Another night, another Angel win and another Trumbo-mb!  Maybe it is time Scioscia finally recognizes what he has in his slugging rookie first baseman and moves him into a more prominent position in the lineup?

Angels 7, Twins 1

I've remained skeptical on Trumbo most of the season, but after his second big homer of the week, I'm finally coming around.  He's not a great situational hitter.  He strikes out a lot and he doesn't walk much, but when he is hot, I can't imagine any sane person wanting to pitch to him.  Power alone shouldn't make him the Halos' cleanup hitter, as it never did for Mike Napoli, but if with the other options on the roster, why wouldn't he bat fourth?

Compare Trumbo to Vernon Wells and what doe Vernon actually do better than Trumbo?  His average is much worse.  He walks at the same poor rate, but he does strike out a bit less.  He is maybe a marginally better situational hitter and his power, while good, pales in comparison to the Trumbotron.  As far as I can tell, the only reason Wells is batting fourth is because, well, he is a veteran.  Oh, Scioscia, will you ever learn?

@
Minnesota Twins   (51-59) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim  (60-51)

Pitching Probables: MIN – Francisco Liriano (7-8, 4.67 ERA)  LAA – Dan Haren (11-6, 2.89 ERA)

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

The Angels just missed an opportunity to claim a first place tie with the Rangers last night, all thanks to the self-destructive hand of Joel Pineiro. Thankfully the Rangers still have one more game against the oh so hot Detroit Tigers, who are one game away from sweeping the Rangers. This couldn't play any better into the hands of the Angels, which would push the Rangers to a 4 game losing streak and give the Angels yet another opportunity to take first. I'll chalk up last nights failure to do so as bad luck on the part of Joel Pineiro being allowed to take the mound once again. I don't want to go on another Pineiro rant, but seriously, the guy just kept us from taking first place. He's done it to us earlier in the season and if he stays in this rotation he'll get many more chances to screw us over. 

Thankfully for us Dan Haren is on the mound tonight, someone who can actually get through the first inning without giving up 8 runs. As a matter of fact, Dan Haren has the ability to get through an entire game without giving up a run! That's an ability he's going to need to channel in full force tonight if he wants to give the Angels a strong chance of either taking first or staying within a game of the Rangers.

I've tried my best to convince myself that Tony Reagins declined to make any deadline deals because he was being calm and rational and realized that he could not make a good deal considering the teams lack of financial and prospect resources.  But the more I think about it, the more I can't help but think there are a few more reasons the Reagins REALLY didn't get any deals done.

You're going to need a better disguise than that, Tony, if the the Angels end up losing the AL West.

1. The Angels payroll is so maxed out that Arte Moreno could no longer pay Tony's cell phone bill, so no other GMs were actually able to call him.
2. Toronto GM Alex Anthopolous was too busy ripping off the Cardinals instead.
3. In some sort of bizarre body-switching phenomenon a la the new movieThe Change-Up, Reagins' body was taken over by the soul of Bill Stoneman after they both peed in the same Angel Stadium urinal trough at the same time.
4. He was victimized by Cubs GM Jim Hendry's bizarre decision to hold onto all of his players.  Dammit, Jim, Tony really wanted Alfonso Soriano!
5. Because he got Fernando Rodney back from the DL to bolster the bullpen!  No, seriously, that was a real reason.
6. He got stuck in a Del Taco drive-thru for the entire trade deadline weekend but none of the passing Angel fans would help him out.  I can't imagine why that was.
7. Reagins actually had a deal in place for Aramis Ramirez who was about to waive his no-trade clause, but Aramis backed out at the last second because he didn't want to uproot his family from Chicago when he found out that there is no place in California called "Los Angeles of Anaheim."
8. Unbeknownst to Tony, the Texas Rangers hired the same guy that hacked into the cell phones for the Weekly World News to hack into Reagins' phone so that they could trump all of Tony's offers for the relievers he was after.
9. He got frustrated and gave up after all the GMs he was talking to kept bursting into laughter and then hanging up every time he made an offer.  Don't they all realize that Vernon Wells is a former All-Star?  Don't these other teams want to make a "big splash?"
10. Tony had to cancel the rumored Jeff Mathis-for-Garrett Jones deal because Mike Scioscia caught wind of the trade and threatened to kill himself since he didn't think he could go on living without Mathis as his catcher.

How do I put this politely?  Umm, Joel Pineiro, he... what's the word?  Sucks... hard.  Like, if he sucked any more he'd be a vacuum or Scott Kazmir, neither of which are good things.

