When the Angels signed Josh Hamilton I knew it was going to be tough. Tough on Hamilton to meet expectations. Tough on the front office to prove signing Josh was a smart decision. Tough on the fans to embrace a former enemy. Tough on me just to figure out how to deal with Hamilton's presence and all that comes with it.

As a general rule, I try and keep my own personal opinion and beliefs of the non-baseball variety to a bare minimum on this blog. I even specifically tell all the other writers for the site that politics and religion are strictly off limits. After all, this is a baseball blog and it would seem stupid to alienate members of the audience over something that has nothing to do with baseball.

Well, I think I'm probably about to do just that.

In the months since the Angels signed Josh Hamilton and the one actual week that he has played in meaningful games for them, I've come to the conclusion that loving Hamilton and accepting him as one our own might just be impossible for me to do. But because he's an Angel for the next five years, I'm sure as hell going to try, but mostly out of obligation. While there is on rule that says we must unconditionally love every player on the roster, I feel like I'm not doing my job as a fan if I don't at least try. After all, there was a time long, long ago that I gave Jeff Mathis the benefit of the doubt and would jump to the defense of Vernon Wells.

Now it is my chance to talk myself into liking Josh Hamilton. Thus far it isn't going well. It isn't going well at all.

The April 9th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Hamilton says he'd 'suck anywhere right now,' Weaver a giant red flag and much more...

The Story: Josh Hamilton says "he'd suck anywhere right now."

The Monkey Says: He's trying to deflect but the other quotes suggest he is still very bothered by all of this. He not only doubles down on the "not a baseball town" comments, but he even semi-jokingly suggests that he'd like to believe that the fans were actually booing the Texas front office for not bringing him back. Umm, yeah, not so much, Josh.

The Story: Jered Weaver's loss of velocity is a giant red flag.

The Monkey Says: Weaver has great command, deception and ability to change speeds, but he is practically the slowest thrower in the league right now. He might be able to survive at this velocity with all his other skills, but it is hard to see him dominating like he used to. It is even harder to see him remaining effective by the end of his contract if his velocity continues to decline.

With the first week of the season in the books, the power rankings have already seen a big shake up, mostly because a certain big money free agent can't stop swinging and missing...

