The April 5th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Mike Trout's strikeout problem, Hamilton ready to return to Texas and much more…
The Story: A look at Mike Trout's one weakness of striking out too much.
The Monkey Says: I don't think it is really a big deal, but it is weird that he whiffs so much given his good eye and approach. If anything, I think the strikeouts are a product of him being too patient and working himself into a lot of two strike counts. It clearly didn't hold him back in 2012, so I don't see why it would hold him back now.
The Story: The Angels are bracing themselves for Josh Hamilton's return to Texas.
The Monkey Says: He's going to get booed. So what? The worst thing that could happen is Hamilton trying too hard to show up the Rangers and having a bad series. The best case scenario is that does try extra hard and actually does show up the Rangers.
The Story: A Dallas columnist calls for Ranger fans to actually cheer Hamilton instead.
The Monkey Says: Not going to happen, although I do think that cheering him might mess with his head a lot more than a loud chorus of boos would.
The Story: Albert Pujols is still working through his plantar fasciitis issues in his feet.
The Monkey Says: It sure seemed like he aggravated the injury when he slid into home yesterday. Expect Pujols to DH during the series in Texas and possibly well beyond that.
The Monkey Says: I'm not too worried about Vargas since the Big A plays like a major pitcher's park. However, that could be bad news for Hamilton, though I don't think it is going to cause his numbers to totally crater. No, his deteriorating plate discipline will take care of that just fine.
The Story: Mike Scioscia has an opt-out clause after 2015.
The Monkey Says: Apropos of nothing, it is just an interesting note. I don't envision a lot of scenarios in which he would quit despite having success with the Halos. I know some worry he'll jump to the Dodgers, but he has resisted that talk for a long, long time. If anything, Scioscia will get fired before ever getting a chance to opt-out.
The Monkey Says: Add clumsiness to the list of reasons why I don't like Thom Brennaman as a broadcaster.
The Monkey Says: Hard to argue with that. And after watching the Angels play without a DH for a series and being reminded how annoying it is to watch pitchers hit really makes me pine for the day that the DH is used throughout the league.
The Monkey Says: I'm already concerned about the Angels bench. The Shuck over Calhoun thing really perplexes me because the Halos now have zero power on the bench aside from Hank Conger who will seldom ever pinch-hit since Scioscia won't want to burn him in case Iannetta gets hurt during the same game. I had kind of hoped they'd scoop someone off the waiver wire, but it looks like they are stuck with Shuck for the time being.
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