Weekend Countdown: You Can Keep Your Halladay – Angels @ Blue Jays

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (73-46) @ Toronto Blue Jays (55-64)

Game 1 Starters: LAA – Sean O’Sullivan (3-1, 5.91 ERA)  TOR – Marc Rzepczynski (1-3, 3.98 ERA)

Game 1 Info: 4:07 PM PT TV-Fox Sports West, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM

Game 2 Starters: LAA – Ervin Santana (6-6, 6.25 ERA)  TOR – Scott Richmond (6-6, 4.01 ERA)

Game 2 Info: 10:07 AM PT TV-Fox Sports West, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM

Game 3 Starters: LAA – Trevor Bell (1-0, 5.91 ERA)  TOR – Ricky Romero (10-5, 3.95 ERA)

Game 3 Info: 10:07 AM PT TV-KCOP, Radio-KLAA 830 AM, KFWB, KWKW 1330 AM

Does anyone else feel like the Angels are returning to the scene of the crime?  Just a few weeks after J.P. Ricciardi unsuccessfully tried to hold up the Angels at gunpoint in a potential Roy Halladay trade, the Angels head over the border to extract their revenge against the Ricciardi’s Blue Jays.

Give me all your entire team for Roy Halladay or else!

Since that infamous trade deadline day, the Angels have managed to start fixing their starting rotation all by themselves with Jered Weaver and Ervin Santana both recently tossing complete game shutouts.  So, maybe trading for Roy Halladay wasn’t all that necessary after all.

Ah, who am I kidding.  Of course the Angels are going to wish they had Halladay.  Nobody in their right mind wouldn’t want one of the best pitchers in baseball.  The Angels could very well get by without him, but it would’ve been a heck of a lot easier with him, I imagine.  So excuse me if I spend the entire series trying to telepathically cause a stray foul ball to hit J.P. Ricciardi in the temple.

THREE Questions:

• Who will be the better of the two Angel rookie starters?  It seems like O’Sullivan and Bell are going to each get this one last chance to impress the Angel brass with whoever performs best getting stick around as the #5 Angel starter when Joe Saunders is activated and the other returning to the minors.
• Can someone please buy that Rzepczynski kid a vowel?
• On a scale of 1 to 10 how happy am I that Torii Hunter is back in the three-hole?  Mine goes to 11, even though it is prompted by Sosh giving Bobby Abreu a day off on Friday and likely won’t last since Hunter will be getting at least one day off this series too.

TWO Predictions:

• The number of times I throw my beer at the TV whenever they show J.P. Ricciardi will be no less than four and that is only because I won’t be able to see the Sunday game since I still don’t get KCOP in my area.
• Erick Aybar goes crazy in the series just to haunt the Blue Jays who reportedly refused to do the Halladay deal without Aybar being part of the package.

ONE Wish:

• I wish for another strong start from Ervin Santana.  Two straight quality starts from Voodoo is a great sign, but a third excellent showing in a row should be enough to finally put all of our doubts to rest.

ZERO Tolerance for… anything less than a sweep.  The Blue Jays have been both terrible and horrible lately, losing seven of their last eight, including their last five games.  Road games or no, the Angels can’t let themselves slip against a beleaguered team like the Jays.

Leave your own questions, answers, predictions or wishes as a comment or just hang out with us during the game or even chat with us on twitter (@MonkeyWithAHalo).