RANK	PLAYER	CHANGE	COMMENTS
1		-- 0 Last Week: 1	Mike Trout - Nobody is happier that Josh Hamilton is getting reamed over his strikeout problem than Mr. Trout, who has already K'd eight times this season. Clearly the BBWAA had it right.
2		+1 Last Week: 3	Albert Pujols - Albert doesn't always homer in Arlington, but when he does, he usually homers twice.
3		-1 Last Week: 2	Jered Weaver - Good thing Weaver hurt his elbow on Sunday night otherwise all we would be talking about is how bad he was (again) in Arlington. Bullet dodged, am I right?
4		+3 Last Week: 7	Mark Trumbo - Could barely get the ball out of the infield in spring training, now leads the Angels in doubles and has a home run to his credit as well.
5		+8 Last Week:13	Chris Iannetta - Iannetta might have been the Angels best hitter in the first week which is great because it gives me early ammunition for my campaign to get Mike Scioscia to stop batting him eighth in the order.
6		+10 Last Week: 16	Kevin Jepsen - He may not be as flashy, but from a consistency standpoint, I'm starting to wonder if the Angels might not be better off with Jepsen closing. I know. I can't believe I wrote that either.
7		+3 Last Week: 10	Jason Vargas - Have we decided on calling him Viva las Vargas or Circus Vargas yet? Is it context dependent maybe? Is there another tired Vargas pun that I am not thinking of?
8		-2 Last Week: 6	C.J. Wilson - When the surgeon fixed C.J.'s elbow this off-season, he apparently forgot to fix his "one bad inning ruins an entire start" problem.
9		+2 Last Week: 11	Peter Bourjos - A 1.135 OPS to start the season. Torii who?
10		-5 Last Week: 5	Erick Aybar - It only took three games for Scioscia to order Aybar to lay down his first ill-advised sac bunt to move Mike Trout over to second base.
11		+4 Last Week: 15	Tommy Hanson - Hanson had a solid Halo debut in the boxscore. On the radar gun? Not so much, as he averaged just 87.7 MPH on his fastball according to Pitch f/x.
12		-3 Last Week: 9	Ernesto Frieri - His line this year is already a microcosm of his career. Two inning pitched, four strikeouts but the only hit he allowed was a homer.
13		+4 Last Week: 17	Alberto Callaspo - After a .399 OPS the first month of the 2012 season, it is nice to see Callaspo get out of the gates quickly this year.
14		-6 Last Week: 8	Howie Kendrick - It would seem that Howie has decided that instead of grounding into double plays that this year he will instead strikeout in situations where all he needs to do is put the ball in play to score a run. Just when we think Kendrick is going to zig, he zags!
15		-11 Last Week: 4	Josh Hamilton - Between all the boos, strikeouts and Texas pitching around Pujols specifically to get to Hamilton (and having it work), I can't say that I am terribly enjoying the Hamilton era much in the same way as I can't say that I enjoy having a white-hot poker jammed up my nostril.
16		+3 Last Week: 19	Garrett Richards - He has a real chance to be a big weapon in the bullpen, but as we saw on the game-tying homer he allowed, he still needs to work on maintaining his focus even though he is pitching in shorter stints.
17		+1 Last Week: 18	Sean Burnett - Burnett is barely cracking 88 MPH on the radar gun, so go ahead and add him to the growin list of Angel pitchers with a highly disconcerting loss of velocity.
18		-6 Last Week: 12	Joe Blanton - Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Joervin Blantana.
19		+4 Last Week: 23	Mark Lowe - Josh Hamilton wasn't the only former Ranger who had a rough time against his former team.
20		-6 Last Week: 14	Scott Downs - Guess who has two of the Angels' four losses? Go ahead, guess. Correct! OK, now guess which lefty reliever shouldn't be allowed to face right-handed batters anymore?
21		-- 0 Last Week: 21	Hank Conger - Getting through his first start of the season without any obvious defensive gaffes is a big moral victory for Hank.
22		-2 Last Week: 20	Jerome Williams - Every other reliever in the bullpen made at least two appearances (and all but Frieri made three) before Williams made his first this season. He has to be pretty happy that his salary is guaranteed because right now he is the one on the chopping block if/when Ryan Madson gets activated.
23		+2 Last Week: 25	Brendan Harris - I'm trying to think of a comment for him but all I am blocked by the fact that I can't get over how his headshot looks like he just smelled a fart.
24		-- 0 Last Week: 24	J.B. Shuck - Did you know J.B. Shuck has seven career home runs? No, not in the majors. I mean seven career home runs across his entire career in the majors and minors with exactly zero of them being hit above Double-A.
25		-3 Last Week: 22	Andrew Romine - Romine has struck out in every single on of his at-bats this season! Oh, wait, he only has a single at-bat.

Biggest Riser: Jepsen, up 10 spots

Biggest Dropper: Hamilton, down 11 spots

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During Mike Scioscia's tenure, catchers have always been held to a different standard. His motto has always been that the 100-150 pitches that they handle are more important than the five at-bats they receive in a game. As a result, Angel catchers have established a permanent residence in the 8th spot of the batting order. This has been especially apparent since the departure of Bengie Molina and the Angel's starting catchers struggled to stay above the Mendoza line. (Although comparing the hitting ability of Jeff Mathis and Bobby Wilson to Mario Mendoza would actually be an insult to Mr. Mendoza, so I will refrain from tarnishing what is left of his good name) The question is, why has Scioscia been so adamant about having them hit eight and more importantly, what is the overall effect on the Angels lineup?

Those who are big on using analytics will explain that the 8th spot in the lineup is where a team should bury its worst hitter. This is why a couple years ago a few of the National League teams started having their pitchers hit in the 8th spot. Simulations showed that having the pitcher hit 8th instead of 9th would result in about 5 more runs scored over the entire season. However, Scioscia has never been a manager who integrates statistical analysis into his optimal lineup. My personal theory is that since the 9th spot has always been an integral spot in a Scioscia lineup as it is the bridge to the top of the order, he is putting his worst hitter in the "last" spot in his lineup by having the catcher hit 8th. This is supported by John Hester's stat line of .212/.287/.329, Bobby Wilson's stat line of .208/.272/.321, and Jeff Mathis's stat line of .198/.256/.314. Each one more pathetic and sad than the last. Not a one amongst them fit to hit in the middle of the order, let alone be an everyday catcher.

