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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (43-35) @ Toronto Blue Jays (40-38)

Pitching Probables: LAA - C.J. Wilson (9-4, 2.36 ERA) TOR - Aaron Laffey (0-0, 1.80 ERA)

Game Info: 12:07 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830

Today is Canada Day... apparently.  What is Canada Day?  The internets tells me it is Canada's birthday.  I should probably have known that since I believe my great-grandparents were born in Canada, although it may not have actually been a country then, but I digress...

The point is it is Canada's birthday and on one's birthday, others are supposed to be nice to them and give them presents.  I'd like to think that the two straight days of poor starting pitching and wretched fielding are presents enough, even if they were given early.  It isn't the Angels fault that Toronto unwrapped them early; frankly, that's just rude and in poor taste.  And here I was thinking Canadians were a nice, well-mannered people.

I'm sorry, that wasn't very nice of me.  It is Canada's birthday after all, so I can overlook their minor transgressions.  Besides, I really want a piece of cake?

There will be cake, right?

What do you mean, "no cake?!?!"  Oh, screw you, Canada!  I don't have time for this bullsh-

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Like I said earlier today, this one had all the makings of an Angel loss. It's like the Blue Jays had a checklist to beating the Angels tonight. Hit a couple of home runs (check). Make the Halos use their middle relief (check). Keep Mike Trout quiet (check). Put enough of these together and it all adds up to some Angel slippage in the standings.

Angels 5 Blue Jays 7

Game Notes

-- Mike Trout is human, at least for a day. Three strikeouts Mike? Have we all checked to make sure hell hasn't frozen over?
-- Ervin Santana was his usual bi-polar self. For the first four inninge he looked great. Then his slider flattened out and his fastball lost it's bite. Pow, five runs. Santana reminds me a lot of John Lackey. Lackey had the same penchant for the big inning as Santana seems to have. But Santana has a larger mouth, so at least he has that going for him.
-- It's official, Jordan Walden cannot be trusted. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, Walden blows the game by giving up the go ahead run. It's okay Jordan, we will try again next year.

Halo A Hole
   
 Ervin, about that vote of confidence Mike Scioscia gave you awhile back. Yeah, we're gonna need that back. Okay?

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (43-33) @ Toronto Blue Jays (38-38)

Pitching Probables- LAA Ervin Santana (4-8, 4.92 ERA) TOR Carlos Villanueva (2-0, 3.24 ERA)

Game Info: 4:07 PM PT; TV - FSW ; Radio - KLAA 830

This matchup would appear to be a recipe for disaster. Ervin Santana gives up homeruns by the boatload and the Blue Jays hit homers almost as much as they hit singles. the Jays are also throwing a pitcher that the Angels have not seen, which usually leads to offensive futility. So why am I optimistic about the Halo's chances tonight? Because sometimes teams just get on a roll and cannot be stopped.

The Angels are winning games in all sorts of fashions. They are winning pitching duels, slugfests, come from behind and blowouts. The offense is punisihing the baseball led by the electric Mike Trout and the resurgant Albert Pujols. It's been awhile since I have been this excited about an Angels team. If Santana can get right, and that is a big if, then all we have to deal with is the suddenly human Dan Haren. Santana has started to show signs of life now that his job is being challenged but he is always one start away from disaster. I, for one, hope he does regain his 2011 2nd half form. He is a huge key for any playoff hopes for this incarnation of the team. Like I said, time to get excited.

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Mark Trumbo had 17 home runs heading into the series in Baltimore and finished up with 18, adding one more amidst the offensive pillage of Camden Yards followed by one more in Toronto to bring his grand total to 19. To date, that puts him only 7 behind the Major League leader Jose Bautista (26) coming up here on the All-Star break. Some say he's a shoe-in for the Home Run Derby and rightfully so with the power he possesses (.315 AVG, .625 SLG, .992 OPS) . Trumbo leads the league with 13 HR's since May 27th and has not shown any signs of slowing down. He reimagines the last great Angel to hit in the 4-spot and instill fear among opposing pitchers: Vladimir Guerrero. Funny enough, Guerrero too held his own among Derby contestants. 

The last two Angels who won the Home Run Derby were the only two Angels in the last decade to participate: Garrett Anderson in 2003 and Vladimir Guerrero in 2007. Both were feared presences in the batter's box and could, on any pitch, take you all the way to the batter's eye. The big myth about the All-Star Game is it affects momentum by transforming plate approach. Angel fans don't want to see their most consistent and productive hitter thus far in the season dip because he's chasing mid-season hardware. Home run hitters in the contest develop a slight undercut to influence the trajectory, land it on the other side of the fence. But honestly, the hitting mentality never really changes when you head back into team play. 

