It's that time of year again (again).

Finally, something other than soccer! The Angels and Doyers ar ready to square off, this time at THE Stadium, and it's time for me to finally answer back to Brandon's previous Freeway Series post. Back when we were all much younger and prettier, in early June, the Angels swept the Dodgers. The real LA natives outscored the Brooklyn import 20-8 over the three game series, but a 10-1 series opener really skews the data. Now, we get the final three of the year. At 38-31, the Trolley Dodgers continue to trail the first place Padres (oxymoron) and the second place Gigantes. Meanwhile, despite being hot, the Halos are 39-33 and continue to trail the equally hot (or maybe even hotter) Rangers after getting their spirits broke by Chicago on Sunday. It may not be the nearly first place series that Brandon previewed, but it'll still be fun.

If you think the Angels starting lineup looks weird these days, you're right. The injury bug has ben traveling with the team lately, and the list of victims is starting to get lengthy. Izturis was rubbed out to the 15 day DL on Wednesday, Erick Aybar continues to be day-to-day with a hip flexor since last week (and he's probably not going to be ready), Jason Bulger is on the 15 day DL, Kendry Morales is out for the season with his walk off broken leg, and the list of questionables and walking wounded goes on and on. That being said, Mike Scioscia has done some experimenting with the lineup, and it's either been a grand slam or a ground out. Let's break it down like a circus clown.

1) Howie Kendrick- My favorite current Halo sitting in the top spot of the order reflects how weird this lineup is. With .273/7/46 numbers, though, we're enjoying what he's giving us. He's been up and down this year, but overall looks mor consistent with the stick than most. No batting title this year, but hopefully he'll get back toward flirting with .300 once he escapes leadoff man hell.

2) Kevin Frandsen- What can I say about this Bellerman and San Jose State grad? When you think of getting a player to cover your ass before the season starts, you just want a guy who can temporarily fill in for your "real players." I don't know what Franny's VORP is, but he's making me happy. Not only has he filled in with injuries abounding, but he temporarily replaced Wood when he proved he's still not ready. With 2 hits in yesterday's game, Kev is hitting .352 in 23 games with only 4 Ks in 71 AB Believe it.

3) Bobby Abreu- Make no mistake, his name is pronounced "Ah-bray-ooo." Just ask Jose Mota. El Comedulce may not feel like he's having the same impact as last year, but he is just proof that slow and steady wins the race. I never knew how much I'd like this guy when we got him. I love hitter who take pitches, and he may be the best in the game. We're talking about a .359 OBP, 7 jacks, and 11 steals. He may not be in his prime, but he's like a fine aging finese pitcher.

4) Torii "Big Game" Hunter- What can I say about T Hunt? He throws himself into walls for balls, plays through injury, is arguably the best hitter on this team with Bam Bam out. He's the total package. .293/12/50 this season, and showing no signs of letting up. Without Kendry, Torii is our everything; the key to our success offensively.

5) Hideki Matsui- Probably the most glad to be returning to an AL park so he can go back to being just the DH. Man, talk about a streaky player. Godzilla was the hit of the party early on, leading the Halos in every offensive category. Then, he fell flat on his face, and his hitting became offensive to watch. Now at .266/9/40, you just never no what kind of mood he's going to be in. To hit, or not to hit? That is the question.

6) Mike Napoli (aka, the Ravioli kid)- Complete opposite of Matsui. Started out hitting like Charlie Brown kicking a field goal, and then turned into Babe Ruth all of the sudden. I seem to remember a streak where Napoli hit a home run in like 12 games and was getting 5 hits per game for a while. I made fun of all the Nap fans when Mathis was doing well, and he eventually shut me up. His OPS is .804 and he has 11 jacks. Just don't bring up his 71 Ks in 61 games. Brandon Wood has been making fun of him for that.

7) Juwanna Man Rivera- Good ol' JR is another one of our underrated offensive threats. I always like to mention how he was apart of one of the best trades on Angels history (JR and Ma$e for Jose "Be Careful" Guillen, who I thought we could never replace), and he's been paying off ever since. This year hasn't been his best in Halo red, but he's earning his contract. At .241/10/33, you'd like to see him reach base more, but he's my boy, and I like his stylish highlights.

