Monkeying Around

Time for some random thoughts about the Angels because… well, because you don’t really need a good reason for random thoughts.  If I had a reason, they wouldn’t really be random would they.  Let’s do some monkeying around:

Why a monkey reading a newspaper on a toilet?  Why not?  That’s why.

• One sure sign that the Angel farm system isn’t as deep as it used to be is that with Brandon Wood struggling mightily, there is no clamor by the fans to call up Prospect X.  Even if it makes no sense and the prospect isn’t ready, we fans should be screaming at the top of our lungs that Wood needs to go and some mythical prospect should take his place because he is bound to be a star.  That kind of senseless declaration never helped anyone, but I admit, I kind of miss it.
• Speaking of Brandon Wood, I recently discovered that his actual first name is Richard and that he just goes by Brandon, his middle name.  This explains everything for me.  There is simply no way anyone can ever be a real pro ball player when your real name is Dick Wood!  I don’t care if he tries to hide it by calling himself Brandon, he is still Dick Wood and anyone named Dick Wood is destined to be a failure.
• It has been a few years now, but all my East Coast buddies still give me crap about the Los Angeles of Anaheim thing.  At one point will the city of Anaheim drop their dumb requirement that there name be in the team name?  Is it really worth the publicity when it also brings with it a slew of ridicule?  Methinks not.
• After a year of being a top offense in 2009, the Angel offense is back to being as mediocre as ever.  Some people think this is a bad thing, I, however, prefer to turn it into a positive.  The silver lining here is that we can all once again direct our hatred and animosity towards Mickey Hatcher (aka the worst hitting coach ever).  I have to say, I kind of missed it.
• The Angels aren’t exactly off to a great start, but let’s put things in perspective.  They have gone .500 against a schedule filled entirely of teams over .500 themselves and two of them (the Twins and A’s) are in first place right now, not to mention having played six games against the Yankees who may not be in first right now, but will be soon.  It really isn’t that bad at all to go 10-10 against that slate.  Sure, a real contender would hope to do better, but .500 is nothing to sneeze at given the circumstances.
• Just because I like kicking a guy when he is down, allow me to point out that Gary Matthews is currently rocking a .531 OPS for the Mets.  And yet I imagine he still complaining about how he should really be an everyday player.
• And just because I like to give equal time to both good and bad off-season moves, allow me to point out that Darren Oliver is killing it for the Rangers with a 2.61 ERA and 0.87 WHIP over 10.1 innings (and 11 strikeouts).  Yeah, the Angel bullpen definitely didn’t need him back.  It isn’t like our bullpen is falling apart and in dire need of some stability, not to mention a southpaw for match-up purposes.  I just made myself sad.
• I alluded to this the yesterday, and looked it up for some fun, so here is the video below of Darin Erstad flattening Johnny Estrada.  Like the Teixeira-Wilson play, Erstad definitely could have slid around the catcher, but isn’t blowing a guy up so much more fun?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sdVeB_EUwhI