The August 19th, 2013 edition of daily news for the Los Angeles Angels including Trout leaves a game with hamstring tightness, Moreno refuses to comment on Dipoto and Scioscia's job security and much more…
The Story: Mike Trout left yesterday's game with some tightness in his right hamstring.
The Monkey Says: Everyone says it isn't serious, but you don't mess with a fast guy's hamstring, especially when there is really nothing to play for.
The Story: Arte Moreno declined to comment on the job status of Mike Scioscia and Jerry Dipoto.
The Monkey Says: He declined via spokesman, so that isn't as bad as if he had straight up refused to answer a question that was asked in person. However, Arte has not been shy the last few years to step up to make a public pronouncement that Scioscia and Dipoto are safe, so this could be a case where silence speaks volumes.
The Monkey Says: Yup, don't get all the rest you can get when you can get back just in time to help the Angels narrowly avoid the 90-loss mark. WORST. IDEA. EVER.
The Story: Tommy Field was demoted to Triple-A when Peter Bourjos was activated on Friday.
The Monkey Says: Field wasn't getting much playing time anyway, so Romine will stick around as insurance in case Erick Aybar's injury flares back up. Field will almost certainly be back in September.
The Story: C.J. Wilson supports the proposed expansion of replay reviews.
The Monkey Says: I don't know if reporters go to C.J. for these questions because C.J. is the the Angels' union rep or because C.J. likes to hear himself talk or both.
The Story: Jerry Dipoto and Mike Scioscia must finish strong to save their jobs.
The Monkey Says: It is August 19th, what can a GM do to "finish strong" at this point? In any event, my guess all along is that Moreno is going to blow out Scioscia and give Dipoto a chance to hire his own guy. Arte wrested power away from Scioscia when he hired Jerry, so I can't imagine him giving it back to Scioscia now. The only other option I see is for Moreno to fire them both and hire a big gun to take everything over with full power, including the power to ignore Moreno's demands to sign a high-priced free agent. I don't really see that as very likely though.
The Story: Grant Green is settling in to the majors this time around.
The Monkey Says: I love that people are still ignorant enough to question a player because of a 15 at-bat stretch to start a career. The sample Green has given the Angels is pretty meaningless too, but at least they are giving him every opportunity to prove himself.
The Story: Mike Scioscia supports the idea of team record factoring into the MVP vote.
The Monkey Says: In other words, he is OK with Cabrera beating out Trout for MVP. I am OK with it too. If two players are of similar caliber, the guy on the team that doesn't suck should win. However, if there is a big disparity, it shouldn't matter. I don't think the disparity is big enough this year.
The Story: Is there an easy answer in the AL MVP race?
The Monkey Says: To educated fans? No. It is a close call between Miggy and Trout. To the BBWAA? I think Cabrera will win in a landslide and that Chris Davis might even edge out Trout for second place.
The Monkey Says: Ernie has looked much better his last two outings, so it probably won't be long before he regains control of the job. Not that it matters because the Angels seldom ever have a lead to protect in the ninth inning anymore. Deck chairs on the Titanic.
The Monkey Says: Yeah, it is almost like the manager of the team wasn't paying attention all season long to the fact that he was asking a certain reliever to routinely pitch four out of five days. Man, if only Scioscia had been monitoring it back then we wouldn't be in this mess. But what are you going to do, right?
The Story: The best Angel minor league performances of August.
The Monkey Says: The bit on Lindsey going with pull power is interesting as the book on him up until this season was that he was more of an inside-out guy. That is a very encouraging for this power display being sustainable.
The Story: Former Angel outfielder Chad Curtis was convicted of sexually assualting teenage girls.
The Monkey Says: Gross. Let's hope the media mentions him more as a former Yankee or Tiger or Ranger than a former Angel.
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