There's been quite a bit of hype, a lot of expectations that have followed the Angels into the season. The first week of the season is usually a decent sign of where your team is going to go this season, though as we saw last year these expectations aren't always as solid as we'd like. The first series of the season can at least give you some insight as to how your team will be performing during the first month of the season. It's not expected for a team to be firing on all cylinders right out of the gate, though it does always happen to a handful of teams to start the season.

Once the team is able to get its head firmly on its shoulders is when you'll get to see what they are truly capable of, though the performance throughout the first month usually highlights the problems the team will be facing throughout the season. Just as the Angels had intense bullpen struggles and lacking starting pitching that stretched out throughout the season any serious problems the team has can typically be traced throughout the first series

The Angels have just happened to finish up their first series against interleague opponents and playoff contenders the Cincinnati Reds, and there were quite a bit of happenings this series that are telling of where the Angels are going to. While the Angels didn't look close to the tour de force they've been tagged on this off-season there were plenty of signs showing us why the Angels will work out the kinks and turn into a complete animal this season. Then again, there have been a fair number of signs that this team could be headed in the other direction, back to the Angels of last April. Let's just start with the obvious.

Oh Lord, this Starting Rotation

We've only seen about half of starting rotation perform in this series, but it's quite apparent the Angels will have their fair share of worries through the season. The most worrisome being Jered Weaver's dipping velocity, it's a common fact that pitchers aren't at full strength until after the first month but can Weaver really gain 3-5 MPH back on his fastball in just a month? In the season opener Weaver's fastballs were consistently tagged by the radar gun as sitting between 85-88 MPH, which would put him in a delicate position if he can't regain some of the velocity back. Although his ability to spot his pitches is phenomenal we've all seen that ability fall apart from time to time, even though it always comes back together quickly it is something to worry about. What doesn't get me too worried is Jered Weaver's attitude, his bulldog/leader persona on the mound will forever be fueling his pitching performances, even if his stuff is off his fire and intensity on the mound will ALWAYS carry him through games. 

How about that C.J. Wilson by the way? Although he pitched strongly through the first few innings he ended getting hit hard midway through the game. His control fell apart and he issued multiple walks as well as a big blast that put the Angels behind early. Wilson was pretty loose with the walks last year, giving up 91 BB's last year, and the fact that it has continued as soon as his first outing of the season is pretty telling. He's going to have command issues and he's going to have to find a way to work around that, mostly by keeping the big hits off of the board. 

Lastly we have Joe Blanton, who happens to be more effective than you might think. We all know he's going to give up plenty of big hits, be it home runs or untimely XBH's; but once he starts giving out walks and base hits like free candy is when we're going to have a serious problem. Blanton's use comes directly from his command, he might not be striking out a million guys a minute but he definitely won't be giving out a hundred free passes like some of our other pitchers. Blanton is gonna get damaged in his starts, we just need him to limit the damage as much as possible. So basically what I'm saying if he gives up 2 home runs in the first two innings and all it amounts to is 2 earned runs, be thankful. If he isn't putting the offense too far out of reach of taking the game then he's doing his job. If he can keep it to at least 1 run an inning we really have nothing to complain about (especially with this offense), this is what is to be expected of him and if you expect any differently then it's on you.

Oh Lord, this Bullpen

I have never been so floored, so flabbergasted by this Angels performance. When was the last time the bullpen took over a game and our collective jaws dropped instead of our stomachs? Garrett Richards has looked phenomenal as the 6-7 inning guy for the Angels. In 2.2 innings pitched he's given up 0 runs, which isn't overbearingly impressive, but it's a strong start. What really gets me going is the fact that Richards and the rest of the bullpen have pitched out of tight spots. Close, high pressure games that would easily been given away by the bullpen have been held together fantastically by the array of relief arms. Sean Burnett looked fantastic as relief, even though he has only pitched 0.2 innings in 2 games his appearances were high-pressure game breaking appearances and he did greatly. This bullpen is a complete flip from the 'pen that burned nearly every appearance they pitched, you could pin the Angels as a playoff team just from the vastly improved look of the bullpen. Even the last minute addition of Mark Lowe has proved to be an effective move for improving this bullpen, literally everything Dipoto has done to this bullpen has improved it by miles. Multiple relievers who can pitch multiple strong innings are a godsend.

