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.

Some Angels batters had great weeks while some Angels had terrible weeks.  The two combined to make for a rough weekend for the Halos and some major shake-ups in this weeks Angels Player Power Rankings.

The September 19th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Reynolds thinks Santana threw at him intentionally, Wells won't opt out of his contract, Weaver losing velocity over the course of the season and much more...

The Story: The Orioles believe Ervin Santana intentionally hit him on Saturday.

The Monkey Says: I ranted about this in the game recap last night, so I will simply add one point here, that being that YOU ARE ON THE ORIOLES!  You aren't good enough or relevant enough for anyone to want to hit you on purpose.  Dick.

The Story: Vernon Wells says he won't opt out of his contract this off-season.

The Monkey Says: Not that anyone expected him to leave $60 million on the table out of some weird since of morality since he stinks now.

The Jered Weaver Short Rest Experiment went exactly according to plan today, in fact, it couldn't have gone better.  The only problem is that it feels like too little, too late.

Angels 11, Orioles 2

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (82-69) @ Baltimore Orioles (62-88)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Jered Weaver (17-7, 2.40 ERA)  BAL – Alfredo Simon (4-8, 4.67 ERA)

Game Info: 10:35 AM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

Today, Mike Scioscia goes all in on the rest of the season.  By opting to pitch Jered Weaver on short rest for the second time this season, the Angel manager is pushing all his chips into the pot and hoping his ace can survive this outing and remain strong afterwards, all in the name of keeping the Angels' slim playoff hopes alive.