Typical. I start writing about the winning streak, with the Angels up 6-1 against the Dodgers in what, I assumed, would be game nine of it….and, yeah.

However, I will continue, with the same direct question to the Angels that I was going to start with, if they had won today.

"Who are you people, and what have you done with the Angels?

You won eight straight. You’ve been knocking in runs at an astonishing rate, and doing so both with monster hits and good old fashioned hustle. You have superstars who are playing like they deserve the name, and unknown call-ups who look like they’ve been in the majors forever. Even your deservedly derided pitchers have suddenly come right, and you might even have an Ace again by Wednesday. Even today, when the streak ended, despite CJ Wilson’s issues in the 5^th, you all pretty much played the way you’re meant to, you just couldn’t quite get it back after the 5^th inning.

Is this some kind of a trick? Were you playing possum all of April, in an attempt to deflect expectation, or are you building us fans up now so that if things fall apart again, we can at least say “Well, they had a good May”?

Or, dare I hope, have you finally started to put it all together?"

It certainly feels like it. Admittedly, those eight wins came against struggling teams, but the Angel’s have lost to worse teams this year and, let’s not forget, until this streak they were a struggling team as well. They’re still a long way back from the Rangers and A’s, both of whom are winning regularly, so the streak hasn’t made up all that much ground in the division. There’s a long way to go yet, but you have to start somewhere, right?

The most encouraging thing is that the improved results have been on the back of truly complete team efforts.  The starting rotation, if you can still call it that, has been remarkable. They’ve gone deep, too, (until today) limiting the bullpen’s exposure, although even that hasn’t been the terrifying prospect it was earlier in the year.

The offense has, if anything, been even better. Prior to the start of the freeway series, the Angels had scored 119 runs since May 1^st. Several of their losses earlier in the month were close affairs, and their wins have ranged from the gritty to the downright blowout. Add in the solid defense that even hardened skeptics have come to expect from this team, and it’s been a great run. Even Mike Scioscia getting ejected, I think, was a good sign – he’s passionate again.

All good things must come to an end, and this particular streak just did. Here’s hoping it wasn’t an anomaly, and that this season might just have gotten started. My only gripe – I understand dramatic tension, but did they really need to leave it this late? We get it. Now get on with it.

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The winning streak is over and the rankings are a day late, this can't be a coincidence. Or maybe I was just too lazy to write something for Memorial Day. Yeah, probably that....

RANK	PLAYER	CHANGE	COMMENTS
1		-- 0 Last Week: 1	Mike Trout - Only Trout could hit for the cycle and have it turn out to be a Super Cycle.
2		-- 0 Last Week: 2	Howie Kendrick - I'm already excited to get way too upset when Howie gets snubbed from the All-Star team.
3		+1 Last Week: 4	Jason Vargas - Facing bad teams in a big ballpark makes Jason Vargas look downright dominant.
4		-1 Last Week: 3	Mark Trumbo - To give you an idea of how well the Angels have been playing, Mark Trumbo had the worst OPS out of all the regulars in the last week at .732.
5		+1 Last Week: 6	Albert Pujols - This is like the third or fourth straight week in which Pujols has put up a strong line, yet for some reason it seems like his overall slash line isn't improving at all.
6		+1 Last Week: 7	Alberto Callaspo - All of the sudden, Callaspo is a doubles machine.
7		-2 Last Week: 5	C.J. Wilson - Just when it looks like he is about to turn the corner, he goes and craps the bed against the Dodgers.
8		+1 Last Week: 9	Jerome Williams - He has gone four straight starts of allowing two or fewer runs in six or more innings of work and yet somehow his rotation spot is in question. OK.
9		+4 Last Week: 13	Josh Hamilton - Hamilton has been much better of late, but he had so far to go to get his numbers looking respectable that he only just in the last week elevated his slugging percentage over that of J.B. Shuck.
10		+1 Last Week: 11	Erick Aybar - His bat is coming to life, but it sure seems like the Baseball Gods are out to get him injured again what with Nick "The Shredder" Punto delivering a flying knee to his ribs.
11		+1 Last Week: 12	Chris Iannetta - All those walks are so much better when they come with power.
12		-4 Last Week: 8	Ernesto Frieri - We're all in agreement that Frieri should never be allowed to pitch in Kansas City again, right?
13		+1 Last Week: 14	Dane De La Rosa - De La Rosa has pitched three innings more than any other Angel reliever which I am totally sure Jerry Dipoto fully planned on when he constructed this bullpen.
14		-4 Last Week: 10	Scott Downs - Downs hasn't faced more than three batters in an appearance since April 25th.
15		+2 Last Week: 17	J.B. Shuck  - Alright, I guess Shuck is pretty decent. I relent (please nobody tell Peter Bourjos or Kole Calhoun I said that).
16		-1 Last Week: 15	Robert Coello - Robert Coello has a save. Robert Coello, a pitcher for a team with a $140 million payroll, registered a save.
17		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	Sean Burnett - Yay! Sean Burnett is back! Aaaaaand he's hurt again.
18		-2 Last Week: 16	Michael Kohn - The wheels are still a bit wobbly on Kohn, but it isn't yet clear if they are going to come all the way off.
19		+1 Last Week: 20	Garrett Richards - I give up on figuring out Richards. One week he looks like he needs to be demoted, the next he is making guys look foolish with his slider en route to a five-out save.
20		+1 Last Week: 21	Joe Blanton - DAMMIT! Why did he have to pitch just barely well enough to earn himself one more start and keep us on the string like this. Stupid, Blanton.
21		-2 Last Week: 19	Hank Conger - Conger is making it hard to love him. He knocked the cover off the ball this week, but he also upped his season total to four GIDPs in just 67 plate appearances, which trails only Kendrick, Iannetta and Pujols for the team lead.
22		-2 Last Week: 18	Brendan Harris - Nothing against Brendan, but it was finally nice for the Angels to go a week without needing him.
23		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	Billy Buckner - Thanks for not ruining the winning streak, now please return to your life of being confused with the infamous Red Sox first baseman.
24		-- 0 Last Week: 24	Mark Lowe - At one point in the KC series, Lowe was warming up before the ninth inning in which the Angels led by three runs and I nearly had a heart attack.
25		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	Chris Nelson - Anytime you can pick up the unwanted trash of the Rockies and Yankees, you just have to do it.

