Daily Links for the LA Angels including Kazmir finally gets released, Weaver's high pitch counts shouldn't be cause for concern, ESPN calls the Halos the fourth best franchise in sports and much more...

The Story: The Angels finally released Scott Kazmir.

The Monkey Says: This has been inevitable since last year, really.  The Halos gave Kazmir every chance to keep his job, but things just kept getting worse for him.  His acquisition will no doubt go down in Angel history as one of the worst ever, but I'll be taking a look later today on just how bad it really was.

The Story: A retrospective of just how quickly Kazmir's performance declined.

The Monkey Says: It really is staggering how fast Kazmir went from very good to absolutely miserable.  Hopefully he can catch on with a pitching guru like Dave Duncan in St. Louis and salvage his career since he is still plenty young enough to have a quality career.

Next time the Angels play the Mariners, I'd like to request that Carlos Peguero have the rabbit's foot up his butt be surgically removed first.

Mariners 3, Angels 1

Last time the Halos came to Seattle, Peguero won the game on a walk-off flyball that Torii Hunter lost in the sun.  Now tonight, Peguero broke the scoreless tie and drove in the eventual game-winning runs thanks to a routing grounder that hit second base and caromed safely into the outfield.

Losses don't get much more deflating than that.

And that's the real problem, isn't it?  Every time the Angels make some progress, something crazy like that happens.  I just hope the Angel players don't let this demoralize them.

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim   (33-36) @ Seattle Mariners (34-34)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Ervin Santana (3-6, 4.37 ERA)  SEA – Erik Bedard (3-4, 3.47 ERA)

Game Info: 7:10 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

Just like I had hoped, the Angels are eyed a huge series sweep against the Mariners that would put them within striking distance of 1st place in the AL West. My one worry however, is whether or not Santana will be able to find consistency in his pitches. If he can somehow find a way to keep the ball in the park, unlike his last 3 starts, then the Angels will stand a great chance of winning this game against the Mariners. Yes I know that is an extremely obvious statement to make, how else am I going to fluff up this paragraph? 

The latest batch of All-Star voting results are in and the Angels are pretty much nowhere to be found, not that it should be a surprise to anyone.  And since it looks like the Halos don't stand a chance at any position player representation, I can go ahead and vote my mind for the All-Star game, which conveniently fulfills my BBA obligation of doing so.

Daily Links for the LA Angels Kazmir's Angel career may be over after another awful rehab start, Scioscia says divisions will not be eliminated in realignment, evaluating the best move of Reagins' tenure and much more...

The Story: Scott Kazmir got lit up in his latest minor league rehab start, which might mean the end of his Angel career.

The Monkey Says: Kaz got shelled for six runs in 1.2 innings of work.  Details aren't even really necessary at this point, but these kind of results show just how helpless his case is.  He still has time left on his rehab assignment, so the Angels may let him finish it out since they are paying him anyway, but make no mistake, he will be released very soon.

The Story: Mike Scioscia claims eliminating divisions is not part of the plans for potential realignment.

The Monkey Says: Sosh is on the Commissioner's advisory committee, so if he says it isn't happening, then it isn't happening and I am all in favor of that.

What a perfect way to deliver the Angels organization their 4,000th victory as a club, a CG shutout by arguably their best player on the team. The offense, on the other hand, was extremely disappointing to watch. They still managed to turn in a victory, so all is good tonight in Anaheim.

Angels 4 Mariners 0 

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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (32-36) @ Seattle Mariners (34-33)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Jered Weaver (7-4, 2.24 ERA)  SEA – Doug Fister (3-7, 3.40 ERA)

Game Info: 7:10 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

As my regular readers know, I have recently transplanted from Southern California to Seattle.  Smart as I am, I timed my move perfectly so that I can attend an Angels game pretty much as soon as I got here and tonight will be that night.  Yes, the Monkey will be in attendance at tonight's game.

I shamefully admit that this is the first Angel game I have actually been at the park for since my daughter was born almost two years ago.  I wish I could've made one final trip to the Big A, but I here only positive things about Safeco, so I suppose it will do just fine.  Either way, I get to see an Angel game live, so I am a happy man.