- The Story: Mike Scioscia won’t let the Angels use their tough road schedule as an excuse. The Monkey Says: Nor should he, because they still have their massive U2-induced road trip (more on that later) coming up in a few weeks and he can’t have the players go into that roadie with a built-in excuse in the back of their mind.
- The Story: Jake Locker will concentrate solely on football. The Monkey Says: This isn’t a surprise, but the Angels might have been hoping that they could convince Locker to spend a few weeks playing short-season rookie ball this summer rather than practicing football more. Odds are that Locker will never play a single inning of baseball for the Angels, even in the minors.
- The Story: Prospect Michael Kohn has been promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake. The Monkey Says: Kohn is rocketing up the prospect charts as a closer of the future type, amassing huge strikeout totals to go with his tiny ERA. This promotion makes it a more likely reality that he could see time in the majors this season, though next season is probably a more realistic expectation, no matter how much the Angels need bullpen help.
- The Story: The Angels are taking a different tack with Wood. The Monkey Says: Wood was banned from batting practice the last two days before being forced into action when Kevin Fransden got hurt on Sunday. Still, it is pretty clear that the Halos are desperate to get Wood going as he was allegedly banned from the field entirely during BP on Sunday.
- The Story: Morale doesn’t concern Mike Scioscia. The Monkey Says: A few players seem to be down on themselves personally, but otherwise, the Angels have looked relatively loose and unaffected by their slow start which will hopefully help them remain confident enough to turn the season around soon.
- The Story: The revamped batting order is a hit with Hunter and Abreu. The Monkey Says: The Angels are averaging just under six runs per game since they moved Kendrick to second, bumping Abreu and Hunter down to third and fourth, respectively, so nobody should be complaining about the arrangement.
- The Story: Maicer Izturis need more time to recover. The Monkey Says: The Angels had hoped to get Maicer back for the Cardinal series, but are making sure he gets fully healthy. He should be back by mid-week at the latest, or at least the Halos hope so.
- The Story: U2’s Bono needed emergency back surgery and the band’s tour has been postponed. The Monkey Says: The u2 concert at Angels Stadium is now in jeopardy which really sucks because the Angels got stuck with a 14-game road trip to make way for U2 and their over the top concert which takes several days to set-up and tear down. Looks like it will all go for not.
- The Story: Some fan gets his butt kicked at the Angels-White Sox game. The Monkey Says: Don’t worry, no Angel fans were harmed in the filming of this video.
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