You hanging in there, Angel fans?  Hopefully none of you are too distraught over the Angels becoming the first team ever to have officially been eliminated from the playoffs in August despite being just two games out of the division lead.  I'm just as shocked as you are by this turn of events, but we have no choice but to listen to what the national media is telling us, right?

Try not to slip in the puddle created by all the dripping sarcasm, but I'm dead serious about the national media basically declaring the Rangers the unquestioned winner of the AL West all because they landed two high quality middle relievers.  Don't believe me, here is a quote directly from ESPN's Steve Berthiaume:

"The Rangers have won the division. Not only that, they made themselves a team that will be very difficult to beat in the postseason."

And Berthiaume is not alone, I've seen multiple national media outlets make similar assertions, though not with quite so much certainty.

Ummm, not so fast there, folks.  Last time I checked, they still actually have to play the games.  And the last time I checked, no team ever ran away with a division because of middle relief.

The August 2nd, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Posnanski settles the Weaver-Guillen "unwritten rules" debate, Trout sent back to Double-A, Santana named AL Co-Player of the Week and much more...

The Story: Joe Posnanski declares Carlos Guillen the biggest offender in the Angels-Tigers dust up from Sunday.

The Monkey Says: If Poz deems it so, then so it shall be written.  I had assumed my team allegiances had clouded my judgment, but Posnanski is totally impartial and even he can't understand how anyone could justify Carlos Guillen's actions.

The Story: The Angels sent Mike Trout back to Double-A Arkansas and called up Andrew Romine to take his place.

The Monkey Says: Trout going to Double-A instead of Triple-A is a bit of a surprise, but I understand the logic, which I will delve into alter today now that the Trout Tracker will be returning later today.

The trade deadline has come and gone and the Angel roster looks remarkably unchanged.  Few thought the Angels would make a big move, but most thought at least some kind of move would go down for sure.  The Angels said they explored the market but ultimately couldn't find an deal that worked for them.  Whether you believe that or not, the fact of the matter is the Angels are in a tight playoff race and opted to stand pat.  The question you must now answer is: was NOT making a trade actually a smart move by the Angel front office.

Turns out nobody is on the other end of that phone call.

Time to vote!

No doubt the "Fire Tony Reagins" fanatics are out in full force today.  Since I am not prone to making rash judgments because I do things like think and analyze, I am not amongst those calling for Reagins' head on a platter.  I am, however, disappointed in Tony.

In many ways, Tony Reagins made a well-calculated and intelligent decision by opting to stand pat at the trade deadline.  The Angels had two basic needs: a big bat and middle relief help.  Trading for a big bat was obviously never going to happen.  The only two players that even remotely fit the bill of being an offense-changing hitter were Carlos Beltran and Hunter Pence and thanks to Tony's previously itchy trade-trigger finger, there was simply no room at the inn that is the Angel outfield.  That he didn't even kick the tires on either player shows that he at least has some common sense (an accusation lobbied at him with great regularity of late).

The August 1st, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Reagins talks about the lack of trades, Abreu's 2012 option vests, Weaver still steaming about being disrespected by the Tigers and much more...

The Story: Tony Reagins explains why the Angels didn't make any trades.

The Monkey Says: This is a fairly basic "cover your ass" explanation, but I actually believe it.  I feel like the Angels were hamstrung by a lack of upper-level prospects and a relief pitching market that ultimately proved to be fairly thin.  That doesn't mean I'm happy about it, so get ready for a rant later today.

The Story: Count the Angels as trade deadline losers.

The Monkey Says: Hard to argue with them at this point, though I do think saying they are losers because the Rangers made moves is a false argument.  Making a move simply because a competitor did is how you panic and make a bad trade yourself.  We've all seen what happens (Vernon Wells) when Reagins overreacts to public pressure to make a move, so that is a small win for him, I suppose.

I told you there would be great pitching in today's game, but we all got a bit more than we bargained for, no?  Jered Weaver may have been outdueled by Justin Verlander and lost the game, but in my opinion, Weaver got the moral victory for standing up to the Tigers for their bizarre showboating antics.

Tigers 3, Angels 2

My one complainy about this fine, fine game was that the sterling pitching performance from Justin Verlander gets overlooked a bit because of the turmoil that erupted between Weaver and the Tigers.

It obviously all started with Magglion Ordonez, he of the Mathis-like .236/.297/.316 slash line, felt the need to admire the two-run homer he cranked of Weaver early in the game.  I can almost forgive Magglio for giving taking a few moments too many to watch his home run fly, after all, he did absolutely step on that pitch and it was only his fourth homer of the year, so he had to savor it while it lasted.  You'd think an aged and accomplished player like Ordonez would be able to act like he'd been there before, but, so be it.

As for Carlos Guillen, I have no sympathy nor any respect for his role in this conflagration.  I don't care if Weaver gave Magglio a little lip after his homer and the Tigers didn't appreciate it, there is no excuse for him staring down his homer at the plate and then staring down Weaver himself the entire way to first.  We are going to hear a lot about unwritten rules from the Tigers later, but I fail to see Guillen acting like a Grade A punk fits into that, especially his BS excuse after the game about staring down the homer because he wasn't sure if it was going to stay fair.  If you are going to try and be a tough guy, Carlos, at least have the huevos to own up to it afterwards.

For Detroit to then get upset that he buzzed Alex Avila's tower the very next pitch, is beyond bush league.  Did they really not expect him to retaliate?  Honestly, Leyland is more old school than anyone in baseball, he had to know what was coming next.  I'm just glad that Weaver stood up to the Tigers and did the ABSOLUTE RIGHT thing by buzzing his tower.  That, to me, is what an ace does and this was a battle of aces, right?  Weaver was just living up to his billing.  The Tigers though, were just living down to the behavior of no class punks.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim  (59-49) @ Detroit Tigers (56-51)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Jered Weaver (14-4, 1.79 ERA)  DET – Justin Verlander (14-5, 2.34 ERA)

Game Info: 10:05 AM PT; TV - KCOP; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

It is the showdown we've all been waiting for: Weaver vs. Verlander!

Seldom is there so much hype for a regular season game, but fans of not just the Angels and Tigers, but all of baseball too, have been licking their chops in anticipation of this ace vs. ace confrontation between the two front-runners for the AL Cy Young Award.  And seldom is such a marquee matchup between two elite pitchers taking place right in the middle of intense divisional races for both teams.  Really, you couldn't ask for much more, especially when you layer on top all the hoopla from the trade deadline coming up at 1PM PST, right when this game should be ending.

A surefire great pitching duel and the apex of the trade season, I think I've just died and gone to baseball heaven.