Last season one of the running themese was the bullpen costing the Angels several games early on in the year which led to a huge hole in the standings. As a result, Mr. Super Fantastic GM DiPoto went out and overhauled the pen adding new faces and new roles. Unfortunately, a few holes still remain. The relievers are either too young to deal with the pressure or too old to still be able to deliver quality innings and once again the Angels are staring at an early season standings climb.

Angels 2 Rangers 3

The April 5th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Mike Trout's strikeout problem, Hamilton ready to return to Texas and much more...

The Story: A look at Mike Trout's one weakness of striking out too much.

The Monkey Says: I don't think it is really a big deal, but it is weird that he whiffs so much given his good eye and approach. If anything, I think the strikeouts are a product of him being too patient and working himself into a lot of two strike counts. It clearly didn't hold him back in 2012, so I don't see why it would hold him back now.

The Story: The Angels are bracing themselves for Josh Hamilton's return to Texas.

The Monkey Says: He's going to get booed. So what? The worst thing that could happen is Hamilton trying too hard to show up the Rangers and having a bad series. The best case scenario is that does try extra hard and actually does show up the Rangers.

Man, if only I put some money down for this series.  This whole winning the first game and then losing the next two to start the season is getting old. For the past five years, the Angels have used this script, and quite frankly I’ve had enough. Let’s win an opening series! These starts are killing me.

Joe Blanton met Angels’ fans expectations in his first start, channeling his inner Ervin Santana, by giving up 3 homeruns (almost 4) in 5 innings of work.  Blanton needs to be reminded that our outfielders are actually confined by the outfield walls, and are in fact not allowed to jump over them and position themselves in the stands.

Clutch hitting was absolutely nonexistent late in the game.  In the 7^th, with Hamilton and Trumbo in scoring position, Howie flied out to end the inning.  Then in the 9^th, with Trout on second, Pujols lined out to right and Hamilton struck out to end the game.

Reds 5, Angels 4

30. Carlos Ramirez: Stock goes down slightly because he’s repeating AA to prove he can hit and the Angels went out of their way to acquire defensive catchers Chris Snyder and Luke Carlin, only to stash them in AAA.  If the Angels weren’t concerned with offense at all and only wanted defense, they would have promoted Carlos…if they were confident in his abilities.

29. Reid Scoggins: Up.  He’s ticketed for A Ball in Burlington.  If he really had some rough edges to smooth out, the Angels would’ve kept him in Rookie Ball for an additional year worth of work.  The fact is Scoggins’ rocket for an arm should propel him up through the system and catch the eye of scouts very soon.

28. Michal Roth: WAY UP.  After spending last season in short season Orem, Roth has been promoted to AA and will be a starter.  He may not have the blazing fastball to impress scouts, but his control and assortment of off-speed pitches could make him a crafty back end starter.  What’s more, if he impresses in AA he could be Big League ready as soon as next year.  Should we really be surprised after his legendary college career?

27. Cam Bedrosian: Down.  Bedrock Jr. is ticketed for A Ball in Burlington, two years after being drafted in the 1^st round.  I’m not sure how much lower his stock can really go at this point.

26. Andrew Taylor: Down.  If the Angels were confident in his ability to be a middle reliever or even a lefty specialist, they wouldn’t have acquired Sean Burnett or Brandon Sisk.  To top it off, Taylor is currently on the shelf with shoulder issues.  While doctors believe season ending surgery can be avoided, they haven’t given a time table on his return. 

25. Brandon Sisk: Down.  We traded for him, he entered camp and before long he was shut down with season ending surgery. 

24. Michael Clevinger: Same.  We knew he’d miss the season with surgery and wish him a speedy recovery.  Had he been healthy, he’d probably be in AA this season and a Top 10 prospect.

