The Los Angeles Angels started off the 2008 season with a nice 3-1 record.  The Angels defeated the Minnesota Twins once again and started off great, especially playing on the road to begin the season.

Torii Hunter hit a homerun against his former team in the 7th inning, and Ervin Santana pitched six innings while picking up the victory.  Francisco Rodriguez picked up his second save of the season as well.

I really like how the Angels batteled back and won the last three games of the four game series.   That is what great teams have to do on the road.  Battle back, and pick up those road victories!  The Angels will now play the Texas Rangers back at home.  Make sure you get out there and support the Angels!

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Kelvim Escobar is sidelined right now with a tear in his right shoulder.  More then likely it will require surgery and have him miss the entire 2008 season.  Escobar is hinting that he might just retire rather then rehab his way back from should surgery.

We will just have to give this one some time and see how it works out for Escobar and the Angels.

The Los Angeles Angels trimmed off eight more players off their Spring Training roster to allow their veterans and big league club to get more at bats and innings as the season starts in just a couple of weeks.

Sean Rodriguez, Matt Brown, Nick Green, and Jeff Kennard were optioned to Triple-A Salt Lake.

Henry Bonilla, Kasey Olenberger, Matt Wilhite, and Freddy Sandoval were all optioned to the teams minor league camp.

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The Los Angeles Angels will be without starting pitcher John Lackey for atleast 4-6 weeks as he tries to recover from a strained right tricep.  Lacker has never missed a start, but that streak will come to an end as he is expected to miss seven to ten starts depening on how well his arm heals up.

Best case senario for Lackey and the Angels is that he would be back in the middle of May, but don’t be suprised if you don’t see Lackey until atleast June.

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Closer Francisco Rodriguez has lost his salary arbitration case with the Angels and will be paid $10 million dollars for the 2008 season.  K-Rod was asking for $12.5 milliong.  He has recently said that he doesn’t see himself being with the Angels after this season because if they really wanted him to be there longterm, they would have already signed him to a longterm contract.

Hopefully K-Rod will just go out there and play baseball for the Angels this season and be the player that he is capable of being.

Angels Blog

Francisco Rodriguez recently said in an interview that this will probably be his last season with the Los Angeles Angels since they haven’t tried signing him to a long term deal.  I think he feels like he isn’t being taken care of by the Angels and not treated the right way by not having a long term deal on the table.

Rodriguez says all he can do is go out there and compete and help out the team in 2008.  Who knows if the Angels will make him a three to four year contract that he will be seeking.

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Juan Rivera and the Los Angeles Angels agreed on a one year contract with $2.025 million dollars on Thursday.  Rivera will be competing in the outfield for some playing time but right now it is hard to tell how many at bats he will be getting if everyone stays healthy.

Look for the Angels to possibly make a move trading Rivera or another player at some points this season.  Just a little hunch I have.

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