The June 5th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Angels hit rock bottom, Trout has confidence in Pujols and Hamilton and much more...

The Story: Mike Scioscia had some choice comments after holding a team meeting in the wake of the sweep by the Astros.

The Monkey Says: When it comes to a "switch flipped off" and "fire and a sense of urgency," that is something Sciocsia is supposed to be taking care of. If he is really going to go to the media to deliver the message, while it might make the fan base feel better, it really does speak to how desperate he is getting as this is very much not his style.

The Story: The Angels still have a slim chance at saving their season in the wake of the sweep by the Astros.

The Monkey Says: Since this seems to keep coming up, let's just call it the Astrocalypse. I really don't think the Angels have a chance even with the example of the 2012 A's there for them to follow. The problem is that they are just now finishing up the absolute easiest part of their schedule and they have basically just managed to tread water over the 29-game stretch. It isn't impossible, but the degree of difficulty is exceptionally high.

The first round of All-Star voting was released for the American League yesterday. As usual, the Angels were not all that well represented, mostly because Halo fans aren't insecure or stupid and thus don't feel the need to vote for every single Angel on the ballot dozens of times per day. It might also have something to do with the fact that the Angels kind of suck right now.

But what's the fun in that? Let's be sheep like all the other fan bases and vote for every Angel whether they deserve it or not (SPOILER ALERT: most of them don't deserve it). I know that might be hard to justify, but I have perfectly acceptable reason that you can use to make your vote for every Halo player legit.

Albert Pujols - There was a movement to get Mariano Rivera named the starting pitcher of the All-Star Game to honor him in his final season before he retires. So I think we should do the same for Albert and get him named a starter too. Huh? What's that? Come again? You mean, he's-  Are you sure? Not retiring at all? Well, then....

Howie Kendrick - Howie is actually having an All-Star caliber season so a vote for him is actually justifiable, however that isn't why you should vote for him. The real incentive is that Howie will become a sleeper agent of sorts. Since it is pretty clear the Angels won't be in the World Series, planting Howie in the All-Star Game puts him in perfect position to come up with a trademark GIDP in a clutch situation to cost the AL the game and thus potentially rob hated rivals like the Rangers, Red Sox, Yankees and Tigers from getting home field advantage in the World Series. Excellent, Smithers.

At the start of this season, every Halos fan knew there was one team standing in the way of the postseason. A team within the division who they needed to beat regularly in order to keep, at the very least, the wildcard open as a way into Fall baseball. A team from Texas.  

Seriously though? It’s the Astros?

At the time of writing, The Angels have gone 3-6 against the Houston Astros in 2013. Let’s put that in perspective; a team with a payroll of over $140 million, is 3-6 against a team spending under $25 million. A team boasting at least three probable future hall of famers, 3-6 against a team of kids who most baseball fans would struggle to name without their rookie cards in front of them.

How the hell has this been happening?

One big part of it could be expectation. The Angels were expected to make short work of the Astros this year – it’s Houston’s first time in the AL West, and that’s at least part of the reason many thought the Angels had such good odds to make the postseason. The logic was, any team that had a significant number of games against the Astros had a better chance of gaining a wildcard than, say, the Red Sox, who play in a more uniformly tough division.

The June 4th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Trout leads AL outfielders in All-Star voting, Vargas named AL Pitcher of the Month and much more...

The Story: Mike Trout leads AL outfielders in All-Star voting.

The Monkey Says: He holds a narrow edge over Adam Jones as the Baltimore fans are stuffing the ballot box like crazy this year, as exemplified by Brian Roberts being fifth in the voting at second base. A few other Angels appear in the results, but none of them are remotely in position to win the voting.

The Story: Jason Vargas was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for May.

The Monkey Says: Vargas had a great month but mostly against inferior competition. That isn't his fault or anything, but he isn't likely to continue pitching at this level with the competition about to step up big time.

The Angels just lost to the Astros.

The Angels just lost to the Astros 2-1.

The Angels just lost while only scoring one run off of remnants Erik Bedard.

The Angels just got swept by the Astros.

The Angels got swept in a four-game series by the Astros.

The Angels got swept in a four-game series at home by the Astros.

There is no coming back from this.

There is no climbing out of this deep, deep hole.

There is no excuse for this embarrassment.

There is no excuse for the Angels to be this bad.

There is no quick fix for the Angels.

There is no move they can make that will make this better.

This team sucks.

This team sucks hard.

This team sucks long and hard.

We surrender.

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Just know that coming off three straight losses to the Astros, I don't have a lot of nice things to say this week.....

