- The Story: A man committed suicide by jumping off the rook of the Angels’ hotel in New York. The Monkey Says: Wow, talk about a bad omen to start a road trip. Apparently Jered Weaver actually saw the guy as he hit the ground and was rather shaken up as a result.
- The Story: The Yankees gave Hideki Matsui lots of love and a fake ring at the ring ceremony. The Monkey Says: Matsui’s ring box contained a fake ring which he didn’t realize at first, but he did get his real ring after the game.
- The Story: The Angels are expected to activate Reggie Willits from the disabled list. The Monkey Says: That really isn’t a major move by the Angels since they aren’t really using the bench much, but it will be interesting to see who the Angels remove from the roster to make room. Terry Evans and Bobby Wilson are the likely candidates, but they are both out of options, so the Angels would risk losing them through waivers.
- The Story: Scott Kazmir is feeling great after a bullpen session. The Monkey Says: Kaz has been really talking himself up lately and it almost seems like he is trying too hard to convince us that he is healthy when he may not be. We will find out for sure when he takes the mound on Thursday.
- The Story: Hideki Matsui won’t play the field when the Angels visit Toronto. The Monkey Says: Toronto’s artificial surface is a bad match for Matsui’s knees, so the Angels are smartly not subjecting him to more time on that field than they have to.
- The Story: Rex Hudler was the victim of a Facebook hoax. The Monkey Says: Someone impersonating Hudler created a page and claimed he was returning to the Angels’ broadcast, but that obviously isn’t true. The real Rex Hudler doesn’t even use Facebook but will now create a real page since the fake page got so much support.
- The Story: The Angels bullpen has plenty of power. The Monkey Says: Throwing hard is great, but it doesn’t work so well if the pitchers can’t control their pitches which is the exact problem for Rodney, Shields, Stokes and Bulger right now.
- The Story: Meet the 35 and older team. The Monkey Says: Bobby Abreu grabs one of the outfield spots and deservedly so. There really isn’t anything else interesting beyond that, but it is a cool concept.
- The Story: Five key questions for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. The Monkey Says: They may be a Single-A team, but the Quakes boast a lot of the Angels’ top prospects, including Alexi Amarista, Will Smith and Tyler Chatwood.