23. Mark Sappington: WAY UP.  Scouts I talked to are in love with his fastball, describing it as electric.  Those in the organization are also pleased to be working with such a stand up guy as well.  They call those intangibles.  Whatever they are, Sappington has them.  He’ll skip low A Ball entirely and head to the California League as a starter.

22. Wade Hinkle: Same.  I had expected him to jump up to Advanced A Ball after his collegiate career and performance in Orem, however, the Angels sent him to low A Ball.  The raw power remains.

21. Zachary Wright: Same.  He’s headed for Advanced A Ball after being drafted and skipping Rookie Ball altogether.  He should find the away games in the Cal League to his liking, being a power hitting catcher in a power hitting environment (his home park is the only pitcher friendly park in the league).

20. Steven Geltz: Down.  The Angels demoted him rather quickly and traded him to Tampa Bay for Dane De La Rosa, who I hear great things about, but is also 30 years old in AAA.

Welcome to what is going to be a new semi-regular feature at the site: Second-guessing Scioscia! As you probably surmised, it is a space in which I will be second-guessing the decision-making skills Mike Scioscia. This is something we've always done here at MWAH, but never in an official capacity. We do this now not because Scioscia is a shaky manager, I actually quite like him, but rather because every manager is faced with tough decisions on a regular basis and reconsidering how that decision should have been approached is interesting. Sure, there will also be some days we do this where the main point of the piece will be "WTF WAS SCIOSCIA THINKING!!!" Hopefully those will be few and far between. Hopefully this semi-regular piece will only be weekly rather than dail as well because at the end of the day, we mostly trust Scioscia and do not at all intend this feature to come off as a weekly hit job against him. Anyway, enough exposition, let's get to the first big second-guess of the season:

Why did Mike Scioscia pitch to Joey Votto in the bottom of the ninth with the game on the line?

For those that missed it, the Halos were faced with the difficult decision of being tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth with Scott Downs on the mound, a runner on second, one out and first base open. That left Scioscia with the difficult decision of letting the lefty Downs face left-handed Joey Votto, one of the best hitters in all of baseball, or pitching around Votto so Downs could face the right-handed Brandon Phillips but with the possibility of a double play on the table.

We all know what happened in real life. Scioscia let Downs face Votto and Votto smacked a hard grounder that Albert Pujols had a shot at making a play on, but he failed to do so. Game over. Reds win. But don't let the actual result bias you because while it makes Scioscia look bad, it just as easily could've made Scioscia look good had Pujols come up with the ball. The question isn't whether it worked out or not so much as whether or not Scioscia was making the optimal choice with the game on the line.

The April 4th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Madson dealing with more elbow tightness, the OC Register is dead to me and much more...

The Story: Ryan Madson resumed throwing after feeling more elbow tightness last week.

The Monkey Says: The frustrating thing is that Madson still hasn't gotten back to the throwing level he was at when he suffered his first setback over a month ago. They did an MRI for Madson after that first bout of soreness and it came back normal, so there probably isn't anything seriously wrong, but this inability to move forward in his rehab is getting very frustrating for everyone.

The Story: The OC Register has gone behind a full paywall and everyone is now writing them off.

The Monkey Says: Rev and I are pretty much on the same page here. This is the dumbest thing I have seen any newspaper do. I have no problem with them trying to charge for content, but the way they are pricing it is absurd. Every article is behind the paywall and you have to pay nearly $40 PER MONTH for the entire paper or you get nothing at all. A smart thing to do would've been to offer a la carte pricing for people who only want certain sections for a few bucks per month. Or maybe a tiered pricing structure based on a limit of article views. There is no way I am paying that, especially since their Angels coverage is not that good. Jeff Fletcher is a very good beat writer, but at the end of the day he is providing the same info that Alden Gonzalez at Angelsbaseball.com and Mike DiGiovanni at LA Times provide. After that, you'd be asking me to pay to read the offensively awful Jeff Miller and Mark Whicker. That ain't happening. As such, don't expect to see any links to OCR pieces in this space until their business people pull their head out fo their ass, although I have the feeling the paper will go belly up first.