During Mike Scioscia's tenure, catchers have always been held to a different standard. His motto has always been that the 100-150 pitches that they handle are more important than the five at-bats they receive in a game. As a result, Angel catchers have established a permanent residence in the 8th spot of the batting order. This has been especially apparent since the departure of Bengie Molina and the Angel's starting catchers struggled to stay above the Mendoza line. (Although comparing the hitting ability of Jeff Mathis and Bobby Wilson to Mario Mendoza would actually be an insult to Mr. Mendoza, so I will refrain from tarnishing what is left of his good name) The question is, why has Scioscia been so adamant about having them hit eight and more importantly, what is the overall effect on the Angels lineup?

Those who are big on using analytics will explain that the 8th spot in the lineup is where a team should bury its worst hitter. This is why a couple years ago a few of the National League teams started having their pitchers hit in the 8th spot. Simulations showed that having the pitcher hit 8th instead of 9th would result in about 5 more runs scored over the entire season. However, Scioscia has never been a manager who integrates statistical analysis into his optimal lineup. My personal theory is that since the 9th spot has always been an integral spot in a Scioscia lineup as it is the bridge to the top of the order, he is putting his worst hitter in the "last" spot in his lineup by having the catcher hit 8th. This is supported by John Hester's stat line of .212/.287/.329, Bobby Wilson's stat line of .208/.272/.321, and Jeff Mathis's stat line of .198/.256/.314. Each one more pathetic and sad than the last. Not a one amongst them fit to hit in the middle of the order, let alone be an everyday catcher.

Yet, Scioscia broke his tendency of having his catcher hit 8th when he had quality hitting catchers. Bengie Molina was a staple in the middle of the order bat until he left for Texas. Mike Napoli hit as high as 4th in the line-up serving as protection for Vladimir Guerrero. These two catchers originally hit 8th in the line-up. Once they demonstrated their ability to swing the bat, Scioscia responded by moving them up in the batting order. For Bengie Molina, he managed to be the lock down the starting catchers spot with his exceptional defensive skills. He won a gold glove in 2002 and 2003. Mike Napoli is a different story. Despite his strong hitting abilities, Mike Napoli never really was able to usurp the starting catcher's job from Jeff Mathis. Part of this was his inability to stay healthy, but it was mostly due to the fact that Mike Napoli lacked Jeff Mathis's defensive skills and was always Scioscia's dog house. So this seems to show more that Scioscia has an affinity for light-hitting catchers with strong defensive skills over catcher's who can mash the ball.

So in the spirit of #PMA, how can this benefit the 2013 Angels? Currently, the Angel's two catchers are Chris Iannetta and Hank Conger: two catchers who can swing the bat, but are lacking defensively. So far in the 2013 season, Scioscia has had Conger and Iannetta bat in the 8th hole every game. It is understandable why Scioscia has pursued this course so far. In 2012, Iannetta hit .240/.332/.398. Not a terrible stat line, but certainly not a middle of the order bat. Conger is yet to demonstrate his ability to handle the bat in the Major Leagues. However, Iannetta is currently off to a red-hot start batting .417/.462/.917. Given the Angels hitting woes to start the season, hopefully Iannetta can continue his hot start, earn Scioscia's trust in his hiting ability and be rewarded with a move up in the batting order. Scioscia is one of the best and most intelligent managers in baseball, so there is no reason to believe he the promotion isn't on the horizon. If Erick Aybar keeps struggling, we could see Iannetta hitting 2nd in the line-up working counts, giving Mike Trout the ability to steal bases, and driving the ball with authority. We Angel fans have waited a long time for the second coming of Bengie Molina, and Chris Iannetta just might be that catcher.

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The April 8th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Weaver hurts elbow, Pujols willing to walk away from his contract and much more...

The Story: Jered Weaver injured his left elbow avoiding a comebacker on Sunday night and may need to go to the DL.

The Monkey Says: The good news is that it is his non-pitching elbow so it doesn't have to be 100% for him to be able to pitch, however, he does appear to be in a lot of pain. Given how bad it looked when he left the game, the DL seems like an option, so we'll just have to wait and see. I'd expect Garrett Richards to step into his spot in the rotation if Weaver isn't ready to ho.

The Story: Albert Pujols says he will walk away from his contract when he feels like he can no longer be competitive.

The Monkey Says: Let's print this article out, put it in a tim capsule, bury it in the bottom of his locker and dig it up on the final day of the 2018 season for Albert to read, you know, just in case.

Did anyone expect the Angels to come away with this game? I didn't, and I'm not saying this just to "save face". Jered Weaver always, ALWAYS, has a rough time pitching in Texas, especially on Sunday Night Baseball. This is a game the Angels were doomed to fail, even though they showed very early promise. The winds were high and the home run ball was on, and unfortunately the Angels could not keep up with the Rangers in this evenings makeshift homerun derby. Just as the Rangers couldn't keep up with the Angels high-powered offensive showing in yesterdays game the tables were turned on the Angels, who fell behind to the Rangers very early and could not comeback. The Angels just losing this game on it's own isn't too much to get worked up over (though plenty of Angel 'fans' would be quick to argue); the real pain came from Weaver's early exit from the game. A comeback line drive led to Weaver injuring his elbow in an attempt to get out of the way, and while it doesn't seem to anything seriously debilitating it is still a hit the pride of Weaver and the Angels. 

Even though the Angels have opened the season against two playoff contenders they still have a tough road to face with a red-hot Oakland coming up. The Angels are going to have to let the fact of the loss slide off their shoulders and continue on to tomorrow, because if they can play with a short-term vision they can take the series against the Athletics.