The wheels didn't really start to fall off for him until a few weeks ago after he spent most of the season walking the tightrope of allowing far too many hits while missing almost no bats yet somehow suppressing runs from scoring (translation, being really lucky), so the warning signs were certainly there.  It wasn't until that fateful mid-July day in Oakland that he channeled his inner-Vin Mazzaro and coughed up eight runs while getting just one out before getting yanked and he just hasn't been the same since.  But, of course, you know this already since Pineiro has become a lightning rod for criticism since that day.

Now, after his fourth consecutive awful outing, which came on the heels of Mike Scioscia publicly questioning Joel's performance and ability, the time has come to start seriously exploring options for moving on from Pineiro.

Replacing a veteran pitcher in the rotation right in the middle of a tight playoff race is less than ideal, but in a bizarre twist of serendipity, the Angels might get a chance to audition Joel's replacement before actually kicking him to the curb first.

The August 4th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Kendrick frustrated with his benchings, Abreu wants to retire as an Angel, assessing Trumbo's upside and much more...

The Story: Howie Kendrick appears to be getting frustrated with his increasing numbers of days off.

The Monkey Says: This has become a sore point with the fans too, but everyone needs to realize that Scioscia is just trying to cycle all his infielders into the lineup so none of them get rusty.  The idea that Kendrick should be exempted from the rotation is a little out-dated.  He did have a great start, but his OPS in June and July is just a tick over .700 and he hasn't hit a homer since June 24th.  He is also striking out quite a bit still, fanning in almost 24% of his July at-bats.  So, I ask you, why is it he shouldn't ever sit for Izturis or Callaspo who are basically performing right around the same level?

The Story: With his option now vested, Bobby Abreu would be happy to retire as an Angel.

The Monkey Says: Alas, he doesn't mean after this season, so there goes any hopes of easily wiping his $9 million off the books.  I hate to break it to Bobby, but odds are he isn't going to retire as an Angel as they will surely look to move him this off-season.

@
Minnesota Twins   (50-59) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (60-50)

Pitching Probables: MIN – Scott Baker (8-6, 2.56 ERA)  LAA – Joel Pineiro (5-5, 4.91 ERA)

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

What has gotten to Joel Pineiro? I don't know what's happened to him, you don't know what's happened to him, not even he knows what's happened to him!

What's it going to take to get the Pineiro from last season back? Remember the guy who won 8 straight starts in a row, the guy who took the Angels playoffs hopes with him when he went on the DL in the late months of the season? He was an anchor to this rotation last season, now he's struggling to plug up the 4th spot in what is one of the better rotations in the AL. He's been the weakest link in this rotation all season, even the rookie Tyler Chatwood has posted a far better season then Joel Pineiro.

Far better then Joel Pineiro. 

A solid bounceback from Pineiro is all it would take to muscle this team past the Rangers, but what would it take to make that happen?

Twitter is a great social media tool, especially for athletes.  It gives them a chance to interact with fans and show that they can be humble and gracious despite their fame.  It also allows them to insinuate that they are about to fornicate with an inanimate object, so I guess there are some drawbacks too.  Well, whatever your taste in tweets might be, the Angels have the entire spectrum covered this week.

Mike Trout takes his demotion to Double-A in stride - @Trouty20 Back to little rock ! Had awesome experience up here in Anaheim thanks for everything !

• He even gets sent back to the minors well.  Does that make him a six-tool player?  Seriously, this kid has no flaws.  I'm pretty sure he could cure cancer if he felt like it.

Victor Rojas thanks the weather gods - @VictorRojas29 Still amazed that we went through Baltimore, Cleveland & Detroit at the end of July & never experienced a rain delay. #luck

• Baseball announcers fear nothing more than lengthy weather delays.

CJ Cron has some very important things on his mind - @CCron24 Eagles will be very solid in #Madden

• Sometimes you have to remember that these prospects are just out of college and high school, so a team's rating in Madden is actually a big deal to them still

Chris Pettit overshares - @cpettit815 About to get intimate with the foam roll for 10 minutes...

• Be gentle, Chris.  It is the foam roll's first time.  And 10 minutes?  Way to go, stud!

...and finally, we end things with the world's worst Twittering athlete, Chevez "Chevy" Clarke.

@OfficialChevy Great pitching pitching by B-Mac today... I went yard today... Hit a Homerun!!!!

• This marks the first Chevy tweet that has actually made me smile.  Chevy has a pathetic .561 OPS right now, so he needs to start producing otherwise he's going to just be another dumbass on Twitter and I will lose the anchor of my weekly feature.  I may not like Chevy, but I need him.

@OfficialChevy Man I'm gettin really black!!!!!

• On second thought, I hope he never gets another hit.