Daily Links for the LA Angels including Wells and Kendrick progressing with their injuries, the Halos try to find a silver lining with Kazmir, the Torii Hunter problem (or not) and much more...

The Story: Vernon Wells and Howie Kendrick seem to both be progressing well in the injury rehab.

The Monkey Says: Well, this is good news.  The Angel offense is starting to show some signs of life and getting their best hitter, Kendrick, back will really help.  Getting Wells back certainly won't hurt either so long as he is a little bit better than he was prior to the injury.

The Story: The Angel PR machine makes a laughable effort to put positive spin on Kazmir's last rehab disaster.

The Monkey Says: His changeup looked terrific?  Well, that's great that his third and least effective pitch looked good.  Now, if he could just throw his two good pitches without getting annihilated, then that would be real progress.

The Story: Are the Angels primed to be no-hit?

The Monkey Says: What kills me is that during the near no-no Swarzak had over the weekend, I thought that this Angel lineup getting no-hit was inevitable.  Now I hate myself for thinking that because it means I agree with Jeff Miller, and that is never a good thing.

Admit it, you thought it was game over after the 2nd inning. I didn't, mostly cause I didn't start watching the game until the 6th. It's great to see the offense come back from a huge deficit, especially the rookies Trumbo and Bourjos' back to back 8th inning jacks to keep the game close.

Angels 10 Royals 8 

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim   (28-27) @ Kansas City Royals (23-29)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Ervin Santana (3-4, 3.95 ERA)  KC – Luke Hochevar (3-5, 4.81 ERA)

                                                                    Game Info: 1:10 PM PT; TV -Fox Sports West; Radio- KLAA 830

The Angels may not be looking for redemption for the opening series against KC at the beginning of the year, but I sure am. Back then nothing was working well for the Angels, except the starting pitching of course. The bullpen was off and the offense was struggling to fly out of the gate. Everything is looking much better now, and the Angels are taking some momentum from Minnesota to Kansas.

I may not be good for much, but I am a man of my word.  As such, here is this week's poll asking: who is your favorite Angel player?  I know that seems like a kind of lame question to ask, but thinking about it, it is rather interesting to ask in this very moment.

Vladimir Guerrero is long gone.  Nobody knows when (if?) we'll ever see Kendrys Morales again.  Torii Hunter's best days seem to be behind him.  There doesn't really seem to be anyone on the current roster that has the credentials to be the beloved face of the franchise, at least in my estimation.  Surely someone has to have captured the hearts of the fans though, right?  I just don't know who it, so hit the poll and hit it hard to let me know where your allegiance truly lies.

Time to vote!

Daily Links for the LA Angels including details of the second Morales surgery, examining if the Angels are blocking Mike Trout, Kazmir's second rehab outing goes horribly and much more...

The Story: Details of Kendrys Morales' second surgery.

The Monkey Says: There actually aren't a whole lot of details, unfortunately.  What does concern me though is the term "bone graft."  I'm no doctor, but that doesn't sound good.

The Story: Are the Angels blocking Mike Trout?

The Monkey Says: This topic is something of an elephant in the room, but I don't think there is a need to be so alarmist about it.  The part of this I especially detest is the notion that the team is "allowing" Abreu's option to vest.  Yes, it could be avoided and we can all agree that it would be best if the option didn't vest, but who exactly are the Angels supposed to give Bobby's at-bats to?  It isn't like they are overrun with offensive depth right now.  Giving him a vesting option in the first place, now that it is something worth complaining about.  What I think will eventually happen for the Halos to clear a spot for Trout is to find a team to dump Abreu on next season or, maybe even dump Torii Hunter via trade instead.  I really don't see trading Peter Bourjos as an option the Angels would seriously consider even though it would be the easiest way to make room for Trout.

The Story: Scott Kazmir's second rehab outing for Salt Lake started well but finished in horrific fashion.

The Monkey Says: Kaz apparently was decent in the first two innings, but the wheels came off entirely in the third when he allowed all 10 runs in the third inning, getting only one out before he got yanked.  I suppose the team will continue running him out there until his 30-day rehab allowance expires, but I don't see how he could possibly improve from these two awful outing to the point that he would the Angels would allow him back on the big league roster.  In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if they just cut him loose now.

On the anniversary of Kendrys Morales' disastrous walk-off homer, the Angels narrowly avoided a walk-off loss to add salt to the wound that still hasn't healed one year later.

Angels 6, Twins 5

Ironically, It was Kendrys Morales' de facto repalcement, Mark Trumbo, who ended up being the difference in the game by belting a ninth inning solo homer.  Yes, a homer, what poetic justice, that gave the Angels the exact amount of insurance runs they needed to survive a shaky Jordan Walden outing.

I can only imagine what the mood of Angel fans would have been had Waldo not been able to close the door after all.  Nothing would have been worse for our collective psyche than to fall victim to a walk-off loss at the hands of the worst team in baseball.  But instead, the Angels survived... barely.  Just like they are barely surviving as contenders without Morales.  Now, with Kendrys' second surgery and first anniversary of his injury behind them, let's just hope we can all finally move on from this whole bit of ugliness.

Well at least we have the return of the dominant version of Jered Weaver to celebrate. Too bad the offense decided to take the day off in a major way. ONE FLIPPIN HIT!?!? That's all the could put together against a guy who didn't top 92 all night. I guess I should have seen it coming because heaven forbid they put together a winning streak. 

You got the sense early on that this was going to be a low scoring game since Jered was dealing and Twins pitcher Anthony Swarzak was doing nothing but throwing strikes. By the fifth inning, I was very concerned that a no-hitter was a realistic option. By the 8th, I didn't care anymore if the Angels won, perferring to root for a hit to relieve the drama of the no-hit bid. In the end, the Angels didn't really deserve to win this one and, thanks to Kevin Jepsen, they return to the comforts of the .500 mark.

Angels 0 Twins 1