- The Story: Mike Scioscia held a closed door meeting with his players after Tuesday’s loss. The Monkey Says: Whatever Sosh said obviously worked. He had to do the same thing early last season as well, but that doesn’t mean the Halos should make it an annual tradition.
- The Story: The Angels placed Brian Fuentes on the disabled list with a mild back strain. The Monkey Says: Tito hurt himself lifting weights apparently, explaining why he hasn’t pitched since Opening Day. The good thing here is that since he hasn’t pitched in over a week, the team can place him on the DL retroactively and have him back in about a week. As we saw Wednesday, Fernando Rodney will serve as closer until Fuentes returns.
- The Story: The Angels sent down Bobby Cassevah and called up Francisco Rodriguez and Reggie Willits. The Monkey Says: No, not that Francisco Rodriguez, another one and with not nearly the same upside.
- The Story: Terry Evans has been demoted to clear a roster spot for Scott Kazmir. The Monkey Says: Evans cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A. Evans never really got a shot to show what he could do as a big leaguer, but isn’t complaining about the demotion. Bobby Wilson should consider this a big win that he survived the roster shuffling even though the Angels clearly have no use for a third catcher.
- The Story: Ervin Santana was upset about the umpire’s strike zone during his Tuesday start. The Monkey Says: Ervin is clearly frustrated with his tough start, but he should be upset with himself since it was his lack of command that was the real problem.
- The Story: Ervin Santana’s fastball struggles. The Monkey Says: The numbers show that Ervin’s fastball lacked a bit of its normal velocity and likely wasn’t moving very well since the Yankees almost never swung and missed at his heater. This is definitely a situation to monitor with El Mineo over his next few starts.
- The Story: The Angels faith in Scot Shields is misplaced. The Monkey Says: I said the same thing after the game yesterday. Shields need to be removed as set-up man ASAP and probably shouldn’t pitch in a close game again until he gets a few solid outing under his belt since he obviously still has some issues to work out be they related to health or simply rust from his long layoff.
- The Story: Five questions about the Arkansas Travelers. The Monkey Says: The Travs are one of the less interesting Angel minor league teams right now, but they do have a few interesting players to watch, specifically former top prospect Jordan Walden who has been converted to reliever and trying to prove himself healthy again.
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