The September 28th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Kendrick sprains his wrist, Morales making progress (finally) in his recovery, Weaver and Santana shutdown for the season and much more…
The Story: Howie Kendrick left last night’s game with a sprained wrist.
The Monkey Says: Clearly it isn’t serious, if it is anything at all. There is zero chance Kendrick plays today, but that was probably the case anyway judging by the way Scioscia was putting the lineup together last night.
The Story: Kendrys Morales is making progress in his recovery from ankle surgery.
The Monkey Says: It is about damn time we got an update on Morales. His walking boot is off, so that is good, but it only just came off, so he really has a long way to go before we will know if/when he will be ready to play in 2012. As we learned all too well this season, there is no predicting how his recovery will go, but at least we are getting updates again.
The Story: The Angels have scratched Ervin Santana and Jered Weaver from their final starts of the season.
The Monkey Says: The Halos are catching some flack for this move because Weaver needs just four outs without giving up a run to win the AL ERA title. Frankly, who cares. Nobody ever remembers that kind of stuff. Besides, doesn’t Weaver kind of owe it to Verlander to give him the title, especially after Weaver won the strikeout title last season in a similar situation when Felix Hernandez had his final start canceled. There is nothing to gain but more meaningless innings on two tired arms, so I totally agree with the decision. That being said, I would be apoplectic if they did this and Weaver was not already locked into a long-term extension.
The Monkey Says: You really have to feel for Torii. He is more than aware that his time in the league is running out and he so badly wants to reach the World Series.
The Story: Pitching and defense weren’t enough to carry the Angels to the post-season.
The Monkey Says: I think this is Lyle Spencer’s myopic, homer way of saying that the lineup sucked.