This week in the world of Angels on Twitter, we get some good and some bad.  The good?  Another Angel joins Twitter while another breaks some actual news.  The bad?  The news that was broken certainly sounds bad, as does reading tweets about Torii Hunter's erection.  Of course, nothing is as bad as Chevy Clarke who went upped his horrible Twittering to unprecedented levels of inanity.

Angel prospect Garrett Richards is the newest Angel to join Twitter - @GRICHARDS26 New to the twitter world. Thanks for following me. Much love.

• He's lucky his name is Garrett, otherwise I don't think I would be able to condone the incredibly dated use of the phrase "much love," especially from a white boy from Oklahoma.

Trevor Reckling with breaking news about his own health - @TRECKLING30 All my fans family and friends pray that my results for mri go well on friday

• Ugh, that sucks.  Reckling finally seemed to have his career back on track and now he could be facing major health problems.  On the other hand, this is why Twitter is so cool, because I doubt we would have heard about this injury otherwise.

Torii Hunter is getting older, but still makes boner jokes - @toriihunter48 Thanks to everyone who gave me a Bday s/o. I'm 36 years young and i don't need Viagra yet! LOL......

• He may not need Viagra, but given his flimsy OPS this season, I certainly wouldn't mind if he started popping some HGH pills.

Trevor Bell really likes women's soccer, but not for the reason you think - @TrevBe22 Would it be weird if I proposed via twitter to @alexmorgan13? Don't tempt me. #hottestfemaleathleteeverinvented

• Take it easy there, Trevor.  She's cute, but she isn't that hot.  Heck, with Hope Solo around, she probably isn't even the most attractive lady on the US Soccer team.

...and finally, my favorite part of this feature, Chevy Clarke.  This might've been the most painful week of Chevy tweets yet.  I honestly don't remember a single day when I didn't look at my "Angel tweets" list and see it eniterly comsumed by Clarke's moronic musings.  It is almost like he is trying to antagonize me, and when you see what he did the other day, you'll understand why I say that.  And as we remind you every week, if you don't follow Chevy... don't, especially now that he seems to be upping the blather to unprecedented levels.

@OfficialChevy #triviatime I'm about to ask a question to my followers. Whoever gets it right... I'm callin u...

• Oh my Lord, this was the worst Chevy has ever been.  I don't know why he thought this was a good idea but he kept trying to get this stupid quiz going, asking brain-busting questions like what his favorite ice cream is and what color his room is painted.  And the prize?  A call from Chevy.  Who in their right mind would want that?  Can you imagine how annoying he must be in person?  I almost joined in on the guessing in hopes that I could win and then have him call me so I could tell him in person to shut the hell up.

@OfficialChevy Everybody tweet me ur best smiley face and i'm retweeting them....#ChevyTrain

• If there is one thing I hate more than mindless retweets, it is freaking emoticons.  Why am I not surprised to see him heartily endorsing both.

Hank Conger says he understands why he was sent back down to Triple-A yesterday, but does he, and Angel fans in general, understand the entire line of logic behind returning the promising prospect to the minor leagues?

No, the real reason behind Conger getting demoted wasn't Jeff Mathis threatening once again to make public whatever compromising photos of Scioscia that we all suspect he's been lording over him for years.  OK, maybe that has a little bit to do with it, but the primary reason has more to do with the Angels desire to improve over Jeff Mathis both now and in the long-term.

The long-term benefit of this move is the most obvious.  Hank Conger may be one of the best catching prospects in baseball, but he just isn't quite ready for The Show yet.  The big knock on Conger before the season was that his defense may not be good enough to keep him in the majors.  At times, Conger has proven those doubters wrong, but at other points they looked very right.  The problem was that Conger was so focused on trying to gets his defense up to Mike Scioscia's lofty standards that it caused him to let the rest of his game to get away from him.

The July 20th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Hank Conger gets demoted to Triple-A, Tony Reagins could be on the hot seat, Mark Gubicza's daughter overcomes a serious medical condition and much more...

The Story: Hank Conger was demoted to Triple-A, but is taking it in stride.

The Monkey Says: This was pretty surprising and I know not everyone is happy about it, but it might actually have been the smart thing to do.  I'll explain that more later today, as well as why this move could mean a trade is in the works to bolster the catching position.  I will say now though that we should all be glad that Hank understands that this move is being made both in his and the club's best interests.

The Story: Ken Rosenthal believes that Tony Reagins' job security is starting to get shaky.

The Monkey Says: Rosenthal isn't saying he is on the hot seat yet, but he could be getting there after the backlash from the Wells trade and the fallout of the Kazmir trade.  Personally, I think Arte Moreno isn't much one for making heads roll, so I would be that he will give Tony another year to clean up the mess he has created of late.  However, if Reagins screws something up again at this deadline, that could change.

So much for the much anticipated Angels-Rangers showdown, eh?  Texas clearly came ready to throwdown, but all the Angels could manage to do was roll over and take their beating.

