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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim    (84-70) @ Toronto Blue Jays (78-76)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Dan Haren (15-9, 3.24 ERA)  TOR – Dustin McGowan (0-0, 7.50 ERA)

Game Info: 4:07 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

With the Angels hope in the AL West officially dead, it's time to look to the wildcard if the Angels want any chance of tasting that sweet October air. There's only 1 thing in their way, and it isn't the Red Sox and their end of the season breakdown. It's the Tampa Bay Rays, a perennial playoff underdog much akin to the Angels, except they perform when it comes down to it. Saturday is going to be the day we all know for sure whether or not the Angels will be making the playoffs, or if they even have a chance to do so. There's nothing special about Saturday, but it's close enough to the end of the season to eye whether or not the Angels can make the wildcard and far enough from today that they can pick up a few games to stay in the race by then. In order to do that the Angels are cannot drop any stupid games, you know, games that should be won but aren't due to some asinine reason (mostly Jeff Mathis). Today is one of those games.

The September 21st, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Hunter is playing desperate, Bourjos could get squeezed in new Gold Glove voting format, being thankful for Lackey spurning the Halos and much more...

The Story: Torii Hunter is playing desperate.

The Monkey Says: If he is desperate, it isn't showing.  When he played desperate last season, he nearly ran himself into the ground and was beyond exhausted by the end of the year.

The Story: Peter Bourjos could be thwarted by the new Gold Glove voting format.

The Monkey Says: Outfield Gold Gloves now are specific to left, center and right, so multiple center fielders can't win as in season's past.  Speedy Petey has a great shot at the Gold Glove, but he is going to face stiff competition from Jacoby Ellsbury and maybe Austin Jackson.

The Angels' playoff hopes have a faint pulse, but it is nice to see that the team isn't just going to roll over and play dead as they took Toronto to the woodshed and inched themselves just a little bit closer in the wild card race.

Angels 10, Blue Jays 6

With Joel Pineiro taking the mound, this easily could've gone south in a hurry.  He's been hit-or-miss (mostly miss) lately and a lousy performance would've dealt the Angels a crushing blow to their confidence.  But instead, Joel, well, he failed to suck.  Which turned out to be good enough because the bats came out hard to back him up.  Yay for timely run support!

Now the Angels have the slightest little bit of momentum again.  With the Big Three coming up in the rotation, they are set up perfectly to take the next three games to keep putting the pressure on the faltering Red Sox, and maybe even the Rangers too if they ever lose another game.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (83-70) @ Toronto Blue Jays (78-75)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Joel Pineiro (6-7, 5.33 ERA)  TOR – Brett Cecil (4-9, 4.37 ERA)

Game Info: 4:07 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

Let's be honest, the Angels are pretty much done.  They are five games back of Texas and 4.5 behind Boston with just nine games left to play.  For them to have even the most remote of chances of reaching the post-season, they have no other choice but to win all nine of those games... and even then they still are going to need a lot help.

But let's focus on the nine games since that is all they can control.  The Halos basically are now a reverse cat, instead of having nine lives to give, the Angels have to survive their nine games without dying once.  Since they can't seem consistently hit, consistently pitch or consistently catch the ball, it might be best to start making funeral arrangements for the 2011 season now.

With the Angels desperately clinging to their shrinking playoff hopes, life as an Angel fan hasn't been easy the last few weeks.  In fact, rooting for this team as the season nears its end can be a full-time job.  To give you an idea of just how hectic and mind-bending this existence can be, here is what I believe to be a day in the life of the standard Angel fan:

7:00 AM - Wake up.

7:01 AM - Check scores from last night to make sure you didn't incorrectly remember that the Rangers won AGAIN.

7:02 AM - Nope, Rangers definitely won.  Commence muttering to yourself about how they never freaking lose.

7:15 AM - Cease muttering.

7:16 AM - Shower, shave and eat breakfast.

7:45 AM - Leave for work while listening to ESPN Baseball Today podcast in your car.  Complain about how they never talk about the Angels and just assume the Rangers will win the AL West.  Kittens die.

8:15 AM - Arrive at work, sit down at desk and immediately go to MLB.com to look at the pitching probables for the remainder of the season.  Using this information, attempt to predict the outcome of every remaining game for the rest of the season for the Angels, Rangers, Red Sox and Rays.

Slowly but surely this team is playing itself out of the playoff race, a race which is probably and has probably been long dead. I didn't even know the Angels were in the thick of the wild card race until yesterday, but after that loss I couldn't care if the Angels were 1 GB in the wildcard, because with the way they're playing they'd get laughed out of the playoffs in the first round, probably at the hands of a sweep.

Angels 2 Blue Jays 3 

The September 20th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Aybar named Co-Player of the Week, Wells' quote on opting out turns into an internet meme (and not in a good way), Howie Kendrick's Gold Glove credentials and much more...

The Story: Erick Aybar was named AL Player of the Week along with Justin Verlander.

The Monkey Says: Good thing the week ended on Sunday because he wouldn't even have factored into the voting after his choke job performance yesterday.

The Story: Vernon Wells' "Maybe it's just society" quote becomes an internet meme.

The Monkey Says: Ugh.  Vernon can't even make the obvious decision to not opt out without turning that into a disaster as well.  He literally can't do anything right.