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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim  (36-39) @ Florida Marlins (33-41)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Joel Pineiro (3-3, 3.92 ERA)  FLA – Brian Sanches (3-1, 1.93 ERA)

Game Info: 4:10 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

 

Oh what a great day today is going to be for us Angel fans. Today the universe is handing us the victory on a silver platter, and all the Angels have to do is not suck. I know that sounds like a tall order, especially with the way this offense has been playing, but it is entirely manageable. Today is going to be a bullpen day for the Marlins, meaning the Angels won't have to worry about being dominated by just one mediocre pitcher, just a handful of them.

All-Star voting has always been imperfect, and in continues to be now that All-Stars are determined less by a player's actual performance and more by how skilled a player's team has gotten at getting their fans to stuff the ballot box.  Really, it is just annoying to see guys like Russell Martin leading his position at voting despite hitting .238.

What's even more annoying is that it is never the Angels who benefit from the ballot-stuffing measures.

Do we lack the passion?  Do we lack the smarts?

Or do we value our vote too much to blindly cast them for any player with "LA Angels" next to their name like the lemming in New York, Boston and Texas see fit to do?

Daily Links for the LA Angels including Angels absent from latest All-Star voting results, the farm system is already producing results, Callaspo's return moves Izturis back into a utility role and much more...

The Story: The latest AL All-Star voting results are out, and not one Angel name can be found.

The Monkey Says: None of the Angel position players exactly deserve a lot of All-Star votes, but the fact that not one is amongst the top five (or fifteen for the outfield) at any position is kind of shameful in my opinion.

The Story: Give credit to the Angels' farm system for developing several useful players this season.

The Monkey Says: With a lot more yet to come, as we all know.  That alone is plenty of reason for optimism for the Angels' future, even if the present is working out quite as well as we had hoped.

Every time we start feeling just a teeny bit good about the Angels, a game like this happens.  Futility, ineptitude, misery.  Call it what you will, the fact of the matter is the team's inability to hit with runners in scoring position remains staunchly intact.

Marlins 5, Angels 2

It took thirteen hits before the Angels finally managed to plate a single run against the lowly Marlins.  This despite the Halos having at least one baserunner in every single inning. This despite the Marlins having Javier Vazquez, their version of Scott Kazmir, on the mound.

Even then, it took an error for the Angels to get that second run.

What is truly amazing about this game wasn't that they went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.  It was that when the Angels entered the ninth with no runs and twelve hits, the Angel fans on the internet were actually rooting for the Angels to get two more hits and NOT score so that they could have a piece of the league record for most hits in a game without scoring a run.  At least then the team's ongoing futility would finally help them accomplish something memorable.

Of course, the Angels couldn't even do that right.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (36-38) @ Florida Marlins (32-41)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Ervin Santana (3-7, 4.25 ERA)  FLA – Javier Vazquez (3-7, 6.85 ERA)

Game Info: 4:10 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

One of the reasons I hate interleague play is because it forces AL teams to bench one of their regular starters, sometimes a very good starter.  Be it benching a slugging DH or taking a defensive hit by moving that potent bat into the field where he clearly doesn't belong.  The Angels are definitely victims of this problem, which is actually good news for their depleted lineup.

Earlier this year, finding a regular to bench would have been easy.  Actually, that's not true, with Wells, Hunter and Abreu all struggling in the early going, it would have been impossible for Scioscia to decide which underperformer to bench.  Now though, Abreu has become a steadying force in the lineup, Wells finally seems to be coming around and Hunter is at least showing a pulse.  As such, Peter Bourjos has often gotten the short end of the stick even though his stick has been pretty hot of late.  Honestly, I actually found myself wondering if there was a way to get all four of them in the same lineup in a NL park.  I never thought I would see that happen.  It is a problem that the Halos only have to deal with for another week, but at least it is the good kind of problem to have.

He may be the best prospect in baseball (or at least the best prospect in baseball who isn't a showboating jackass with a pornstache), but Mike Trout is "only" the sixth best hitter in the Texas League.

For all of Mike Trout's many splendored feats in Double-A this year, he still doesn't have the best OPS in his own league.  That isn't to say that his .969 OPS isn't impressive, it just is worth pointing out that it isn't the best, but it is close.

Is that supposed to be a dose of reality in regards to how much more development he still has in front of him?  Quite the opposite actually.

Take a look at the age of the men in front of him.  The league leader, James Darnell, is 24.  After him comes Matthew Adams, age 22.  Up next is 26-year old Jermaine Mitchell and the two 23-year olds, Vincent Belnome and Tim Wheeler.  But why does this matter?

Because Trout is still just 19 years old.  He is literally a boy amongst men and he is besting almost every single one of them.  His accomplishments and advanced skillset at such a young age are exactly why Trout is considered to be the reigning king of the minors.  It is also the reason why the Halos are going to continue to be careful with him and not rush him to the majors despite the public outcry for it.  Let's just get Trout up to Triple-A first, and then we can worry about when his big league call-up can be scheduled.

That's it for this week, check back in next week to see what happens to our future hero.  Same Trout Time.  Same Trout Channel... err, blog.

Did you know the Angels have the 5th best bullpen ERA in the American League?

More than likely you just responded "no" and then took a beat and asked, "how the hell did that happen?"  Don't feel bad, I did the same thing when I saw that stat.  After thinking about it for a bit more though, the answer to that seemingly rhetorical question was clear, Scott Downs is how that happened.

Sure, Jordan Walden has emerged as a potentially elite closer this season, but the problem that has plagued the Halos practically since Opening Day is getting the ball to Walden.  We've dealth with the ineptitude of Fernando Rodney, the meltdown of Kevin Jepsen, the disappointment of Hisanori Takahashi and the inability of Rich Thompson to step his game up.

By all rights, the Angel middle relief should still be a flaming greasefire game after game, but it isn't, all because Scott Downs has emerged as an elite setup man and the steadying veteran presence the bullpen has been seeking for years.