Not to be outdone by Wednesdays performance. Your Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim were retired in quick fashion by a sharp Chris Sale who went 5.1 innings, striking out seven and giving up one earned run.

On a brighter note, Albert Pujols hit his third home run of the season and there seems to be a glimmer of hope that he's finally putting it together.

Also, Mark Trumbo went 4-4 to raise his batting average to an impressive .370. The kid is showing legit plate discipline and power to boot. The face of this organization is young and powerful.

Everyone should be looking forward to the series this weekend as I will be there in person willing our team to a sweep of the park factor pods. Hope to see a good turnout. I wish I could write more but my boss is staring at me.

Here are your Monday Halolinks:

• From Alden Gonzalez: Xrays Negative on Downs' Injured Ankle. Great to hear, we need all the MP help we can get right now.
• Also from Alden Gonzlez, on Pujols' slow start: "A .217 batting average and zero home runs wasn't the way Albert Pujols imagined starting his tenure with the Angels. But a resume like his tends to ease any concerns the first six games of a season may bring.

  "Listen, it's not being cocky, but I know I can hit," Pujols said prior to going 1-for-5 in Thursday's loss to the Twins. "I showed that in the spring, I've shown that for 11 years, and I don't think that's going to go away [instantly]."

  Pujols got off to a slow start last year, posting a .755 OPS in the first two months before improving to a .997 clip from June-September. Last year, the slow start was chalked up to the distractions of failed extension talks with the Cardinals." Let's hope there's nothing to worry about considering his slow start.

• Tonight at the Big A, Jered Weaver will look to get Angels back in their winning ways as he faces Brandon McCarthy. " Weaver has made 20 career starts against the A's, compiling a 6-7 record with one shutout and a 2.85 ERA."
• Note: Mike Soscscia has used eight different lineups in his last 9 games. I'm going to trust he knows what he's doing but it's hard to think about consistency with there's so much shuffling. Thoughts?
• Recap from last night from Mike DiGiovanna at the LA Times: Angels are no match for the Yankees.
• Erick Aybar and the Angels Organization make progress on his contract. From the LA Times.
• From Bill Plunkett at the OCR: Morales Simply Slumping after a Comeback. "Since his four-hit game against the Royals in the second game of the season, however, Morales has gone 1 for 23 with seven strikeouts. Despite starting five games as the Angels' cleanup hitter behind Albert Pujols, Morales has yet to drive in a run this season." I think Kendrys will pick it up soon, just need to get consistent playing time.
  

Los Angeles Angels win in New York 7-1.

No amount of Fox 'broadcasting' could hide the fact the Angels played like champs.

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Bring on the Dodgers, these games are going to count soon!

Brad Mills went six strong against the first-line of the SF Giants giving up just two runs on four hits, with a pair of walks and strike outs. I honestly don't know much about Brad Mills but he looked impressive at times, then again, our defense can make a lot of pitches look impressive. What I do know about him is that he's not Jeff Mathis, and sometimes damn it, that's enough.

Game was 2-2 for a while until our mighty-mighty Alexi Amarista belted a huge 3-run triple in the top of the ninth. Stay tuned for more of that kid, he's mashin' from the left side of the plate and is now batting .349 this spring with 13 RBI's and a .992 OPS. Nothing cheap about that power.

The always swift Peter Bourjos went 2-2 with two runs scored and also made a couple of great plays in the outfield that saved some big runs that helped win the game for us.. Pete is now batting .318 this spring while providing unparalleled speed and defense in the outfield. These factors should cement him in our starting day lineup without a doubt. If Peter is not directly scoring runs, he is always ready to prevent them with the kind of ground he covers, a center field anchor many teams would be impressed to have.

Albert Pujols went 2-3 but quickly the fading Wells and permanently faded Bobby Abreu were unable to do more than make SF pitching look better than it is, both going for a combined 0-6.

Radical side-note I just noticed: The Giants pitching staff, including Tim Lincecum, only struck out two people today. Those two people happen to both be our non-swinging pitcher Mills. Lincecum has a crazy K-rate so even though it's spring, I thought this was rad and worth noting.

When does the Angels season start Halo faithful?! I think we're all ready.

Weaver looked a bit shaky but the Los Angeles Angels' unstoppable offense came to his defense, putting up a four-spot in the bottom of the 2nd inning. The offense of note anchored by a two-run double and two-run triple by Chris Ianetta and Howie Kendrick respectively.

Kendrys Morales was 2-3 with a run scored in his debut. Really early but it might be a great sign that he's back with the same talent he's always had. Pujols, Morales and Trumbo; pitching staffs should be well warned the Angels are going to put the hurt on them regularly.

Here are you Monday morning Halolinks. Hope you all had a good St. Paddy's Day weekend.

• Good News: Dan Haren Shines in wet Freeway Series Preview "Prior to the fifth, when he gave up a run on back-to-back hits, Haren looked nearly unhittable, having given up just one hit and one walk with 13 strikeouts through his first nine Cactus League frames. Adam Kennedy's double to lead off the bottom of the fifth broke up a string of 21 straight batters retired by the 31-year-old right-hander."
• Great News: Kendrys Morales set to make his first start on Tuesday.
• Greatest News Ever: Los Angeles Angels Roster Battles: 3 Most Intriguing Spring Position Questions (Gorbachav5 warning: link will take you to the Bleacher Report)
• From Alden Gonzales: Aybar, Segura have Halos Sitting Pretty at Short. Segura's spring BA is at .381 with two HR's. He could do worse.
• Angels 1, Dodgers 1. They say tying is like kissing your sister, and it is. But tying due to hail storm in Arizona is like kissing your sister while your parents watch. :( LINK to where that saying came from.
• Side-note also from Alden: "The transitioning Mark Trumbo made a solid play at third base on Sunday, fielding a hard-hit one-hopper by the Dodgers' Juan Uribe to his left before throwing a short-hop to first base, which Albert Pujols was able to scoop for the out." Hearing the words 'solid play' and Trumbo in the same sentence gives me even more hope and optimism for his transition to third-base. I think he's going to be okay at the hot corner, and might even surprise a few nay sayers.
• Up next, Angels: Four days after taking a comebacker to his throwing shoulder, Ervin Santana will make his regular turn against the Rockies on MLB.TV at 1:10 p.m. PT on Monday. A line drive off the bat of White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez forced Santana to exit Wednesday's start in the second inning, but the right-hander got through his between-starts throwing with no problems and -- minus a colorful bruise -- said he felt fine Sunday morning.
• Duke lost. LLOL.
• Jenny Johnson is my new favorite twitter person.

Here are your Monday Halolinks:

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