The July 7th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Aybar and Wells are both hurting, assessing just how great Haren’s recent shutout really was, Scioscia offers his opinion on the recent rash of ejections and much more…
The Story: Vernon Wells and Erick Aybar are both nursing minor injuries.
The Monkey Says: Wells got moved to DH to rest his ankle a bit, while Aybar got the day off. Both of them sound like they are going to be fine, but the Halos are wisely playing it safe with each guy so that they don’t get hurt before the All-Star break.
The Story: Haren’s Wednesday shutout stacks up as one of the best in team history.
The Monkey Says: Haren moves into elite company because he didn’t walk anyone but did get 9 Ks. I think what this goes to show is that even though it wasn’t as sexy as a no-hitter, Haren’s dominance over Detroit should earn him some real notoriety and credit as an elite starter in this league.
The Story: Scioscia believes the recent rash of ejections is merely a cyclical phenomenon.
The Monkey Says: Sosh is probably a little bit right, but some umpiring crews clearly have itchy trigger fingers. I can’t remember where I saw it, so I apologize for the lack of link, but Joe West’s crew, which tossed three in Tuesday’s Angels-Tigers game is now on pace for 35 or so ejections this season, which is just ridiculous. Now, I love a good manager-umpire argument as much as the next guy, but guys like West need to be held responsible for their contribution to so many ejections. Part of it is that West is just a lousy umpire, but the bigger part is that he has a short fuse and baits managers and players and now his crewmates are following his lead.
The Story: Erick Aybar is producing in all facets of the game.
The Monkey Says: Aybar doesn’t have eye-popping numbers, but I think any Angel fan would agree that Aybar has very much redeemed himself after a disappointing 2010 season and possibly turned himself back into a cornerstone of the Angel franchise going forward.
The Monkey Says: It is almost funny to see GA being so open and emotional about his difficulty coping with retirement considering that a reason many fans never really connected with him was because he was so reserved and closed off during his playing days.
The Story: Check out some pics from last weekend’s Dodgers-Angels celebrity softball game.
The Monkey Says: The term “celebrity” is used very loosely in this context, in fact, I had to actually look at the slide show just to see if I actually could put a face to any of the supposedly famous names participating in the game.
The Monkey Says: As long as they aren’t there to film another awful commercial for Howard’s, I approve of this promotional event.
The Story: Donate canned food this weekend and get free tickets to the July 20th game against the Rangers.
The Monkey Says: Rangers tickets people! What a deal? Give up two cans of beets or asparagus that you aren’t going to eat anyway and you get to see a battle for first place in the AL West. I suddenly regret moving to Seattle.