RANK	PLAYER	CHANGE	COMMENTS
1		-- 0 Last Week: 1	Mike Trout - Is it just me or did Trout make the final out in every single loss this week?
2		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	Jered Weaver - Weaver hitting 91.6 MPH on the radar gun? /SQUEEEEEE!!!!
3		-- 0 Last Week: 3	Jason Vargas - So at what point do we get to start wondering when the Angels will approach Vargas about a contract extension?
4		-2 Last Week: 2	Howie Kendrick - Howie continues to hit well, but he also continues to hit into GIDPs at the worst possible time.
5		-1 Last Week: 4	Mark Trumbo - Trumbo only had an OK week, but I still can't help but wonder if he shouldn't be hitting third now instead of Pujols.
6		+5 Last Week: 11	Chris Iannetta - Turns out that sometimes good things happen when Iannetta takes the bat off his shoulder.
7		+1 Last Week: 8	Jerome Williams - So excited to find out what non-sensical excuse Scioscia uses to justify returning Williams to the bullpen despite having a 2.58 ERA and five consecutive quality starts.
8		-3 Last Week: 5	Albert Pujols - Maybe it is time to send The Machine out to get serviced. It looks like some of his parts are in dire need of maintenance.
9		+1 Last Week: 10	Erick Aybar - Aybar hit quite well this week, but he has walked just THREE TIMES all year. He is batting leadoff.
10		-3 Last Week: 7	C.J. Wilson - At what point do we start talking about moving C.J. back to the bullpen to work as the closer since he hasn't exactly been living up to his billing in the rotation?
11		-5 Last Week: 6	Alberto Callaspo - He didn't hit a lick this week, but at least he made a costly error that cost them a game.
12		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	Tommy Hanson - Not an inspiring return for Tommy, but I think we can cut him some slack considering the circumstances.
13		-- 0 Last Week: 13	Dane De La Rosa - The line looks fine for this week until you realize that DDLR has never met an inherited runner that he didn't let score.
14		-- 0 Last Week: 14	Scott Downs - How is it possible that Downs didn't pitch at all this week? Has Scioscia lost faith in him or is he nursing another nagging injury?
15		-3 Last Week: 12	Ernesto Frieri - Man, if only the Angels had signed some other pitcher who could step in as closer when Frieri goes sideways.
16		-- 0 Last Week: n/a	Kevin Jepsen - Jepsen has looked pretty good since returning which leads me to just one conclusion: IT'S A TRAP!
17		+1 Last Week: 18	Michael Kohn - I'll give Scioscia credit for one thing with this bullpen, he really seems to be doing a great job of handling how and when he uses Kohn which is essentially as a ROOGY and strikeout specialist.
18		-2 Last Week: 16	Robert Coello - There was a debate this week about what to call Coello's special pitch. If you voted for anything other than "fuckleball," you are dead to me.
19		-- 0 Last Week: 19	Garrett Richards - I think Richards is the new Kevin Jepsen. Two-thirds of the time he looks unhittable, but the other third looks like a horror movie.
20		-- 0 Last Week: 20	Joe Blanton - I still want Blanton gone, but he has been improving, which is a pretty good problem to have.
21		-12 Last Week: 9	Josh Hamilton - I can tell that this back spams issue is going to be fun and totally not annoying and frustrating.
22		-7 Last Week: 15	J.B. Shuck  - Hurry back, Speedy Petey. Hurry back.
23		-2 Last Week: 21	Hank Conger - Did you know that Conger has started 18 games and collected a hit in 15 of those starts?
24		-2 Last Week: 22	Brendan Harris - Brendan Harris getting another start at first base fills me with rage.
25		-- 0 Last Week: 25	Chris Nelson - It was awfully nice of Nelson to knocking a game-winning RBI for the Angels considering how he is probably going to get DFA'd when Bourjos comes off the DL.

Dropped from rankings: Mark Lowe (DFA'd with extreme prejudice), Billy Buckner (one night stand), Sean Burnett (fragile)

Biggest Riser: Iannetta, up five spots

Biggest Dropper: Hamilton, down 12 spots

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The June 3rd, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Scioscia defends moving Trout back to LF, Hamilton gets testy with reporters and much more...

The Story: Mike Scioscia defends his decision to move Trout back to left field once Peter Bourjos returns.

The Monkey Says: I agree with the move but disagree with some of his comments. Scioscia was clearly responding to the ill-informed Rosenthal piece last week when he suggested that playing center isn't what got Trout's bat going but rather hitting right in front of Pujols. Not only has lineup protection proved to be something of a myth, but Pujols is hitting so poorly now, it is highly doubtful that he is providing any kind of protection at all.

The Story: Josh Hamilton got a little snippy with reporters when discussing his struggles.

The Monkey Says: The money quote was, "I can't predict the freaking future. Do you want me to go say I suck and sit in my locker?" He also says he is confident that he will come out of it once he gets his timing down. One would have to think that if the timing isn't there come early June than it isn't coming. What he needs to do is work on his pitch selection, but I guess that has never hindered him in the past so he just assumes it will start working again sooner or later.