Well now that this road trip is over we can all sigh with relief, we're coming back home with strong footing. Almost everything looked great for the Angels this series, Trumbo is finding a comfort zone at the plate, Our co-aces continue to perform like so, Back to Back 1-2-3 9ths from Walden (haven't seen a 1-2-3 9th in a while), and the top of the lineup looks NOTHING like it did early last year. Izzy is proving to be a strong leadoff man, Kendrick is looking better than anyone could have imagined, and Abreu is proving that old age won't take away his speed OR his bat. Of course the bullpen still looked slightly spotty, but it's progressing in a very positive direction. The first thing i thought after the completion of the sweep was "The Angels swept? They did exactly what we needed them to do?! This surely can't be MY Angels!". Lets just hope the Angels keep everything going in the right direction

Angels 5 Rays 1 

The Angels haven't exactly been doing as much winning as we all hoped, but that doesn't it is a total loss.  This week's winners are brought to us by way of canines and closing time.

You didn't really think I was going to go with Semisonic over Tom Waits, did you?

I love the recent decisions of Mike Scioscia in response to the team's struggles out of the gate, but there is one thing that bothers me about them: the timing.  I am seldom one to question the Great and Mighty Sosh, but I must ask, "didn't we already know all of this?"

I don't know either, Mike.  That's why I am asking you.

@

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2-3) @ Tampa Bay Rays (0-4)

Pitching Probables: LAA – Dan Haren (0-0, 1.29 ERA)  TB – Jeremy Hellickson (0-0, -.-- ERA)

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

Now that the bullpen is fixed (kind of, and by kind of I mean, not really), can we the Angels please do something about their uncanny inability to give Dan Haren some run support?

Daily Links for the LA Angels including Scioscia names Walden the new closer, Downs could head out on rehab very soon, defending Jeff Mathis' infamous place in history and much more...

The #ItCouldBeWorse campaign worked pretty well today.  It may not have been the most active of Twitter Trend Tuesdays, but I'm going to go ahead and take credit for raising everyone's spirits and giving the Halos enough of a morale boost to snap them out of their slump.

As promised, here are some of the top tweets from other users for #ItCouldBeWorse:

Sometimes it seems like Mike Scioscia fears change, but the Angels skipper made some bold and uncharacteristic changes to kick-off the series and Tampa and those changes couldn't have worked out better.

Angels 5, Rays 3