The May 15th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Torii Hunter has left the team following his son being arrested for sexual assault, the Halos still have plenty of time to rally, looking for potential flaws in Albert Pujols' swing and much more...

The Story: Torii Hunter has left the team and been placed on the restricted list following his son's arrest due to his involvement in an alleged sexual assualt last month.

The Monkey Says: This is just the worst.  Hunter has always prided himself as a family man after growing up with an absentee father, so this has to hit him hard.  There is no telling when he will return as these appear to be very serious allegations.  Ryan Langerhans has been called up to take Hunter's place on the active roster.

The Story: The Angels still have plenty of time to rally.

The Monkey Says: That is completely true, with two wild card spots available, they have more than enough time to get back into playoff contention.  The problem is that there is a pretty good chance that this team just stinks, and all the time in the world isn't going to cure that.

I've never fully gotten into the Fire Mickey Hatcher movement, but after this game, I would like to volunteer myself to become President of the Fire Hatcher Committee.

Normally, I would say that while Mickey doesn't appear to be a great coach, the Angels' problems at the plate extend far beyond what any hitting coach is responsibe for.  Tonight though, COMPLETELY on him.

The Angels faced Tyson Ross a few weeks ago and he carved them up by pounding the strike zone and getting the Angels to swing at a pitcher's pitch early in the count.  In that game, Ross cruised through six innings on 91 pitches, 61 of which were strikes.  The Halos made him look like an ace.  Since then, Ross has been getting pounded by every team he has faced.

But guess what happened tonight?  Ross got to face the Angels again and, just like last time, they swung at his pitch early in the count and made him look like an ace.  If the Halos had a hitting coach that wasn't totally incompetent, they would have come into this game having made adjustments to their plan of attack against Ross that failed to miserably the last time.  Nope, they have Hatcher and his sole plan of attack for any pitcher which is "if it is possibly in the strike zone, swing away."  Another fine Hatcher hatcher job.

Oh, I guess we should give Mickey some credit, the Angels did manage to work one walk against Ross this time and made him use 94 pitches, 60 for strikes, to get through six innings.  Baby steps, right?

Ugh, we are never going to be rid of Hatcher, are we.

Athletics 5, Angels 0

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Oakland Athletics (18-17) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (15-20)

Pitching Probables: OAK – Tyson Ross (1-3, 7.71 ERA)  LAA – Dan Haren (1-3, 4.19 ERA)

Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830

Time for the Angels to get on a move.  Still mired in last place in the AL West, the Angels begin a two-week run in which they face nothing but weak opponents.  Of course, the Angels actually have a worse record than almost all of them (hooray for the Padres!), so calling them soft is a bit like a pot calling the kettle black.

But that is how the Angels have to look at this 14-game stretch, as their chance to get their season back on track.  That means putting all the BS behind them.

Dan Haren suffering from back spasms?  Not anymore he isn't.  Sack up and pitch the Angels to a win tonight, Danny Boy.

Getting dominated by a scrub pitcher like Tyson Ross, who bested them a few weeks ago?  Get over it.  Time to play big boy baseball and knock him around like every other team in the league has been doing.

Continuing the "Albert Pujols is playing miserably" watch going?  It has to end.  Let's be honest, the Angels have several problems, but none looms larger than the black hole in the middle of the lineup that is Albert Pujols.  He HAS to start hitting if this team is ever going to start firing on all cylinders and put together the kind of winning streak they need to inject themselves back into contender status.  Sure, pressure is the last thing he seems to need, but we all know it is the truth.  The Angels go as Pujols goes.  So it is high time he get going.

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It is the last week before we reach the quarter pole of the season and the last week in which I am going to allow my pre-season perceptions to factor into the ratings.  In other words, if you like seeing Albert Pujols not ranked in the 20s, then you might want to relish this week.

As always, the rankings are based on a player's overall season performance with a weight on recent performance.

