I know a lot of people are upset with our team including myself.  We had another incredibly poor showing in the playoffs.  After the last out was made I was not sure what to do about this team.

After taking a week to think about it, one must consider that most of our young players came out of the minors playing at a level that would allow them to win divisions.  The Kendricks and Aybars of the team just got a heavy dose of humble pie this playoff season.  Will they learn to adjust and raise their game in the playoffs, I think they will.

But some changes should be made.  Sign Tex, Wood at 3rd, and a new front line pitcher.  I think S. Rod will be real good next year, where to put him ? I've seen some names for LF, what about Terry Evans.  Is he going to get a chance ? GMJr. has to go.

If Tex gets a big contract with the Angels, is there another FA out there to sign to protect him.  Re-signing Vlad next year is an option.  I haven't looked that closely at next years free agent list.  But if we sign Tex and don't have sufficient protection for him then we're back to the old Vladdy days.  As for in house options, Hunter may offer some protection , as well as Rivera.  Talk amongst yourselves...........

Now that plans A-C have come and gone, what are the Angels going to do now for a power hitting 3rd Baseman.  I know we all have some good suggestions.  Is Figgins once again the man, does Brandon Wood come into the picture ?  That would mean plan D and E.  Well, let the games begin.                                                                                                                                                  

I guess it depends on what coast you are on.  If Boston or New York had signed him, Fox would be handing them the World Series right now.
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I think the Angels should let Brown and D-Mac  fight it out for 3rd this season and Wood and Aybar for SS.  Hide those spots in the lineup 8th and 9th.  Keep Figgins for insurance.  The rest of the line-up can carry us at least to the division. Then trade some OF prospects or current OF's for bullpen help.

A lot of opinions for and against the trade of Howie Kendrick and prospects have been voiced on this site. I am a real big fan of his as well as a fan of all of our prospects.  I want to see this team win, with those guys leading the charge.  I would almost rather lose with him than win without him and some of the others proposed in the trade.

last two covers of Sports Illustrated have featured two New England Teams, the Celtics and the Patriots.  The end has begun.  East coast, west coast.   Build a wall at the Mississippi River.  Don't let anyone out or in.  
Most of end of that is to fill my quota of letters.  Thank you, I take no responsibility if any of that happens......

We came close to winning tonites game.  Ortiz and Manny sunk us at two different crucial junctions of the game.  I for one believe they are the only two players on that team worth a damn.  Is it time to start walking these guys in crucial situations, i.e. with the bases loaded or when we are trying to keep the game close ?

Its time to change from the Rally Monkey to the Rally Rat, complete with its own soundtrack.  Feel free to add movie scenes too.  I'll start the bidding with "Rats in the Cellar" , Aerosmith.   Sorry it had to be a Boston band, oh well !

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I just got back from the bay area this afternoon.  We caught the Thursday nite game vs. the A's.  The game was great and we saw quite a few Halo fans in the seats as well as on the shuttle over from the Hilton.  

The Oakland fans weren't too bad but the area around the stadium was a little rough.

Thurs. afternoon my family and I had returned from SF on the BART and were waiting in the Station for the hotel shuttle to return us to our hotel.  While we were sitting there, Mathis, Napoli, Quinlan and Weaver came walking past on there way to the stadium.  Soon after was Terry Smith and Hud.  Hud stopped and said hello to us and had some baseball cards of himself, which he signed and gave to my kids.  He was cool.  I can't say anything bad about him anymore.

We had a great time otherwise and there were a lot of Halo fans at the hotel as well, who went to the game.

I am taking the family to Oakland to watch the Angels next week.  I am staying fairly close to the stadium but was wondering if anyone had any advice as how the neighborhood is or where the team might be staying.

Now that Shea is gone and rumored to be going to the Yankees.  I had a chance to look at some of their propects that we might get in return.  Seems they have quite a few pitching prospects at the AA level and maybe 1 or 2 and the AAA level.  We made some decent lemonade from Jeff Weaver, maybe we could do the same for Shea.  Does Shea's salary come out of the labor budget or the scouting budget?