Dropped from rankings: Barry Enright (soulless ginger that can't pitch), Michael Roth (sacrificial lamb), Luis Jimenez (flashed in the pan)

Biggest Riser: Downs and Frieri, down four spots each

Biggest Dropper: Hamilton, up four spots

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The May 28th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Weaver to return Wednesday, the Angels and the city of Anaheim in negotiations and much more...

The Story: Jered Weaver will return from the disabled list to start on Wednesday.

The Monkey Says: That bumps Jason Vargas back one day, but he as he has been arguably the best pitcher on the team, his rotation spot is not in danger. It will be rather interesting to see what Weaver can do after reports of him having recovered some velocity in his extended spring training start.

The Story: The Angels and the City of Anaheim are working towards a deal on extending the Angels' lease at the Big A.

The Monkey Says: This comes at exactly the time one would expect because it gives Moreno plenty of time to strike a stadium deal in downtown LA if Anaheim doesn't give him what he wants, thus he has leverage. Assuming he actually does want to stay in Anaheim, which I'm not sold on, he'll undoubtedly be looking to have the city pay for some renovations to the 50-year old stadium as well and quite possibly allow him to drop the "of Anaheim" from the team's official name.

And just like that, the bad old Angels were back, for one game, anyway.

The winning stream is dead at eight games, but it didn't have to be. The Angels were actually in prime position to continue their winning ways as the Dodgers were Dodgering all over the place the first few innings of the game as several defensive miscues staked the Halos to a 6-1 lead. Alas, that wouldn't last. It all began with C.J. Wilson and his back-from-the-dead problems with that one big inning.

Not to be outdone, the improved bullpen went and got all shaky again, giving up two runs off the arms of Michael Kohn and Robert Coello. Their ineffectiveness only served to point out once more that Mike Sciocsia's passing infatuations with relievers that have really done nothing to earn his trust.

And then, of course, there were the baserunning blunders and the three back-breaking doubleplays in the final three innings to save the Dodger bullpen from blowing the lead despite their best efforts.

It was classic April Angels baseball, but it was only for one game. Or at least we hope.

Dodgers 8, Angels 7

Game Notes

-- Not that it would've changed my mind about the Angels erring by signing Hamilton instead of Greinke, but it sure would've been nice for the Halos to actually win this game. Knocking Zack around is only a small consolation since so much of the damage came because the Dodgers are a freaking disaster in the field.

-- Does Robert Coello have DADHAT? I can't decide. It isn't like his hat has too much crown, per the typical definition, but it does look weird. It is like he wears it too high up on his head, or maybe he just has an oddly-shaped head. Someone needs to figure this out.

-- I'm not sure how or why, but I blame those hideous digital camoflauge uniforms.

Angel A-Hole of the Game

The "Season of the Whiff" continues for Christopher John as he "whiffed" on the chance to extend the team's winning streak and on the opportunity to prove that his early season struggles were behind him.

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The Angels have tacked on another win to an ever growing streak that looks more and more like an unstoppable force at the wins continue to pile on. I've been saying this team has the potential to go on a 15 win streak and get in the playoff race in a matter of weeks, not months like everyone has been speculating. Everything is clicking with this team, as it should be. The pitching isn't a complete disaster as it was in the past month and the offense is finally putting up the important runs in tight situations. 

This series has shown that this team is capable of putting up early runs while the pitching can keep the lead in the teams hands. Most importantly, this game has shown that the team is capable of putting runs late in the game without letting the opposing pitching put them out of the game. The biggest problem with this team was their inability to mentally keep themselves in the game long enough to put something together.

Now that they've been streaking hard I think it's apparent the Angels mental problems have put far behind them.

Angels 5 Royals 2

Things are rolling right along right now. Today's game was a victory of a thousand papercuts. There wasn't one big event you could point to that caused the win, just a teams playing good baseball right now on all fronts. Anytime you can coax a win out of a career minor league pitcher, you have to count yourself lucky. On top of that, the offense didn't really start rolling till the 6 inning, and was even no hit for the first five. Once again, what should have been a loss comes up roses for the Halos. Maybe this team will be heard from in October after all.

Angels 7 Royals 0

Streaks are strange beasts. Winning or losing is often arbitrary and not always the outcome of the better team playing better. When a team gets on a winning streak, many will attribute it to players feeling more comfortable, or an easier part of the schedule. These factors are surely at play when it comes to the Angels current 6 game winning streak that has seen them now climb to third in the AL west. But as was also the case tonight, luck and good fortune were also large components in keeping the streak alive. Whatever the case may be, winning is a heck of alot better than losing.

Angels 5 Royals 2