Yet, Scioscia broke his tendency of having his catcher hit 8th when he had quality hitting catchers. Bengie Molina was a staple in the middle of the order bat until he left for Texas. Mike Napoli hit as high as 4th in the line-up serving as protection for Vladimir Guerrero. These two catchers originally hit 8th in the line-up. Once they demonstrated their ability to swing the bat, Scioscia responded by moving them up in the batting order. For Bengie Molina, he managed to be the lock down the starting catchers spot with his exceptional defensive skills. He won a gold glove in 2002 and 2003. Mike Napoli is a different story. Despite his strong hitting abilities, Mike Napoli never really was able to usurp the starting catcher's job from Jeff Mathis. Part of this was his inability to stay healthy, but it was mostly due to the fact that Mike Napoli lacked Jeff Mathis's defensive skills and was always Scioscia's dog house. So this seems to show more that Scioscia has an affinity for light-hitting catchers with strong defensive skills over catcher's who can mash the ball.

So in the spirit of #PMA, how can this benefit the 2013 Angels? Currently, the Angel's two catchers are Chris Iannetta and Hank Conger: two catchers who can swing the bat, but are lacking defensively. So far in the 2013 season, Scioscia has had Conger and Iannetta bat in the 8th hole every game. It is understandable why Scioscia has pursued this course so far. In 2012, Iannetta hit .240/.332/.398. Not a terrible stat line, but certainly not a middle of the order bat. Conger is yet to demonstrate his ability to handle the bat in the Major Leagues. However, Iannetta is currently off to a red-hot start batting .417/.462/.917. Given the Angels hitting woes to start the season, hopefully Iannetta can continue his hot start, earn Scioscia's trust in his hiting ability and be rewarded with a move up in the batting order. Scioscia is one of the best and most intelligent managers in baseball, so there is no reason to believe he the promotion isn't on the horizon. If Erick Aybar keeps struggling, we could see Iannetta hitting 2nd in the line-up working counts, giving Mike Trout the ability to steal bases, and driving the ball with authority. We Angel fans have waited a long time for the second coming of Bengie Molina, and Chris Iannetta just might be that catcher.

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The April 8th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Weaver hurts elbow, Pujols willing to walk away from his contract and much more...

The Story: Jered Weaver injured his left elbow avoiding a comebacker on Sunday night and may need to go to the DL.

The Monkey Says: The good news is that it is his non-pitching elbow so it doesn't have to be 100% for him to be able to pitch, however, he does appear to be in a lot of pain. Given how bad it looked when he left the game, the DL seems like an option, so we'll just have to wait and see. I'd expect Garrett Richards to step into his spot in the rotation if Weaver isn't ready to ho.

The Story: Albert Pujols says he will walk away from his contract when he feels like he can no longer be competitive.

The Monkey Says: Let's print this article out, put it in a tim capsule, bury it in the bottom of his locker and dig it up on the final day of the 2018 season for Albert to read, you know, just in case.

Did anyone expect the Angels to come away with this game? I didn't, and I'm not saying this just to "save face". Jered Weaver always, ALWAYS, has a rough time pitching in Texas, especially on Sunday Night Baseball. This is a game the Angels were doomed to fail, even though they showed very early promise. The winds were high and the home run ball was on, and unfortunately the Angels could not keep up with the Rangers in this evenings makeshift homerun derby. Just as the Rangers couldn't keep up with the Angels high-powered offensive showing in yesterdays game the tables were turned on the Angels, who fell behind to the Rangers very early and could not comeback. The Angels just losing this game on it's own isn't too much to get worked up over (though plenty of Angel 'fans' would be quick to argue); the real pain came from Weaver's early exit from the game. A comeback line drive led to Weaver injuring his elbow in an attempt to get out of the way, and while it doesn't seem to anything seriously debilitating it is still a hit the pride of Weaver and the Angels. 

Even though the Angels have opened the season against two playoff contenders they still have a tough road to face with a red-hot Oakland coming up. The Angels are going to have to let the fact of the loss slide off their shoulders and continue on to tomorrow, because if they can play with a short-term vision they can take the series against the Athletics.

Rangers 7 Angels 3

So far this season things have been a little topsy-turvy in halo land. The pitching has been solid (with the exception of Ervin Blantana) and the offense has been shaky. But today things were righted on the offensive side as the Angels blasted four homers and cruised to a win. The win is equally key since tomorrow's matchup looms as a big one early in the season. A sweep on opening week is not the way to ge things going. Thankfully, today the big bats arrived.

Angels 8 Rangers 4