RANK	PLAYER	CHANGE	COMMENTS
1		+1 Last Week: 2	C.J. Wilson - I doubt he'll get it, but he deserves the respect of the Ranger fans for stepping up and taking the bump again the morning after a rain delay cut short his previous start.  He had to get up emotionally to face an incredibly hostile crowd twice and he pitched his ass off to help the Angels win.
2		-1 Last Week: 1	Jered Weaver - So this is what happens when Weaver doesn't face the Twins every outing.  Yuck.
3		+1 Last Week: 4	Mark Trumbo - Mark Trumbo is officially a grown ass man now.
4		+5 Last Week: 9	Mike Trout - Have you accepted Mike Trout as your personal lord and savior?  I know I have.
5		+2 Last Week: 7	Howie Kendrick - He's been hitting like his old self lately, but never in an important situation it seems.  Of course, I don't see how I can bust on him for that when the same thing can be said about everyone on this team.
6		-3 Last Week: 3	Torii Hunter - He had one hit all week, a home run.  At least he made it count.
7		+1 Last Week: 8	Scott Downs - For the second time this season, Downs looks like he is seriously hurt but manages to shake it off and comeback looking better than ever just a few days later.  And people say the Angels have had no luck.
8		-2 Last Week: 6	Albert Pujols - I honestly don't think I can be rational about Boojols anymore.  Let's just move on.
9		-4 Last Week: 5	Dan Haren - Let's just hope these back spasms are a brief bump in the road.
10		+3 Last Week: 13	Ernesto Frieri - Some say he is the closer of the future.  I say the future started when he got demigod Josh Hamilton looking on Saturday.
11		-1 Last Week: 10	Kendrys Morales - A sore Achilles is no surprise, nagging injuries like this were bound to happen with Morales and all the more reason the Angels are smart to limit his playing time... well, that and he can't hit lefties.
12		+2 Last Week: 14	Ervin Santana - I don't know what he did that caused the Angels' bats to not score a single run for him in five straight starts, but now that he was gotten back on their good side, I highly recommend he not repeat whatever the original transgression was.
13		+2 Last Week: 15	Maicer Izturis - I'm starting to think that the wrong Angels shortstop got the contract extension.
14		-2 Last Week: 12	Jerome Williams - I refuse to penalize Jerome for his pseudo-spot start on Friday.  That was an untenable situation for most any pitcher and, if anything, he should be rewarded for taking one for the team.
15		+6 Last Week: 21	Jordan Walden - A 1-2-3 inning with a two-run lead against Texas is another step forward in the resurrection of Walden.  It might take awhile, but he'll get there.
16		+6 Last Week: 22	Alberto Callaspo - Just when the roster logjam was starting to resolve itself, Callaspo has caught fire in May (.986 OPS) and turned third base back into a daily guessing game on who will get the start.
17		+2 Last Week: 19	Peter Bourjos - The more I think about it, the more I realize that the Free Peter Bourjos campaign should really be the Free Guy Who Isn't Vernon Wells campaign.
18		-- 0 Last Week: 18	Vernon Wells - Remember how everyone said there is no way he can be as bad as last year?  WRONG!  Wells is posting worse numbers in almost every single offensive category compared to his final numbers for the abortion that was his 2011 season.  If there is any justice in this world, he'll be benched if not released by the end of the week.
19		-2 Last Week: 17	Erick Aybar - I've been too obsessed with figuring out what's wrong with Pujols to even begin trying to figure out why Aybar has been so wretched this season.
20		+3 Last Week: 23	Bobby Wilson - For the next two months, this guy is the starting catcher... yep.  Hey, umm, does anyone have Bengie Molina's phone number?  I want to talk to him about something.  Actually, that's not fair, Wilson isn't that horrible, but the last thing the Halos need is another offensive liability in the lineup.
21		-1 Last Week: 20	David Carpenter - I like Carpenter quite a bit, but I'm still not ready to see him pitching in high leverage situations.
22		+2 Last Week: 24	Jason Isringhausen - If not for this weekly feature, I don't think I'd even remember that he is still on the team.
23		+2 Last Week: 25	Hisanori Takahashi - How bad does it have to get when Taka can't even get into a game as a mop-up man anymore?
24		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	John Hester - I have no idea if he is any good, but my wife assures me he is very handsome, so he has that going for him.
25		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	David Pauley - Mop, mop, mop, all day long.  Mop, mop, mop while I sing this song.

