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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (45-36) @ Cleveland Indians (41-39)

Pitching Probables: LAA -- Ervin Santana (4-8, 5.12 ERA) CLE – Derek Lowe (7-6, 4.42 ERA)

Game Info: 4:05 PM PT; TV - FSN; Radio - KLAA 830

Watching Ervin Santana throw after Dan Haren has become nearly unbearable. The Cleveland Indians have given Santana the most trouble of the teams in the American League (throwing last season's no-hitter out of the equation.) At this point, most teams seem to give Santana these troubles (this 5.12 ERA, and less than amusing record.) 

The better news is that the offense is still producing runs. 

If you are able to stomach Santana's starts, by all means, feast your eyes on tomorrow's game. 

If not, venture outdoors and enjoy America! 

Happy Fourth of July!  

What a shocker.  Dan Haren stunk up the joint... again.  Only this time he admitted after the start that his back was bothering him... still.

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

All along, the most probable explanation for his poor performance has been recurrence (assuming they ever actually went away) of his lower back pain.  Now Danny will be heading back to Anaheim for some tests and likely spending some time on the disabled list. 

Avoidable?  Perhaps.  Maybe if he took a DL stint earlier this could be cleared up already. 

Admirable?  Sort of.  On one hand, you have to appreciate him gutting out the last few weeks since the Angels had Weaver then Williams on the DL.  If he had also succumbed to injury, the Halos basically have nobody to come up and take his place.  On the other hand, the Angels might've won more games had he gotten himself right instead of pitching like a Triple-A scrub that would've taken his place.  It is frustrating, but it is hard to be too mad at him (though the reactions I am seeing on Twitter seem to show that people are trying real hard to prove me wrong).

At least it is all out in the open now and the team can address his potential loss with the trade deadline looming.

Indians 9, Angels 5

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (45-35) @ Cleveland Indians (40-39)

Pitching Probables: LAA -- Dan Haren (6-7, 4.53 ERA) CLE – Zac McAllister (2-1, 3.82 ERA)

Game Info: 4:05 AM PT; TV - Fox; Radio - KLAA 830

Yay, finally another chance for Dan Haren to show us just how mediocre of a season he is having. With the season that he's having it's going to be a battle just for him to put up a mediocre start, maybe 3-4 runs in 6 innings of work with plenty of base hits to boot. To be fair though Haren has actually done pretty well against the Indians offense, limiting them to a .143/.200/.179 slash line though it was only 1 game he started against them. Even though the numbers are there against the Indians they still go against him based off the rocky season he's been having. He's almost been as bad as Santana; you really can't tell which Haren is going to show up. It really paints me to say that since Haren has had probably one of the most consistent careers out of a pitcher in the league.

It's really a shame to see one of the best pitchers in baseball have such a downtrodden season after what he's shown he is capable of, especially during such an important season. There is still time for him to turn his season around though, and if it's gonna start it might as well start today.

This is the month where the Angels don't lose a game after all, as I've been saying.

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'Tis the season for trade speculation.  Half-assed ideas are now the order of the day and I think I might have the king of them all.

The rumor mills currently seem to think that the Angels are going to be relatively quiet at the trade deadline.  They have a lot of wants and desires, but the consensus is that they don't have the financial wiggle room to make that happen.  One of the things they wish they could do but probably can't is to bring some stability and depth to their starting rotation.  Alas, pitching always comes at a premium at the deadline... unless, of course, you can deal some pitching of your own.  And thus is born my crazy idea for the Angels to trade Dan Haren to the Brewers for their ace Zack Greinke.

Most expect the Brewers, mired in a wildly disappointing season, to trade Greinke at the deadline unless they are able to sign him to an extension, which they are unlikely to do.  If they do deal him, they stand to get a substantial batch of prospects in return.  But I can't help but wonder if that is what they really want.

The July 3rd, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Mike Trout day-to-day with a bruised finger, Trout named AL Rookie of the Month again, Jerome Williams having a rough time on his rehab assignment and much more...

The Story: Mike Trout was scratched from yesterday's lineup with a bruised finger.

The Monkey Says: Don't panic, he's fine.  X-rays were negative and he was able to take batting practice before the game and play defense later in the game.  It sounds like the Halos just used the minor injury as an excuse to give him a day off.

The Story: Mike Trout was named the AL Rookie of the Month for June.

The Monkey Says: There is no reason for them to no just name him Rookie of the Year right now.

You know I try my absolute best to get too worked up over Downs All-Star snub, but holy beejesus after his awesome performance today how could he have been snubbed so hard?! This is almost as bad as a few years ago when Weaver got snubbed only to be added to the All-Star roster as an injury replacement, which leaves me a little hope that Downs might come in as an injury replacement. I don't need to go mulling over his very All-Star worthy stats again after every single Angels fan and Angels affiliated media person has been spending the past couple days burning his immaculate stats into our brains. 

After Jered Weaver gave up two consecutive base hits to lead off the 8th inning Downs came in and immediately shut the door on the Indians offense with a quick double play ball. After Downs sealed the door in the 8th to preserve the game it lead to more than just a win for Weaver, it dropped his ERA to 2.13, which is the lowest in the AL since Chris Sale did not pitch today. 

What a great game for our pitching today, and ya know what?

The Angels still haven't lost a game in July.

Angels 3 Indians 0 

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (44-35) @ Cleveland Indians (40-38)

Pitching Probables: LAA -- Jered Weaver (8-1, 2.31 ERA) CLE – Ubaldo Jiminez (7-6, 4.69 ERA)

Game Info: 4:05 AM PT; TV - Fox; Radio - KLAA 830

How in the world have the Angels managed to lose about 3 games in the standings after having an absolutely fantastic month of June? Oh that's right, because we compete against the Texas Rangers. Makes sense. Well if it's any consolation the Angels still lead the wildcard, which it shouldn't be because that does not guarantee them a playoff spot even if they do win it.

I need to see the Angels take the division and secure a for sure spot in the playoffs.

The Angels can keep their winning rolling through the entire month of July with this series, and I mean ENTIRE month of July. I want to see a July that is had without losing a single game. 

Ok, well maybe one game will be acceptable, but that's where I draw the line. This is pretty much the only way the Angels will ever catch up to the infinitely hot, always-coming-from-behind-and-never-giving-up-a-lead Texas Rangers.

Good thing Weaver is on the mound against the true Mr. Overrated Ubaldo Jimenez. 

You can go ahead and put this W in your pocket.