- The Story: The Angels’ history of badness. The Monkey Says: Was this supposed to make me feel better to see just how historically bad the current losing streak is for the Halos? I’m just glad I don’t work in a tall building.
- The Story: Torii Hunter hints that the Angels held a players-only meeting before Thursday’s loss. The Monkey Says: And a fat lot of good it did for them. At least the fellas are showing some real concern, now if they could just come up with some real solutions.
- The Story: Maicer Izturis’ shoulder is a concern. The Monkey Says: Izzy says he is fine, but the injury is serious enough for him to get an MRI and make the team think about placing him on the DL. It looks like Maicer will tough it out, but he isn’t likely to see much time in the field until his shoulder improves.
- The Story: A stance tweak is paying dividends for Brandon Wood. The Monkey Says: Or at least that was the theory before Wood fanned three times last night.
- The Story: Brandon Wood can’t figure it out. The Monkey Says: Ironically, this article rips Wood for not making adjustments, but despite his stance tweak, I think it is spot on. Dick Wood’s problem isn’t his swing mechanics, but rather his approach at the plate or the lack thereof. He simply swings at too many pitches for a guy who isn’t great at making contact, and he has little real feel for when a pitcher is likely to throw him a breaking ball.
- The Story: Bobby Abreu believes the offense will come. The Monkey Says: I actually agree with Bobby. I don’t think the offense will ever be as good as it was in 2009, but it will get much better than it is the last week. The Halos have just hit a patch in the season where multiple players (Aybar, Rivera, Matsui) are mired in massive slumps. They have to break out of them before long and when they do, the Angels will start scoring runs again. The real concern for the Angels is the tragic state of their pitching staff.
- The Story: A conversation with Tim Salmon. The Monkey Says: Salmon talked about the book he wrote and his career and the current state of the Angels. At this point, I’m wondering if the Angels shouldn’t think about trying to talk the King Fish out of retirement.
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