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Los Angeles Angels (26726) vs. Minnesota Twins (16-33)

Pitching Probables: LA -- Jered Weaver (6-4, 2.35 ERA) MINN -- Anthony Swarzak (0-2, 7.71 ERA)

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


The Angels will look to build off last night's come from behind effort and try to avoid another trip back to .500. The Twins, on the other hand, should really start thinking about what they have in the farm system since I think their season might already be over.

     All those who thought the Angels were going to sleepwalk through another shutout loss raise your hand? Yeah, me too. Things looked mighty bleak until the magical 8th inning when all of a sudden the Halos exploded for a five spot to tie it and then one more in the 9th to eek out a win. Twins fans must be kicking themselves. I wonder what it must be like to have starter sparkle only to have a shaky bullpen blow it late...oh, wait, yeah I know exactly what that feels like

Angels 6 Twins 5

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Los Angeles Angels (26-26) vs. Minnesota Twins (16-32)

Pitching Probables: LA -- Tyler Chatwood (3-2, 4.06 ERA) MINN -- Scott Baker (2-3, 4,12 ERA)

Game Info: 5:10 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

The Angels head back out on the road with a chance to pick up some ground in the West by feasting on the once mighty Twins. What happened to this team? They have always been contenders but apparently the combination of injury and lack of payroll has finall caught up to them. Meanwhile in Angel Land, Wells is on the DL, Kendrick is on the DL so we get the return of Bobby Abreu to a full time outfileld spot. Sorry, give me a minute, I need to clean up the mess off my keys from all the heaving...
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Ladies and gentlemen, I have another major announcement about this site.  No goofing around, this is totally for real and it may have a major impact on how this site is operated.

I'm moving to Seattle.

Like I said, no joke.  It is really happening.  I've got a new job and it starts on June 6th.  So a week from this Sunday, me, Mrs. Monkey and our Little Monkey are packing up and heading to the Pacific Northwest and leaving Santa Barbara and the rest of California behind.  Both my wife and I were born and raised in California, so this is a big move for us but one that we feel strongly will be a great thing for our family and careers.  The blog, maybe not so much.

As I said, I'm getting a brand new job at a whole new company and I just don't know what that is going to mean as far as the time I will have available to blog.  In fact, there is a small chance that their social media policy may prevent me from blogging at all.  That being said, I have every intention of trying to write as often as I do now, but I just can't promise it.  One thing I do promise is that I will NOT shift allegiances to the freaking Mariners (please, I ain't that dumb).

Until I know for sure how things are going to shake out, all I ask from you, the readers, is to hang tight as I pick up my life and move it 1000 miles to the north.

And now back to your regularly scheduled Free For All Friday...

Daily Links for the LA Angels including Reagins talks Branyan signing, Kendrick hits the DL, Scioscia says home plate collisions are part of the game and much more...

The Story: Tony Reagins talks about the Russell Branyan signing.

The Monkey Says: I gave my two cents on the signing yesterday, but it is good to hear what Tony has to say.  I like the idea of having Trumbo be used a little less often so as to hide his flaws some and I also think it is smart to have Trumbo start practicing in LF.  What I do think this sort of indicates though that the Halos are hoping that this will be the only real acquisition they make during the season. If Branyan does what they hope he can do, I believe they'll just wait this out and hope for improvement from within to breath some life into the offense.

The Story: Howie Kendrick has been placed on the disabled list because of his lingering hamstring issues.

The Monkey Says: Sounds like the Angels are just playing it safe.  Hopefully Howie can return by next weekend.  And I do mean hopefully because I can't stand watching Reggie Willits anymore.

The Story: Mike Scioscia says home plate collisions like the one that injured Buster Posey is just part of the game.

The Monkey Says: Considering that Sosh made blocking the plate into a fine science in his playing days, I didn't expect him to say anything less.  Personally, I think the same thing as Sosh.  The only reason this is such a big deal is because it was a marketable young star like Posey and not some scrub like Bobby Wilson.  I don't remember calling for a rule change when Darin Erstad nearly caved in Johnny Estrada's head and basically ended his career several years ago.

Now I'm gonna be late to class and the Angels don't even have a win to show for it. Thanks a lot Brett Anderson.

Angels 3 Athletics 4

This just in via Twitter, the Angels have signed Russell Branyan.

I'm not normally one to get excited about a team singing a 35-year old slugger with a bad back that the Arizona Diamondbacks recently decided wasn't good enough to play for them, but I am going to make an exception this time.

Before this signing, if someone were to ask be the three things the Angel offense was missing the most my response would have been:

1. More homers
2. Bench depth
3. A left-handed power threat

But now that Branyan has signed up, those three have all been addressed in one fell swoop.  OK, so maybe they still need more power and their depth is just less of an issue now, but hey, its an improvement.  Probably the best news of all is that the Angels finally have another guy over 5'10" to put in the lineup.