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Los Angeles Angels Anaheim  (22-21) @ Seattle Mariners (17-24)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Jered Weaver (6-3, 2.25 ERA)  SEA – Jason Vargas (2-2, 3.86 ERA)

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

 This road trip has been horrendous at best, all thanks to the blownpen's arson charge led by the one and only Fraudney. What happened to the road team that we've been seeing all season so far? If they ever plan on picking it up, Seattle is the place to do it.

You're never going to believe this, but I have another new weekly feature I want to try out.  This new endeavor is a chance for us to take a weekly look at what the other chumps in the AL West have been up to.  In other words, it is a chance for me to make fun of the other teams in the division.  Who could possibly be against that.

To kick off this feature, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the graphic above that shows the division-winning odds of each team entering the season.  Obviously there is a lot of season left to play, but I imagine that some of those pie slices would be distributed very differently.  Those pre-season prognosticators largely assumed that Texas was pretty much a mortal lock to win the AL West, with the exception of that minority of folks who just wanted to be different so they picked the A's.  The Angels?  Yeah, not so much (and the Mariners?  Ha!).

Yet here we are 40+ games into the season and there is basically a three-way tie atop the division.  No team is running away with the division and no team is truly out of it (except for the Mariners, this will be a recurring theme).  It is really going to come down to which team can best address their fatal flaw (or flaws).  The Rangers are injury-riddled and have suspect pitching.  The A's can't hit and are struggling mightily on defense.  The Angels, well, we know all about their pitiful lineup and their ulcer-inducing bullpen.

With 120 games left, it should be one wild ride to watch.  Until then, let's get to the meat of this feature and get the latest scoop on the rival squads.

I like to think that I coined Fernando Rodney's nickname "Fraudney" (that may or may not be true, but I take credit for it nonetheless).  MWAH's own Jon Lyons has also brilliantly labeled him "The Tilted Hat of Misery."  Those nicknames are fun, creative and entirely true, but I have yet another new name for us all to call Fernando Rodney and that is: Fernando F@#!ing Rodney.

Is it creative?  Not at all.  Is it appropriate?  Abso-freaking-lutely.

Who amongst us hasn't yelled that very phrase at our TV at least once this season.  Heck, I've probably screamed it five times in the last week alone.  This goes without saying, but Fernando Rodney has been so tragically terrible this season that he has quickly become the most hated man in Angel Nation and, really, he is blowing the competition out of the water.

Daily Links for the LA Angels including Scioscia favors playoff expansion, Kendrick getting some early MVP consideration, Scioscia downplays concerns over the Halos' lack of power and much more...

The Story: Mike Scioscia favors MLB adding a second wild card in each league.

The Monkey Says: This is actually pretty big news because Scioscia is a member of a special committe put together by Bud Selig to discuss changes to the game, so Scioscia's opinion will both carry weight and not fall on deaf ears in the league office.  As of right now, I'd say it is a pretty safe bet that the playoffs will be expanded sometime in the next two seasons, once they figure out the logistics of it all.

The Story: David Schoenfield of ESPN rates Howie Kendrick as fifth in MVP voting in the American League so far.

The Monkey Says: It is nice to see Howie getting some national attention, but I am not even totally convinced that Kendrick is the MVP of the Angels right now.  Then again, who am I to argue with Howie's 2.3 WAR, which is the second-highest in the AL.

The Story: Mike Scioscia tries to downplay concern over the Angels worsening power outage.

The Monkey Says: I kind of get the whole, "this team isn't built that way" mantra, but the situational hitting and aggressive baserunning method isn't working all that well right now either, so mixing in some more power sure sounds like a good idea to me.

Well, that sucked.  I really don't know how else to sum it up.  I'm just glad that the interminable beating Oakland laid down on the Halos tonight is finally over.

Athletics 14, Angels 0

In all seriousness, I'm not all that upset about tonight's clobbering.  Yes, it was embarrassing.  Yes, the offense was pathetic.  Yes, Chatwood was lousy.  Yes, the bullpen still stinks.  But you know what?  Nights like these happen to every team a few times per year and tonight it was the Angels' turn.

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Los Angeles Angels Anaheim (22-20) @ Oakland Athletics (21-20)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Tyler Chatwood (2-1, 3.67 ERA)  OAK – Gio Gonzalez (4-2, 2.68 ERA)

Game Info: 7:05 PM PT; TV - Fox Sports West; Radio - KLAA 830 AM

Rain, rain go away.  Let the Angels get this game in without delay.

Seriously, how is an AL West team subjected to so much lousy weather on such a regular basis?  Looking at the weather report, it seem pretty unlikely that this game is even going to happen tonight.  If it does, this will no doubt mean another night of a soggy field and sloppy play.  Excuse me if I fail to sound excited.

As the old saying goes, you can't keep a good man down, and Mike Trout is most certainly a good man, possibly a great one.

After a torrid prior week, this latest week started off rather tepid, going 2-for-15 with four strikeouts.  A four-game skid is little reason for concern for anyone, especially Mighty Mike, who bounced back with a vengeance.

Trout's last three games have seen him go 7-for-16 in his last three games, with three doubles, a triple and three runs scored to his credit.

So why should we care about Trout having such an up-and-down week?  Because the finish to his week might be indicative of Trout taking the next big step towards greatness.  You see, Trout has had one weakness thus far this year, playing at home.  The Travelers play in one of the least hitter friendly parks in the minors, and even he hasn't been able to overcome its draining effects, leaving him with a paltry .250/.301/.441 slash line (and this is after he got hot this last week), including 18 strikeouts in just 68 at-bats, at Dickey-Stephens Park.  If his end of the week hot streak proves to be sustainable, then I would consider that to be the final hurdle for him to clear in Double-A.  Obviously, three games doesn't mean a whole lot, so it will be worth keeping an eye on him whenever he is at home over the next month or two.

That's it for this week, check back in next week to see what happens to our future hero.  Same Trout Time.  Same Trout Channel... err, blog.