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Minnesota Twins (57-79) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (74-63)

Pitching Probables: MIN – Carl Pavano (6-11, 4.62 ERA)  LAA – Tyler Chatwood (6-9, 4.35 ERA)

Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV - KCOP; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

There are really three issues going on tonight. First, there is the game with the Twins. Instead of the normally rock solid Jered Weaver we get the hold-on-to-your-hats unpredictability of Tyler Chatwood. Then there is the looming fact that as each day goes by it's one less chance to gain ground on the Rangers for the AL West title. On top of that, I have to deal with the the oggling my wife will do every time Joe Mauer steps to the plate. So as you can see, there's a lot to deal with right about now.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim    (73-63) @ Seattle Mariners (58-77)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Ervin Santana (10-9, 3.24 ERA)  SEA – Charlie Furbush (2-3, 6.28 ERA)

Game Info: 7:10 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

The Angels turn the page once again onto a new month of baseball, hopefully a month that can go better than August. August was a great month for this team, except they couldn't get the wins where they counted. Why can't this team finish off a great comeback nice and clean? Why do they have to make it so hard on themselves? They chopped a Texas 7 game lead in the standings to just 2.5 games in 7 days a week ago. Now they're struggling to pull just one game during this series, they could do it against the White Sox and the Orioles, but apparently they can't do it against the Mariners. The delusion ridden half of my brain says the Angels are doing this merely for dramatic effect, to make the last month of baseball this season the most interesting and make that playoff berth taste oh so sweeter. The sane part of my brain says this is all Tony Reagins fault.

Did last night's game look familiar to you? It should, because it ended the exact same way as the series opener against the Mariners. Mike Carp gave the Mariners the lead with 2 RBI hits both nights, Monday being a homerun and last night being a double. What makes this pill hard to swallow is the fact that Carp got those base hits off of lefties coming out of the bullpen, lefties Scioscia put in to play it by the numbers. What makes that pill even harder to swallow is the fact that both defeats at the hands of Carp cost the Angels 1.5 games in the standings. Last night's game should have been won; the Angels should be 2.5 back of the Rangers. Instead we get a choke job out of the bullpen and more ground to cover while the days slowly whittle away. At the end of the month we'll be looking back at games like this that should have been won, hopefully we'll be looking back with glee as the Angels manage to sneak into the playoffs instead of bitterness and frustration as the Angels miss a playoff berth.

Angels 1 Mariners 2 

The Angels' bullpen seems to have made a collective decision to ruin the team's chances at the post-season and Tony Reagins only seems to be enabling them by refusing to make a trade.  We fans now have no option to sit back and watch the tragedy unfold before us as we wallow in the reliever-induced misery.

But before we designate this year's relief corps as the worst of the worst, let's at least do them the dignity of seeing if they are as bad statistically as they are in all of our minds.  We already know that the Halos lead the American League with 22 blown saves, but I don't think that tells the whole story, so let's take a look at some more advanced metrics that could reveal the real truth.

One of my favorite advanced metrics is meltdowns, which is sort of a more intelligent blown save based on win probability that ignores the whole stupid normal save rules.  In this category, the Angels have picked up 57 meltdowns, which is fourth most in the AL, trailing the Orioles, Twins and Royals who lead at 67.  I suspect it is no coincidence that the three teams below them all suck.

The September 1st, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including all kinds of articles fawning over Mike Trout, Aybar gets hitting advice from Vlad Guerrero, Williams still can't believe he is back in the majors and much more...

The Story: Mike Trout's teammates are in awe of his recent performance.

The Monkey Says: Aren't we all?  There is also a story somewhere that I lost the link to where Torii Hunter pretty much volunteered to DH in 2012 to make room for Trout, so you can tell how highly he thinks of him since I have always assumed Hunter would cut off a limb before willingly ceasing to play the field

The Story: Mike Trout is already happening.

The Monkey Says: I expected some bloggers out there to try and start poking holes in Trout's two-homer night, but it seems that he has won just about everyone over.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim    (73-62) @ Seattle Mariners  (57-78)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Dan Haren (13-7, 3.19 ERA)  SEA – Felix Hernandez (12-11, 3.37 ERA)

Game Info: 7:10 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

For those of you who don't follow Victor Rojas on Twitter or didn't catch the game last night you missed a very interested statistic brought up by Rojas. When the Angels start rookie sensation Mike Trout they are 13-3 in those games played (14-3 after last night). It's no question that Mike Scioscia is one of the best managers in the game right now, but he's always let his stubborn attitude get in the way of winning games. Letting Mike Trout sit during the Texas Rangers series and playing Wells/Abreu was a horrible managerial decision to make, the one game Mike Trout played against the Rangers the Angels won, and Trout homered. The point is, if the Angels want to shoot past the Rangers they're going to have to do it on the back of Mike Trout, not Vernon Wells. It all depends on whether that cracks through Scioscia's thick skull before the Angels play themselves out of the division.

Mike Trout put the big leagues on notice last night that he is already ready to become the kind of star many though he could be by clubbing two homers in a game less than a month after turning 20 years old.  That is one mighty impressive feat from a mighty impressive young talent, but it actually isn't even close to the other things he is capable that we just haven't heard about yet.  The guy is just so multi-talented that there isn't enough space on the internet to catalog all his amazing accomplishments, so I've whittled it down to a top ten list for your reading pleasure.

Bonus accomplishment, breaking the internet's capacity for ridiculous hyperbole.