Some may say he's not the most reliable power source but Vernon Wells (25 HR's in 2011) did only finish 4 HRs short of Trumbo last year despite a season in which his bat could not find answers to questions at the plate. He'll be the first to tell you that you shoot for gaps and home runs are rewards of such swings. Trumbo already has half his doubles total (15) from last season. Of course no hitter in the Derby uses this same mentality of doubles because it is futile in a home run contest, but once they're back in game action nothing should change. Trumbo has a student's mentality, he learns game-to-game and only seems to improve. He does strike out 24% of the time but he takes more pitches and swings at fewer balls outside the zone. He has changed. 

In both seasons that Anderson and Guerrero won, yes their averages did drop from All-Star Break to finish but that didn't necessarily entail missed production. Guerrero's dropped from .325 to .324 and his nearly matched his first half home run total of 14 with 13 other home runs. Anderson dropped his average from .316 at the break to .315 at the end of the season; his home run production did dip significantly from 22 in the first half to 7 in the second. But what Anderson didn't have that Guerrero did, and Trumbo now, is support. The present team is finally well-rounded and the force of Morales and Pujols really won't allow extensive slumps. And if all points north for Trumbo, maybe he can also get himself some end-of-the season hardware.

So in my opinion, let Trumbo represent Anaheim next week. He deserves it, and so does the franchise. 

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So, apparently making up Vernon Wells is a thing now.  If you checked out the Halo Headlines this morning, you were treated to not one but two different stories from respected(?) national reporters who both suggested that the Angels could find a taker for Vernon Wells at the trade deadline.  This is, in a word, laughable because:

• Vernon Wells has the worst contract in baseball.
• Vernon Wells is currently injured and won't be back in time to play enough to "show that he's back."
• Vernon Wells has been terrible for over a season and thus unlikely to ever "be back."
• Vernon Wells' name is synonmous with one of the worst trades of all time that essentially got Tony Reagins fired.  Any GM trading for Wells would be taking on a radioactive asset and immediately subject himself and his ballclub to intense criticism and scorn.
• Vernon Wells.

Those well-known facts should be enough to convince a rational person that Wells isn't going anywhere, yet we still had the speculation arise.  This I cannot abide.  So, just to make sure we are all clear on how unlikely it is that Vernon Wells will NOT be traded before this coming trade deadline, I present to you a brief and incomplete list of things that are all more likely to happen than a Wells trade:

The June 29th, 2012 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including more appreciation for Trout's stellar catch, an actual Vernon Wells trade rumor, Kole Calhoun named to the Triple-A All-Star team and much more...

The Story: Breaking down the awesomeness of Mike Trout's stellar catch against the Orioles.

The Monkey Says: My favorite part is still his reaction just because you can tell that he is even incredibly impressed with what he just did.

The Story: Buster Olney speculates that the Dodgers might be interested in trading for Vernon Wells.

The Monkey Says: See, this is the kind of thing that happens when you hire Mickey Hatcher for your front office.  This also seems to be Olney just throwing crap up against the wall and hoping something sticks.  I can't imagine anyone trading for Wells even if the Angels eat most of the money.  His mere name is radioactive at this point and the only reason any GM would trade for him would be if he was daring his owner to fire him.  But wait... there's more!

Ernesto Frieri is beginning to have a knack for the dramatic. His bases-loaded ninth inning gem was more scripted than it was allowance and almost overshadowed the superb display on the offensive side (14 hits and 9 runs). With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom half of the ninth, Edwin Encarnacion and all 22 home-runs stepped into the box, poised for a walk-off. Fastball after fastball, the matchup was pure power as each individual came after the other with everything they had. Well, we all know how that ended. 

Fortunately for the Halos, Frieri got Encarnacion to ground to Aybar for the 6-4-3 double play to end the game. Heartbreaker avoided. But the biggest play of the game happened to be the one to end it, as Pujols scooped a botched throw from Howie Kendrick to finish the play that would've tied the game up. Instead, the box score bleeds solid performance rather than game breaking. 

But not for Dan Haren (6-7) despite getting the win, who seemed to struggle mightily through 6 IP giving up 7 hits, two of which were long balls to raise his ERA to 4.53. The bullpen did their usual fortifying, as Hawkins, Downs, and Frieri came in for relief. And as the offense has shown recently, they're for real now.

Texas, watch out.  

Angels 9, Blue Jays 7