The March 9th, 2015 edition of Los Angeles Angels news including Richards faces live batters, Angels-Royals game delayed by bees and much more…
The Story: Garrett Richards faced live batters for the first time over the weekend.
The Monkey Says: It was just batting practice, but it is another step forward. The more important development here is that apparently the team has nicknamed Richards “The Bullet.”
The Story: Yesterday’s Angels-Royals game was delayed by a swarm of bees.
The Monkey Says: Bees! Bees everywhere! God, they’re huge and they’re sting crazy! They’re ripping my flesh off! Runaway! You’re firearms are useless against them!
The Story: C.J. Wilson credits mechanical adjustments for his strong spring start.
The Monkey Says: Well, it is a first step, anyway. The key now is sustaining it.
The Story: Matt Joyce will be out of action for a few days with stiffness in his ribcage.
The Monkey Says: Let’s hope it is a precautionary thing and not a potential oblique injury as those have a way of turning into nasty, nagging problems.
The Story: Mike Scioscia intends to use Cesar Ramos as a lefty specialist.
The Monkey Says: Ramos actually hasn’t been all that great against armside batters in his career, but Ramos is the best option available out of a lot of not-so-great options. Scioscia also knows Ramos has the endurance to go long if he needs to, but that shouldn’t be necessary if Santiago is in the bullpen along with Ramos.
The Story: Taylor Featherston is looking to beat the numbers game to make the Angels roster.
The Monkey Says: He’s seen a lot of action early, and mostly at shortstop, where he’d have the most value as a bench player. Right now, the numbers game actually looks to be in his favor.
The Story: Tyler Skaggs is encouraged by the Tommy John recovery of Matt Harvey.
The Monkey Says: Someone make sure he never Googles “Ryan Madson.”
The Story: Mike Trout is making a concerted effort to swing at more first pitches.
The Monkey Says: He needs to not take himself out of his game, but he was reaching a level where pitchers knew he wasn’t going to ever swing at a first pitch and were taking advantage.
The Story: Matt Joyce was driven by his dad’s “tough love.”
The Monkey Says: And by “tough love” they mean that his dad was an overbearing, over-competitive prick that Joyce admits even he was embarrassed by growing up. But sure, let’s try and make the poor example that Papa Joyce set into some sort of feelgood story about how his son learned that his Dad really meant well, even though what he was doing was basically borderline emotional abuse.
The Story: A look at the teams with the toughest strength of schedule in the early parts of the season.
The Monkey Says: The Angels and the rest of the AL West are up there because, surprise, the AL West is a tough division and they all play each other a lot.
The Story: Likes and dislikes for the 2015 Angels.
The Monkey Says: I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that second base and the rotation are both dislikes.
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