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

Maybe Arlington is a baseball town after all? How else would you explain what happened during today's Angels game against Texas when a lucky fan caught a foul ball only to get even luckier when his buxom blonde lady companion proceeded to lose her mind with excitement and pretty much dry humped him right then and there?

See for yourself:

I can't say I ever want to receive anything called "Kinsler love" but it looks like it is going to workout pretty well for that guy, especially once he and his lady get home tonight.

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Throughout the off-season I decided I wanted to track how you, the fans, were feeling about the Angels in the wake of their third consecutive playoff-free season. With the media trumpeting the Halos as the epic failure of 2012, I was curious if all of that had dampened everyone's spirits and outlook for the 2013 Angels. But beyond that, I wanted to see how the collective confidence of the fans shifted over time as the off-season moves of the Angels unfolded.

To do that, I ran the same poll three times: at the end of the season, just before spring training and Opening Day. In that poll I asked fans to declare their prediction of the Halos either winning the World Series, winning the AL West but not the pennant, winning the Wild Card and losing early in the playoffs, just missing out on the post-season again or finishing several wins worse than in 2012.

Here are the results of those poll:

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