zenmaster

I'm probably making it up that CJ had family problems. But I could have sworn I read an article right before he went on the DL for his ankle that he was having some personal problems. Maybe I dreamed it.

CJs issues are all mental. He has family problems and is overthinking his mechanics. Pick up the damn ball, throw strikes and see what happens. It can't be much worse than what all your over preparing is doing for you!

We should get Blanton just for this game to offset Williams.

Would this board implode if the list had Pujols and Hamilton?

Grab him Dipoto!

CJ would be the ace on that rotation.

Let's trade him to the A's. That would end well. Maybe we can get Sam Fuld?

World.Series.Lock.

This lineup is 8 runs minimum.

A bit off topic but what would our rotation look like had we not traded Trumbo? Scary thought...

But we hit the best pitcher in baseball fairly well so let's be optimistic.

Street 1 IP, 0 ER

I moved to Southern California in 2007 and became an Angels fan in 2009. I grew up in Illinois and was a white sox fan. I started going to Angels game when I moved here and really started liking them. I really hated the direction the white sox were going and being that southern california is my new home for the next 30 years at least, I became an angels fan. (yes I liked the ChiSox in 2005 during the infamous AJ P game, please don't hold it against me)

I'm convinced Mark Mulder is the answer.

Maybe Trout should take him out to wherever he goes for dinner?

Maybe we should give Blanton CJs spot since everyone wants to get rid of him?

From baseball prospectus: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/league-info/potential-free-agents-for-2015/ The following players have contracts expiring or should have the six years of service necessary to become free agents after the 2014 season. (* – player whose current contract includes 2015 option.) First Basemen Billy Butler * Adam Dunn Michael Cuddyer Corey Hart Paul Konerko Adam LaRoche * Adam Lind * Victor Martinez Mike Morse Carlos Pena Second Basemen Emilio Bonifacio Alexi Casilla Mark Ellis Rafael Furcal Kelly Johnson Nick Punto * Brian Roberts Ramon Santiago Rickie Weeks * Ben Zobrist * Shortstops Mike Aviles * Asdrubal Cabrera Alex Gonzalez J.J. Hardy Jed Lowrie John McDonald Hiroyuki Nakajima * Hanley Ramirez Jimmy Rollins * Third Basemen Wilson Betemit Alberto Callaspo Eric Chavez Jack Hannahan * Chase Headley Casey McGehee Donnie Murphy Nick Punto * Aramis Ramirez * Pablo Sandoval Ty Wigginton Catchers John Buck Ryan Doumit Nick Hundley * Gerald Laird Russell Martin Jeff Mathis * Wil Nieves Ronny Paulino A.J. Pierzynski David Ross Geovany Soto Outfielders Norichika Aoki Emilio Bonifacio Melky Cabrera Nelson Cruz Michael Cuddyer Rajai Davis Chris Denorfia Jeff Francoeur Jonny Gomes Franklin Gutierrez Tony Gwynn Jr. Scott Hairston Torii Hunter Raul Ibanez Reed Johnson Ryan Lukwick * Nick Markakis * Darnell McDonald Mike Morse Colby Rasmus Alex Rios * Nate Schierholtz Grady Sizemore Seth Smith Alfonso Soriano Denard Span * Ichiro Suzuki Ryan Sweeney Josh Willingham Chris Young Delmon Young Starting Pitchers Brett Anderson * Josh Beckett Chad Billingsley * Joe Blanton * A.J. Burnett * Chris Capuano Bruce Chen * Wei-Yin Chen * Kevin Correia Johnny Cueto * Jorge De La Rosa Ryan Dempster Scott Feldman Gavin Floyd Yovani Gallardo * Jason Hammel J.A. Happ * Aaron Harang Dan Haren * Roberto Hernandez Hisashi Iwakuma Josh Johnson Kyle Kendrick Hiroki Kuroda John Lannan Colby Lewis Jon Lester Paul Maholm Justin Masterson Brandon McCarthy Brandon Morrow * Jeff Niemann Ross Ohlendorf Felipe Paulino * Jake Peavy Wandy Rodriguez Max Scherzer James Shields Carlos Villanueva Ryan Vogelsong Edinson Volquez Jerome Williams Relief Pitchers David Aardsma Mike Adams * Matt Albers * Burke Badenhop Ronald Belisario Matt Belisle Heath Bell Craig Breslow * Sean Burnett * Jared Burton * Tim Byrdak Joba Chamberlain Phil Coke Manny Corpas Jesse Crain Scott Downs * Kyle Farnsworth Jason Frasor Kyuji Fujikawa * Tom Gorzelanny Luke Gregerson Jason Grilli LaTroy Hawkins * Luke Hochevar J.P. Howell Casey Janssen Jim Johnson Matt Lindstrom Brandon Lyon Carlos Marmol Dustin McGowan * Jose Mijares Andrew Miller Franklin Morales Jason Motte Peter Moylan Pat Neshek Darren O’Day * Juan Carlos Oviedo Vicente Padilla Chris Perez J.J. Putz David Robertson Francisco Rodriguez Sergio Romo Joakim Soria * Rafael Soriano * Huston Street * Joe Thatcher Koji Uehara Jose Veras * Brian Wilson * Jamey Wright