Did anyone at the game on Wed. see the boy get hit with foul ball by Figgins ?  I saw Griffin react to it, and the boy in his Dad's arms.   He appeared to be conscious but in a lot of pain. Then when medics arrived they almost got hit with another foul ball.  His Dad carried him off with the medics.  I was touched when an Astros' player tried to help with a towel and then gave the kid a bat.  Nice touch.  Overall I had a good impression of the Astros', especially during the heat of the game, their catcher reminding Willits he had the wrong batting helmet on.

Mike Tyson is avail for pinch hitting duty.

You never know what he is capable of hitting with a bat.

He and Hillebrand both know how to hit things named Gibbons or Givens or whatever.

Add your own comments...

As time wears on in the free agent market,  if Gagne is still available.  I wonder if it would be worth a gamble to give him a 2 million dollar, incentive laiden contract to pitch middle relief.  He would be the sort of Frank Thomas, Jim Thome of the bullpen.  The Angels have take worse gambles before.  Discuss.

While waiting around for spring training to start, I found a video with the song "Heavy Metal" by Don Felder with some "Stargate" footage to go along with it.  It's on the You Tube site, just type in Heavy Metal- Don Felder.  Ride til you are full...........

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Erstad has some magic resurgence at the plate in the next ten games or so, where he is just raking everything.  What is Scioscia to do?  Does he start him at first and move Kendrick to 2nd, leaving Kennedy out ?  Does he put him at 1st and bench Kendrick ?  How about CF for Figgins ? Or possibly DH him for Anderson ?  Just some thoughts to piss everyone off.

I have been against trading for any hitters before, but with the continued deterioration of GA
this season I am starting to feel different.  With the Indians giving up Bob Wickman recently for a minor leaguer, would they be interested in giving up anyone else.  They seem to have an abundance of good hitters all of whom are pretty young. Todd Hollingsworth seems like he could be expendable for something pretty cheap.  They have a need for a 3rd baseman and we have two pretty good people we could give them, D-Mac or Matt Brown out of AA.  Hollingworth has pretty decent numbers but hasn't had a lot of AB's.  His circumstances remind me of Juan Rivera, where he just needs more playing time.  He is a veteran and probably pretty hungry at that.  Seems like a good fit at DH.

Back when Jose Guillen was on the team, he complained that pitchers didn't protect the batters enough when Angel hitters got HBP.  He and Vlad got hit quite a bit that year and a few times last year Vlad got beaned without any retaliation.  Last Saturday Juan Rivera got a pitch up and in that got his shoulder and chin. In last night game Erick Aybar got taken out with a hard slide late in the game and Colorado already having the game out of reach.  Scioscia has said in the past he does not want his pitcher retaliating against opposing batters.  I feel like this team needs to do a better job of protecting its players, it would be nice to see some batters on the other team get brushed back with a pitch or two.  I get tired of seeing ,Vladdy especially, knocked to the ground or beaned and noone on our side comes to their defense.  

It was made known before the season that Kendry had a lag time as far as catching his hitting up, possibly needing 150-200 AB's to feel comfy at each new level. Now that his Avg. is approaching the lower .200's shouldn't he have made the team out of spring training?  It seems he could of been plugged in at full time DH to let him get comfy at the plate.  If the Angels had knowledge that Kotchman was ill, then it would've made sense to have him on the team out of spring training.  Then his learning curve might be straightning out by now.

I have read in the paper today, where Kotchman has been cleared to resume baseball activities. The reports indicate he could be ready to play by mid July, early August.  If that's the case and Morales is doing well, what should the Angels do with him?  Looks like the potential for another tough decesion.

Now that he is hitting close to .400, what should the Angels do.  Leave him in SLC or bring him up and go ahead a trade AK.  If the Angels bring him up now, he would have more time to get used to Major League pitching if the Angels are making a run at the pennant.
Also, when is a good time to let Aybar get a chance at SS?  OC might land some needed middle relief if traded.  Or should the Angels just maintain the course and wait until next year to let more rookies play?

I think some of the music at the Stadium is getting a little old, especially before the game.
I was wondering if others felt the same and if anyone had some suggestions or requests for some new tunes or different tunes?  I like the new songs by "Angels and Airwaves, The Journey" and "Tools" new one "Vicarious"......