Rangers 7, Angels 0

If this game was in any way representative of how the rest of the AL West race is going to go, count me out.  This wasn't just about the Rangers being better than the Angels, this loss definitely had a little bit of that, but it had a whole lot more of the Angels just not having any fight in them.

There was never any threat of a rally to get back into the game.  There was never even any real frustration that the Halos were being completely stifled by Alexi Ogando.  There wasn't even any sense of shame or embarrassment that the Rangers got to pile on with three salt-in-the-wound homers off of Michael "The Human Gas Can" Kohn.

I have to say that I kind of saw this coming (thus my 9-2 loss pre-game prediction), but that doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt.  I just hope that this thumping snaps them out of this post-break malaise that the team is clearly mired in.

@

Texas Rangers (55-41) @  Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (51-45)

Pitching Probables: TEX – Alexi Ogando (9-3, 2.92 ERA)  LAA – Tyler Chatwood (5-5, 3.62 ERA)

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

It is the series we've all been waiting.  The series that, even in mid-July, is poised to shape the face of the AL West.  The series that will tell us right now whether or not the Angels are true contenders or just pretenders to the throne.

Not to put too fine of a point on it, but the Angels have a lot riding on this series.  This is both the last time they face the Rangers and play a home game before the trade deadline arrives.  As of right now, the Halos are very much expected to be buyers on the trade market, but that can change in a big hurry if the Angels drop this series or, perish the thought, get swept.  Sorry, but if the Angels find themselves seven games back and facing a ten-game roadie after this series, then I don't know if they can seriously still consider themselves as having a chance at making the post-season.  Sure, they have still have ten more games against the Rangers after this series, but how confident would they really be in being able to use those remaining games to close the very large gap?

On the flip side, if the Angels emerge victorious from this series (and not even with a sweep), then it is officially game on because they are almost assuredly going to be in the race until the end and that means we should all be demanding Tony Reagins make good on his proclamations of having no restrictions at the deadline so that he can go and get whatever help this team can get so that they don't just hang tight with the Rangers, but rather overtake them altogether.

The Trout Tracker is going on hiatus this week since our hero is still doing his thing up in the bigs, but the spirit of the tracker shall live on with a different future Angel star.

I had thought about picking Jean Segura, but I didn't think giving weekly updates on a hamstring injury would be all that interesting.  I thought about Garrett Richards too, but I think my infatuation with him is largely based on him and I sharing a first name, besides, starting pitchers just aren't as exciting.  Finally, I settled on none other than slugging third baseman Kaleb Cowart.

Really, Cowart should have been the easy and obvious choice.  As last year's first round pick, Cowart clearly has the pedigree to be considered a future star, and his power potential certainly backs that up.  On talent alone, Cowart could very well be considered the Angels top prospect this time next year.  From an actual production standpoint, Cowart may not have a long resume, but what he is doing this year is plenty impressive.

Cowart may have had a poor though abbreviated debut in rookie ball last year, but he has made that a distant memory in Orem this year.  Since Orem is only short-season ball, Cowart has just 104 at-bats this year, but he has a .375/.429/.500 slash line...

OK, that line is nice, but it isn't great.  It just doesn't hold up to Trout-ian standards.

Sigh.

Look, Cowart could be great, but he could also be not so great.  He does strike out a lot with 25 Ks in those 104 at-bats.  In fact, he kind of reminds me of Mark Trumbo in that his biggest tool is his power, but his ability to keep his average up and strikeouts down remains a question.  Heck, when Cowart was drafted, there was real question whether or not he'd be a position player or a pitcher... just like Trumbo.  Now, I say this as if being another Trumbo is a bad thing, but that isn't what I mean at all.  The point I am trying to get across is that Cowart has big time potential, but he is far from a sure thing and there is no sense firing up the hype machine until we see a little more of him.  So, I guess this might be the first and last Cowart Coverage for the foreseeable future.

Sorry, Kaleb, thanks for trying though.

The July 19th, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including the Angels showing trade interest in Aramis Ramirez and Wilson Betemit, Reagins says he has no restrictions at the trade deadline, Nolan Ryan hospitalized with heart problems and much more...

The Story: The Angels have shown interest in trading for Aramis Ramirez and Wilson Betemit.

The Monkey Says: Ramirez I very much understand, though it sounds like he isn't going to waive his no-trade clause.  As for Betemit, I guess he at least provides some depth, but really he is just another version of Alberto Callaspo only with a bit more pop and a worse glove.

The Story: Tony Reagins insists that he has no restrictions at the coming trade deadline.

The Monkey Says: Sorry, but I'm calling his bluff.  I get that he has to say that he has no restrictions so he doesn't lose negotiating leverage, but the fact that he is saying it pretty much confirms that it is BS.  The Angels almost never talk trade to the media because they like to play things close to the vest, so I can only assume Tony is tipping his hand now because he wants to bluff the competition.  Besides, we've all season the payroll figures for the Halos, so we know just how much budget room they really have left (which is none).