Biggest Riser: Callaspo, Walden up six spots each

Biggest Dropper: Haren, down four spots

Dropped from rankings: Chris Iannetta (injured, but he'll be back), LaTroy Hawkins (same thing)

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The May 14th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including Angels deny shopping Peter Bourjos, Mark Trumbo wants the Angels to play with attitude, Chris Iannetta had successful wrist surgery and much more...

The Story: Jerry Dipoto says that the Angels are not actively shopping Peter Bourjos.

The Monkey Says: Dipoto wouldn't admit it if he was, but I believe him.  Jerry is too smart to be looking to trade Bourjos, especially since it would only be to create more playing time for Vernon Wells, which nobody wants.  He also isn't about to trade a valuable asset while its value is at an all-time low.  That being said, there is nothing he can do to prevent other teams from calling on Bourjos and letting word of it get to the press.

The Story: Mark Trumbo thinks the Angels need to play with attitude and a chip on their shoulder.

The Monkey Says: I'll be damned if Trumbo didn't hit the nail on the head.  For the last few seasons, this team has been playing tight and even afraid at times.  They have no swagger whatsoever.  Getting swagger and attitude isn't that easy though because you usually acquire it by winning lots and lots of games.  Still, the first step in solving a problem is identifying the cause of it.

Dream Weaver could've been the key to the Angels getting a big series win and turning the season around, but instead, he ended up giving us all weeks worth of bad dreams.

Rangers 13, Angels 6

Nobody wants me to sit here and recap this disaster of a game.  Even if you didn't watch it, the final score tells you everything you need to know.  Once again, Texas took Weaver to the woodshed in a game that the Angels absolutely had to have.  I'm not even going to pretend that this is just a poorly timed horrible performance for Weaver, he crapped the bed and the Rangers own him in Arlington.  It is just that simple.

However, I'm also not about to start writing a eulogy for the Angels' season.  It may not feel like it right now, but this team has been showing signs of life.  They just ran into a buzzsaw in the Rangers.  They are the best team in baseball.  They are going to walk away with the AL West.  But the Halos still have life beyond that.  As I mentioned before the series started, the Angels have a slate of pretty soft opponents coming up over the next two weeks.  If they take advantage, they can put themselves over .500 by the end of the month and right back into the Wild Card hunt.

Now, it would've been nice to come out of this series with the Halos feeling good about themselves instead of feeling like a red-headed stepchild, but there's nothing they can do about it now.  Still, there is reason to dream of the Angels reaching the post-season.  And really, dreaming is all we have after living through a nightmare game like tonight.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (15-19) @ Texas Rangers (22-12)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Jered Weaver (5-0, 1.60 ERA)  TEX – Neftali Feliz (2-1, 3.38 ERA)

Game Info: 5:05 PM PT; TV - ESPN; Radio - KLAA 830

Do you really need me to tell you how huge this game is for the Halos?  Do you?  If you answered yes, kindly close your browser.  You are no longer welcome here.  Go on!  Do it!  Scram!!!

Ugh, always gotta be clearing out the riff-raff.  For those of you with an actual brain that realize this game's importance, I will spare you a rehash of anything about the Angels needing to turn the season around and simply implore you to join your fellow Angel fans tonight at Throwbacks Sports Bar for the Angels Watch Party!  (which thankfully won't be a suicide watch party since the Angels getting swept is now out of the question)

Join us, you won't regret since if the Halos do lose, you at least helped a good cause... and can get easily trashed.  Everybody wins!

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