Halos Heaven

Angels-Orioles Preview -  FOX Sports on MSN
Opening a 10-game road trip, the major's best-hitting team will try to continue its strong play against one of the worst-pitching clubs, the Baltimore Orioles, on Friday night.

Hunter to return during crucial road trip - angelsbaseball.com
Although it's a grueling 10-game road trip that starts on Friday and takes the Angels from Baltimore to Cleveland to Toronto with no days off in between, it's also a chance for the Angels to separate themselves from the pack, as all three opponents currently have losing records.

Team Reports - CBSSports.com
--Beginning Friday against the Orioles, the Angels will play 50 games in the final 52 days of the regular season. Two scheduled off days will be filled by makeup games -- August 27 at home against the Oakland A's and Sept. 14 in New York against the Yankees. --OF Torii Hunter went 2-for-5 with a single and a three-run home run as the DH Wednesday in the second game of his minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga. Hunter is expected to play one more game with Rancho Cucamonga then rejoin the Angels this weekend.

NBC SPORTS & COVERS.COM: Matchups, Odds, and Injuries

Team Reports II - MLB at CBSSports.com
LHP Joe Saunders received a cortisone shot in his sore left shoulder after going on the disabled list last weekend. Saunders is expected to resume a throwing program this weekend and the Angels are optimistic he will be ready to return when he is eligible to come off the DL.

Playoff odds, 8/13: 87 percent - Sam Miller - OCRegister.com
The Angels most probably win total for the season, according to the simulation, is 94.

Short Hops: Angels' success defies baseball logic - CBSSports.com Baseball
There is no way the Los Angeles Angels should be leading the AL West right now. No way. Not with a team ERA that ranks 26th in the game. Not after having used a major league high 12 (actually, it's 13) different starting pitchers (including five rookie starters). Not with Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero spending 21 games together on the disabled list.

Angels hitting coach Hatcher has team at top of the charts - LA Daily News
"How do you like me now?" he could shout after all the slings and arrows he has absorbed, some as recently as last year's playoffs.

I didn't blame him then, so I'm not giving him credit now.

Waiver Wire Watching - Monkey With A Halo
...let’s take a quick glance around the league at some starting pitchers that the Angels still have a legitimate chance of acquiring:

Los Angeles Angels Team Report - USATODAY.com
Demoted to Class AAA Salt Lake in June, second baseman Howie Kendrick returned in early July saying all the right things. Since then, he has been doing the right thing as well — hitting. Kendrick called the mid-season demotion "the best thing for me" and "what I needed" after slumping through the first two months of the season.

Lee pitches eight sharp innings as Phillies sweep Cubs - USATODAY.com
Cliff Lee (FSY) showed again why the Philadelphia Phillies may have made the best deal of all before the trade deadline. Lee won his third consecutive start since joining the Phillies.

Ah, what could have been...

Rangers' Feliz still unhittable - SweetSpot by Rob Neyer - ESPN
I also suspect that Feliz is, right now, one of the dozen or so best relief pitchers in the major leagues.

Uh-oh.

M's third baseman Beltre back on DL - FOX Sports on MSN
Beltre was put on the 15-day disabled list with a severely bruised testicle Thursday, one day after taking a hard one-hopper off the bat of Chicago's Alexei Ramirez to his groin area in the ninth inning.Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said the Gold Glove infielder is out indefinitely, and could need surgery because of bleeding in a testicle.

Two words that should never be in the same sentence..."bleeding" and "testicle".

Man who allegedly threw beer at Victorino charged - CBSSports.com Baseball
Chicago police charged a 21-year-old man with two misdemeanor counts Thursday in connection with a beer-throwing incident that showered Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino.

If you hadn't heard about this, then you must not have been on the internet yesterday.

August 14 - BR Bullpen
Events, births and deaths that occurred on August 14.
1964 - Bo Belinsky is suspended by the Angels after attacking sportswriter Braven Dyer. Four days later Belinsky is assigned to Hawaii (Pacific Coast League), then suspended for the season when he refuses to report.
1990 - California posts a 9 - 5 win over the Yankees with the winning margin coming on an inside-the-park grand slam by Luis Polonia. Yankee RF Jesse Barfield misses a shoestring catch and his leisurely pursuit of the ball allows Polonia to score. Jim Abbott is the winner.