8) Jeff Mathis- The Mathismatician is back. El Jefe was crushing the ball and playing brilliant dish prior to going down to a huge injury that slammed the breaks on his first very good season with the Halos. Now that he's back, I'm stoked. In just 12 games played this year, Math is hitting .310/1/4. We could have had big things if it wasn't for the DL stint, but if he can keep it up, I'm sure this'll change fans' perception of him, and they'll all say I was right all along. Welcome back.

9) Brandon Wood- The infield injuries have thrust the Wooder back into the mix, now at SS (because playing 3B must have been his problem the whole time). Ugh. The latest Dallas McPherson wannabe has shown some truly pathetic fielding as of late, and his bat has never come around as promissed. In 44 games (140 ABs), Wood is hitting .171 with 2 homeruns and 8 RBI. Would you believe our minor league slugger has just a .221 SLG? Now look, I've been hanging on with Wood all season while people bash him. I think he needed to get benched, and hoped it would do him well (I still hope that). But, when do we face the facts and try again next year? It's June 21 and he hasn't figured it out yet. Once Aybar gets back, send him back to SLC and let Frandsen finish it out at third.

Pitchers you'll see start for us:

Tuesday: Ervin Santana (6-5, 3.91)- He may be my wife's least favorite Angel, but I still think he's a stud. He's had 2 straight cruddy outings (6 ER in 5 against MIL and 4 ER in 5 against Oakland). Prior to that, he went 6 IP of 1 run ball against the M's, 7 IP of 1 run ball against KC, 9 IP of 3 run ball against Toronto, 7 IP of shutout ball against Chicago, and 6 IP of 2 run ball against Oakland. Those were consecutive starts. These last two are blips on an otherwise solid season. Of course, he is going against Kershaw.

Wednesday: Joel Piñero (6-6, 4.45)- J Balls Piñata has been hit or miss this year. Either the sinker is working and he's getting groundouts and killing it, or he's leaving the ball up and get blasted early and often. In his last two outings, it was the former. Joel (correctly pronounced "Yo-El") has allowed just 2 runs in his last 17 innings, including a complete game 1 run affair against these very same Dodgers 2 weeks ago. It could go either way, but he's going against Jelly Bean, so I'm hopeful.

Thursday: Scott Kazmir (7-5, 5.08)- The Kazmanian Devil has started to put out better and better starts lately, and that makes me happy. Although it seems like he's not even trying to go deep into games (see my complaints about him from this whole season), he's keeping us in games. Scott has allowed just 6 runs in his last 23 innings pitched, not allowing more than 2 in his last 4 games. That's a hot streak to help make up for some bum games earlier on. While the bullpen needs to be ready when he takes the mound, I'm proud of how he's righted the ship.

Bullpen: One of the areas I pointed out as a huge liability early on is finally coming around. The high points have been Fernando Rodney, Kevin Jepsen, the new Francisco Rodriguez, and even the emergence of Trevor Bell after a tough welcome to the bigs last year. The low points have been half of Brian Fuentes appearances, Scot Shields, and the injury to Jason Bulger. The bullpen has slowly ben getting better, and it helps when our starters have been going longer and longer.

Bench: Two words- stretched thin. With players who should be on the bench starting every day, it's getting iffy. Good thing we're not in a NL park this time around. Bobby Wilson is a capable second string catcher, Robb Quinlan brings some versatility to the field, and Reggie Willits is always able to get the crowd cheering his name for some strange reason. Like I said: stretched thin.

My predictions: Why do I feel like there is no way we'll be nearly as successful as we were two weeks ago against El Azul? Tuesday is really the highlight of this series with Erv and Kershaw throwing down. I think the other two are toss ups depending on how the Angels starters do. Whoever wins the first game will take the series 2-1. Alright, I'll bite: Angels 2-1. But I do guarantee, there will be no sweep in Mudville this week.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē