Jered Weaver Gets Paid

The Elephant in the room for the Angels was Jered Weaver's upcoming free agency, everyone in Los Angeles of Anahiem can rest assure Jered is going no where any time soon.



Weaver agreed to a 5 year, 85 million dollar extension Saturday night. Which is an excellent deal figuring Weaver is neck and neck with Justin Verlander for the Cy Young award.



I was never a believer in Jered Weaver, he's not a hard thrower and I don't like his face or hair, but you can't ignore his stats. This year he is 14-6 with a 2.10 era and 158 ks. He could have easily got a CC Sabathia like contract if he opted for free agency, however, since they settled it now, they can spend a little bit more on offense.



The Angels are overachieving this year behind the arms of Jered, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana, however a pathetic offense and awful bullpen has really held them back from catching Texas.

Angels Finally Cut Scott Kazmir

The Angels have released left-hander Scott Kazmir. He has been getting lit up in AAA and had an ERA over 17. He has been a joke for awhile now. The weird thing is he is only 27 years old. Kazmir posted a 3.51 ERA and 742 strikeouts in 689 2/3 innings for the Rays between 2005 and 2008, including a league-high 239 K's in 2007. Then he went to the Angels and his career end (5.31 ERA and 5.7 K/9 in 35 starts).

He is young enough that if he can find his stuff he can make a comeback, and I guarantee some team will pick him up. I just don't know if he will ever find his stuff again. Mets are rumored to have interest...seems about right.

Kendry Morales Out For The Season

- The Los Angeles Angels announced Wednesday that first baseman Kendrys Morales will undergo season-ending surgery on his left ankle.

Morales met with an ankle specialist in Colorado on Monday and, after consulting with Angels trainers and doctors, elected to undergo surgery to "clean up" scar tissue and bone cysts in the area of the ankle he fractured while celebrating a game-winning home run on May 29, 2010.ESPN

This sucks for the Angels and for all fantasy owners across the land. Morales is a real good 1st baseman who is capable of hitting 40 homers and being the cleanup hitter of a line up. It's too bad he's gone for the season. Especially since he had the celebration injury that caused him all of 2010. I believe Morales is a free agent after this year so he could be a potential steal for anyone taking the risk as he is only 27.

Fallout From Vernon Wells Going Down

"The Los Angeles Angels are stretched for outfielders after placing Vernon Wells on the 15-day disabled list with a strained groin suffered in Monday's loss to the White Sox (ESPN)."

This is kind of a big deal for the Angels, as Abreu doesn't really play the field that much anymore and is 37 years old. So, the Angels are going to need to bring in someone else. That person could be 19-year old Mike Trout, who was ranked as the top prospect coming into the 2011 season. It seems like the perfect idea, until Mike Scioscia shot the idea down. For now the Angels are going to go with a combo of Abreu, Amarista, and Trumbo. I am thinking this is because the last time they rushed one of their prospects up (Brandon Wood) it didn't go so well, as he is now on the Pirates. Kind of sucks, as it would've been real interesting to see Trout up in the big leagues.

Angels @ Red Sox Preview

The Angels finally found a way to beat the Red Sox last night by keeping them up till 3am. It was bullshit, and the only reason they had to play it out last night is because the Angels didn't want to play a doubleheader today. Whatever, fuck'em...

Today we got Lackey going against Joel Pineiro. This will be Pineiro's 2nd start after opening the season on the DL with shoulder issues. Pineiro gave up 1 run and 4 hits over 7 innings Saturday, but didn't get a decision as the Angels lost 2-1 to the Rays.

Lackey usually pitches well against the AL West, so I have some faith that he will be decent today. On the season Lackey is 2-3 5.65 ERA, but is 4-0 against the Angels with a 2.45 ERA against his former team.

Ortiz has crushed Pinerio in his career going 11 for 25 with 3HRs and 3 doubles. I think the Red Sox are going to crush the Angels today, and hopefully Ortiz will lead the charge.

Red Sox win 8-4
Player of the Game: Ortiz
Game starts at 1:35pm

***Red Sox Lineup***

Ellsbury, CF
Crawford, LF
Youkilis, 3B
Gonzalez, 1B
Ortiz, DH
Lowrie, SS
Drew, RF
Saltalamacchia, C
Scutaro, 2B

5 Angels, 3 Red Sox

I don't count games with rain delays in the middle of them as actual games so I'm going to act like this game never happened. If it did happened it started with a pretty good pitchers duel with Josh Beckett and Ervin Santana for 4 innings with no earned runs.

How it ended was Bobby Abreu hit a two-run, two-out single off Daisuke Matsuzaka in the 13th and the Los Angeles Angels closed out a 5-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox at 2:45 a.m.

Francona knows that Ace K doesn't RP and does NOT pitch after midnight. 2 things he failed to pay attention to.

Either way it sucks to have lost a winnable game.

Angels @ Red Sox Preview

The Red Sox are 7-0 against the Angels and could be back to .500 if they win tonight. On paper they should as Ervin Santana goes against Josh Beckett, but the Sox you just never know this season.

I am really interested in tonight's game. Beckett was subpar last time out, and they had his next start pushed back. So, I want to see how healthy/affective he is tonight. Overall this season he has been good (2-1 2.65 ERA). A big part of that is that fact that he is committed to throwing strikes. So far this season Beckett had walked only 9 batters in 34 inning while strikingout 32. You do that you're going to win, it's as simple as that.

Ervin Santana has been OK, but nothing special this year (1-3 4.89 ERA), and overall hasn't been all that great against the Sox in his career (2-3 4.58 ERA). He is also a right, which the Sox have been able to handle well lately, so I expect the Sox to finally be back to .500 and ride this winning streak to 4 games.

Red Sox win 6-4
Player of the Game: Gonzalez
Game starts at 7:10pm

Red Sox 7, Angels 3

After watching that disaster of a Celtics game, at least there was some good news for Boston. The Red Sox once again beat the Angels as Lester outdueled Dan Haren. It looked like it was going to be another classic case of the Red Sox getting great starting pitching, but their bats not showing up, but when the bats finally did show up starting in the 6th inning they showed up in a big way.

Boston got back-to-back HRs from Papi and Gonzalez, which was great to see as it was only Gonzalez's 2nd HR of the year. Hopefully this will mean he will get more of his power stroke going. Scutaro also added a HR just a couple batters laster.

That's all the Sox would need as Lester with 7 strong innings striking out 11 batters while allowing only 1 earned run. Papelbon looked a little rough in the 9th, but it was a non save situation, he hadn't pitched in awhile, and the game was out of hand by then, so I'm not reading into it too much.

With the win the Red Sox are now in 3rd place in the AL East at 14-15 and 4 games behind the Yankees for 1st.

Angels @ Red Sox Preview

Red Sox are 5-0 against the Angels this year, and with Weaver out of the way there is a good shot that they can continue this streak especially with Lester on the mound. So far Lester has been his "ace" self going 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA. He has also enjoyed some success against the Angels winning his last two starts with a 0.64 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 14 innings.

The problem is the guy he is going against is no slouch. Haren has been unhittable this year going 4-1 with a 1.23 ERA. I guess we can take some solace in the fact he is a left hander and is only 1-4 at Fenway.

Boston did a good job last night of wearing out Weaver, they need to do the same tonight if they want to beat Haren. I have no faith in the Angels bullpen so getting Haren out early would go a long way to winning this game. I think they get it done.

Red Sox win 5-3
Player of the Game: Pedroia
Game starts at 7:10pm

Red Sox 9 Angels 5

Red Sox wore Weaver down, something no team had been able to do all season. I was at the game last night, and one of the best at bats I have ever seen was Dustin Pedroia fouling off 9 pitches in a 13 pitch at bat. At the end of the at bat Pedroia had put the Sox in the lead with a 2 run single. It's hard to explain how awesome it was, but you could just see Weaver lose all the gas he had left in the arm, and at that point you just knew the Red Sox had it.

Buchholz pitched OK, not great he went 6 innings allowing only 2 runs, but also let up 8 hits and only had 2 Ks. He seemed like he was still having problems keeping the ball down, and never really looked all that confident. Still, it was a quality start and I'll take it since I really didn't give the Red Sox much of a chance to win this game.

Boston put the game away in the 7th inning scoring 6 runs. Two of them coming off an Ortiz HR, which is good because he has lacked his power stroke lately. Boston is getting on a little bit of a roll now. They have beaten two of the ALs top pitchers in the last 2 days (Weaver, Hernandez), and are just two games away from .500. I know that's odd to say, but with how bad they had been playing you have to look at the positives.

Angels @ Red Sox Preview

Red Sox pulled off the win yesterday in dramatic fashion, but that was against the Mariners and that shouldn't have been that hard. Tonight the Red Sox get Jered Weaver and the Angels. Weaver has been the best pitcher in baseball and is currently 6-0 with a 0.99 ERA, which is just straight silly. That is bad news for a Boston team that has really struggled to score runs this year.

Buchholz is on the hill for the Sox, and has had a rough start to the season going 1-3 with a 5.33 ERA. His confidence seems to be shaky, and Buchholz seems to be one of those guys that can let that carry from game to game. So for him to come out and start strong is a must tonight.

There doesn't seem to be a lot going the Red Sox way for tonight, but Weaver's ERA is 7.76 in five starts at Fenway, so there is a chance. One would think Boston's offense is going to have to start rolling at some point, but I just don't see it with the way Weaver has been pitching.

Angels win 6-2
Player of the Game: Weaver
Game starts at 7:10pm

Red Sox @ Angels Preview

The Red Sox have seemed to have started to get things going, but this Angels team is hot right now going 8-2 in their last 10 games. Tonight (if you're still awake) we will see Beckett go against rookie Tyler Chatwood, and for once this pitcher is actually a righty!!!!

Beckett has been great. He is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA, and looks like the Beckett that used to be the Red Sox ace. I think he will have another strong outing tonight, as I am not a big believer in the Angels lineup (especially with Morales on the DL). The key, as usual, will be whether or not the Red Sox can get anything from their offense. I like their chances against this rookie, and it's nice to see guys like Youk finally start to breakout.

A guy who could have a big game is Ortiz, who eats up righties, and is due for a monster game. Obviously all eye will be on Lowrie who is the hottest player in the majors right now (batting .531 (17 for 32) with three homers and 11 RBIs in his last nine games).

Red Sox win 6-2
Player of the Game: Ortiz
Game starts at 10:05pm