Rangers 7 Angels 3

So far this season things have been a little topsy-turvy in halo land. The pitching has been solid (with the exception of Ervin Blantana) and the offense has been shaky. But today things were righted on the offensive side as the Angels blasted four homers and cruised to a win. The win is equally key since tomorrow's matchup looms as a big one early in the season. A sweep on opening week is not the way to ge things going. Thankfully, today the big bats arrived.

Angels 8 Rangers 4

Maybe Arlington is a baseball town after all? How else would you explain what happened during today's Angels game against Texas when a lucky fan caught a foul ball only to get even luckier when his buxom blonde lady companion proceeded to lose her mind with excitement and pretty much dry humped him right then and there?

See for yourself:

I can't say I ever want to receive anything called "Kinsler love" but it looks like it is going to workout pretty well for that guy, especially once he and his lady get home tonight.

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Throughout the off-season I decided I wanted to track how you, the fans, were feeling about the Angels in the wake of their third consecutive playoff-free season. With the media trumpeting the Halos as the epic failure of 2012, I was curious if all of that had dampened everyone's spirits and outlook for the 2013 Angels. But beyond that, I wanted to see how the collective confidence of the fans shifted over time as the off-season moves of the Angels unfolded.

To do that, I ran the same poll three times: at the end of the season, just before spring training and Opening Day. In that poll I asked fans to declare their prediction of the Halos either winning the World Series, winning the AL West but not the pennant, winning the Wild Card and losing early in the playoffs, just missing out on the post-season again or finishing several wins worse than in 2012.

Here are the results of those poll:

There's been quite a bit of hype, a lot of expectations that have followed the Angels into the season. The first week of the season is usually a decent sign of where your team is going to go this season, though as we saw last year these expectations aren't always as solid as we'd like. The first series of the season can at least give you some insight as to how your team will be performing during the first month of the season. It's not expected for a team to be firing on all cylinders right out of the gate, though it does always happen to a handful of teams to start the season.

Once the team is able to get its head firmly on its shoulders is when you'll get to see what they are truly capable of, though the performance throughout the first month usually highlights the problems the team will be facing throughout the season. Just as the Angels had intense bullpen struggles and lacking starting pitching that stretched out throughout the season any serious problems the team has can typically be traced throughout the first series

The Angels have just happened to finish up their first series against interleague opponents and playoff contenders the Cincinnati Reds, and there were quite a bit of happenings this series that are telling of where the Angels are going to. While the Angels didn't look close to the tour de force they've been tagged on this off-season there were plenty of signs showing us why the Angels will work out the kinks and turn into a complete animal this season. Then again, there have been a fair number of signs that this team could be headed in the other direction, back to the Angels of last April. Let's just start with the obvious.

Oh Lord, this Starting Rotation

We've only seen about half of starting rotation perform in this series, but it's quite apparent the Angels will have their fair share of worries through the season. The most worrisome being Jered Weaver's dipping velocity, it's a common fact that pitchers aren't at full strength until after the first month but can Weaver really gain 3-5 MPH back on his fastball in just a month? In the season opener Weaver's fastballs were consistently tagged by the radar gun as sitting between 85-88 MPH, which would put him in a delicate position if he can't regain some of the velocity back. Although his ability to spot his pitches is phenomenal we've all seen that ability fall apart from time to time, even though it always comes back together quickly it is something to worry about. What doesn't get me too worried is Jered Weaver's attitude, his bulldog/leader persona on the mound will forever be fueling his pitching performances, even if his stuff is off his fire and intensity on the mound will ALWAYS carry him through games. 

How about that C.J. Wilson by the way? Although he pitched strongly through the first few innings he ended getting hit hard midway through the game. His control fell apart and he issued multiple walks as well as a big blast that put the Angels behind early. Wilson was pretty loose with the walks last year, giving up 91 BB's last year, and the fact that it has continued as soon as his first outing of the season is pretty telling. He's going to have command issues and he's going to have to find a way to work around that, mostly by keeping the big hits off of the board. 

Lastly we have Joe Blanton, who happens to be more effective than you might think. We all know he's going to give up plenty of big hits, be it home runs or untimely XBH's; but once he starts giving out walks and base hits like free candy is when we're going to have a serious problem. Blanton's use comes directly from his command, he might not be striking out a million guys a minute but he definitely won't be giving out a hundred free passes like some of our other pitchers. Blanton is gonna get damaged in his starts, we just need him to limit the damage as much as possible. So basically what I'm saying if he gives up 2 home runs in the first two innings and all it amounts to is 2 earned runs, be thankful. If he isn't putting the offense too far out of reach of taking the game then he's doing his job. If he can keep it to at least 1 run an inning we really have nothing to complain about (especially with this offense), this is what is to be expected of him and if you expect any differently then it's on you.

Oh Lord, this Bullpen

I have never been so floored, so flabbergasted by this Angels performance. When was the last time the bullpen took over a game and our collective jaws dropped instead of our stomachs? Garrett Richards has looked phenomenal as the 6-7 inning guy for the Angels. In 2.2 innings pitched he's given up 0 runs, which isn't overbearingly impressive, but it's a strong start. What really gets me going is the fact that Richards and the rest of the bullpen have pitched out of tight spots. Close, high pressure games that would easily been given away by the bullpen have been held together fantastically by the array of relief arms. Sean Burnett looked fantastic as relief, even though he has only pitched 0.2 innings in 2 games his appearances were high-pressure game breaking appearances and he did greatly. This bullpen is a complete flip from the 'pen that burned nearly every appearance they pitched, you could pin the Angels as a playoff team just from the vastly improved look of the bullpen. Even the last minute addition of Mark Lowe has proved to be an effective move for improving this bullpen, literally everything Dipoto has done to this bullpen has improved it by miles. Multiple relievers who can pitch multiple strong innings are a godsend.