The July 22nd, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Fernando Rodney activated from the DL, the Halos scout Japanese sensation Yu Darvish, Adrian Beltre owns Dan Haren and much more...

The Story: The Angels have activated Fernando Rodney from the DL and optioned Trevor Bell back to Salt Lake.

The Monkey Says: The fact that getting Fraudney back is actually something that I am mildly excited about should tell you just how pitiful that other right-handed middle relievers have been for the Angels this season.

The Story: Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish was scouted by the Angels recently.

The Monkey Says: A few years ago, Darvish was seen as an emerging star out of Japan, but he decided to stay in there rather than come to MLB.  In those years his stock has dropped a little bit, but I would guess almost every single team will scout him at some point since it sounds like he could finally make the jump in the next year or two

In you're faces Texas Rangers, the Angels can win ball games in more than one way. While you simply rely on offense to bring home your wins we can pull em home with our arms AND our bats. Last night was a testimony to how good this offense can be, while today was all about our pitching, which quickly proving to be the dominant rotation in the AL West, if not the whole AL. 

Angels 1 Rangers 0 

As little as six months ago, it would have been enthralling to hear the rumor that Jose Reyes has the Angels at the top of his list when he hits free agency this off-season.  But after the resurgence of Erick Aybar and with the growing concern about just how much payroll Arte Moreno can really afford, I'm not sure that the Angels and their fans are going to have their collective skirt blown up by Reyes' surprising interest in joining the franchise.

It isn't that Reyes isn't a fine player or a poor fit for the Mike Scioscia's system, quite the opposite, in fact.  Reyes is an MVP candidate this year with very good reason and his speed-based game makes him arguably the best free agent most well-suited to join the Angels since, well, and I get a lump in my throat even mentioning this but, since Carl Crawford.

And therein lies the rub.

Crawford is such a great comp for Carl Crawford that just about every expert expects Reyes to ask and receive a contract identical to the one Crawford got last winter.  The same exact contract that Arte Moreno classified as "crazy."  Assuming the Angels even show interest in Reyes after this season, a big "if" by the way, this is already shaping up to be another in a long line of Angel free agency failures, which is probably why the Angels will bow out of the Reyes sweepstakes before it even begins.

That would definitely be a smart financial choice, but is it the right baseball choice?

The July 21st, 2011 edition of daily news for the LA Angels including Jose Reyes wants to sign with the Angels this off-season, the Angels are targeting middle relief help in trades, Horacio Ramirez gets called up as Kohn geys demoted and much more...

The Story: Sources claim Jose Reyes wants to sign with the Angels this off-season.

The Monkey Says: That is quite the revelation, especially since Reyes figures to be one of the top names on the market this winter.  What really surprises me is just to have a big name free agent supposedly hankering to come to the Halos.  As the article points out though, Reyes is asking for a Carl Crawford type of contract, so it seems highly unlikely that Arte Moreno will suddenly be willing to pay the price that he openly scoffed at last off-season.

The Story: The Angels are said to be targeting middle relievers on the trade market.

The Monkey Says: This is no surprise and something I've been saying for weeks.  Scioscia is openly frustrated with the state of the bullpen outside of Walden and Downs, so it seems to be a pretty good bet that they will bring in some kind of help, most likely a righty power arm.

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Texas Rangers    (56-42) @  Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim  (52-46)

Pitching Probables: TEX – C.J Wilson (10-3, 3.11 ERA)  LAA – Jered Weaver (12-4, 1.90 ERA)

Game Info: 12:35 PM PT; TV - FS-W; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

Last night was one more game chipped off the standings and a huge momentum shift for this series. It only seems fit that this series would come down to this, a rubber match which could give the Angels a better chance at taking first earlier in the second half. God knows we don't want to deal with any late season dramatics by these two teams, I'd rather see the Angels head into the last month of the season leading the standings by at least 15 games. This has all the makings of a turning point in the Angels season, and a serious turning point at that. Not one of those "uh-oh, they've been hot for the past 4 days, could it be magic?", this is a real turning point here folks. This is about as big as a regular season series can get if it isn't a Red Sox v Yankees game, we all know how much ESPN fawns over those games. 

The Rangers dreaded 12 game winning streak has finally come to end, in spectacular fashion at that. Now that the Rangers have begun to lose their momentum now is the the perfect time for the Angels to get hot again and overtake the lead. Aside from when the Rangers go on their ridiculous tears every other month or so they play pretty average baseball, the only reason they are able to create big leads is because of a spectacular month or two in a full season. If the Angels can catch them on their way back down to earth that would set us up nicely for a strong post-season run.

Angels 9 Rangers 8 

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Texas Rangers  (56-41) @ Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (51-46)

Pitching Probables: TEX – Derek Holland (8-4, 4.32 ERA)  LAA – Dan Haren (10-6, 2.75 ERA)

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

Just a week ago everyone was clamoring and freaking out at the fact that the Angels were going into the second half just a game behind Texas with the necessary momentum to overtake them in one fell swoop. Now we're looking at a 5 game deficiet, and possibly more, if the Angels don't finish off this series strong. Good thing the baseball gods, or more likely the schedulers, have set up Haren and Weaver to finish off this series. The only bad thing about this game, which honestly terrifies the crap out of me, is Derek Holland.