Wasn't there originally rumors that his downhill slide started because of some family problem? If true maybe this is still what's going on. Sounds like he is a headcase. Back to the DL if he does poorly today?

More Trout porn if you can get past the Kershaw and Abreu love. That is some impressive company he might be joining. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11316089/baseball-august-history-watch Run, run, run: In his rookie season, Trout led the AL in runs scored. In his second season, he also led the league in runs scored. And this season? Yep. He just caught Brian Dozier of the Twins to tie for the league lead again. Here's the first reason that's so cool: In the past 50 years, the only men ever to lead their league in runs three straight seasons were Pete Rose (1974-76) and Pujols (2003-05). I've heard of them. How 'bout you? But here's the second reason it's so cool: In the past 100 years, these are the only men ever to lead the AL in runs scored three years in a row: Babe Ruth (twice), Ted Williams (1940-42) and Mickey Mantle (1956-58). Wait. Who? .900 miles: Trout is also well on his way to his third consecutive season with an OPS over .900. (He's at .979 at the moment). In case no one had mentioned this in the last 30 seconds, he's only 22 years old (for another day, at least). Want to know the only players in history who ever ripped off at least three straight qualifying seasons with a .900-plus OPS by their age-22 season? The complete list consists of Mel Ott (four in a row, 1928-31), Williams (1939-41) and Jimmie Foxx (1928-30). More information about their exploits can be found hanging in a gallery in Cooperstown, New York. Extra credit: All right, here's one more. Trout needs just another 12 extra-base hits to reach at least 75 for the second straight season. Once again, the list of players as young as Trout who have 75 or more extra-base hits in back-to-back seasons does not include a whole lot of Jose Vizcainos and Nick Puntos. In fact, it includes just these three names: DiMaggio, Williams and Pujols. Any minute now, Trout will pull right in alongside them. So think of the names that have shown up next to Trout just in the last few paragraphs: Ruth, Williams, Mantle, DiMaggio, Ott, Foxx, Pujols and Rose. Should we just start carving Mike Trout's Hall of Fame plaque now -- or wait a couple of weeks?"

Is the author in Australia or Japan maybe??

Pujols 1-4, Homer

I just wish CJ would have pitched yesterday.

I stepped on a dead fish on the beach in St. Pete beach in Florida once also (I used to live there). It was this fish with spikes on it's back and sides. Those things probably went an inch into my foot and I had flesh hanging down. In addition to a nasty cut some poison was released even though it was dead. I had trouble walking for a month. Lesson is, look down when you walk on the beach. I did it at night after a few drinks.

Hopefully he's connected to some Cuban's as well.

Miguel Cabrera