: I hope they are right, but I still worry about Voodoo’s elbow robbing him of his velocity and feel.
- The Story: Could Torii Hunter’s return disrupt the Angel chemistry? The Monkey Says: Is that a joke? Hunter was the team’s best hitter and locker room leader before getting hurt. How can his return be anything but a good thing, especially when it means replacing Gary Matthews, no matter how well Sarge Jr. has been playing lately.
- The Story: Steve Bisheff takes a dump on the all the positive Angel vibes by pointing out that they will probably still lose in the post-season. The Monkey Says: Being critical of the team is fine, but being negative just for the sake of being negative is both lame and lazy.
- AL West Update: The Rangers won Thursday, cutting the Angels lead to 4.5 games. The Monkey Says: Things are about to get much harder for Texas who now has to go from beating up on Cleveland to battling the Red Sox.