Up next for the Angels: Tuesday vs. Texas - Los Angeles Times
John Lackey vs. Dustin Nippert

Angels stay a step ahead at home - OCRegister.com
In the opener of the Rangers' first visit to Anaheim, the Angels reversed the relationship, handing the Rangers a 9-4 loss Monday night that put the Angels one game ahead of Texas in the AL West.

Team Reports - CBSSports.com
OF Juan Rivera was 3-for-4 Monday, his sixth multi-hit game in his past 11 starts. Rivera's two RBIs against the Rangers give him 31 since June 1, leap-frogging teammate Bobby Abreu (30) for the most RBIs in the American League in that time. Rivera is batting .330 (30 for 91) over his past 22 games.

Angels' bats turn up the heat atop AL West - USATODAY.com
It's not the return of those pitchers that has launched Los Angeles' 10-3 surge in the last couple of weeks. In fact, Escobar is back on the disabled list and Lackey and Santana have struggled to regain their old form. Instead, it has been the Angels' smoking offense that has launched the team to first place. Los Angeles has averaged 7.4 runs during the hot spell, and after 81 games it leads the majors with a .281 average and ranks sixth in runs scored.

Angels hitters learn the virtues of patience - Los Angeles Times
Taking cues from hitting coach Mickey Hatcher.

Really?  Mickey Hatcher?  Really??

Carew rejoins Angels in FO capacity - Angels blog - OCRegister.com
Not really sure what an "Executive Representative" is. But the Angels announced this afternoon that Hall of Famer Rod Carew was rejoining the organization in that capacity.

Just when we thought the Angels were power hitters.

First-half grades for everyone - Angels Unplugged - Los Angeles Times
Everyone always identifies the All-Star break as the halfway point of the season, but if you check the standings, you'll see that the official halfway date was Monday, the night of the Angels' 81st game.

Grichuk-Trout combo — glimpse of future? - Angels blog - OCRegister.com
The Angels’ two first-round draft picks — outfielders Randal Grichuk and Mike Trout — combined to go 8 for 9 with five RBI and five runs scored for the Angels’ Arizona Summer League team Sunday night.

What We Learned In Week Thirteen - FanGraphs Baseball
Joe Saunders, on the other hand… Early in the season, Saunders helped carry the Angels pitching staff while they waited for John Lackey and Ervin Santana to return from the disabled list. Regression to the mean smacked him in the head with a pretty strong stick this week, though, as he allowed six home runs in nine innings of work over two starts. He also walked eight batters, and not surprisingly, the combination of bad command and home run problems adds up to losing. Saunders’ FIP now stands at 5.50, and while he’s better than this, he’s getting exposed as a back-end starter. The Angels have some real pitching problems.

What will the Angels do at the trading deadline? - OCRegister.com
"Since I’ve been here, we’ve been talking about stuff and never done anything," pitcher John Lackey said. "Last year was definitely surprising that they did something and how big it was.

Roy Halladay?

Jays' Halladay all but gone in Toronto - Ken Rosenthal - FOX Sports on MSN
"We have to see what's out there," Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi says. "I'm not saying we're going to shop him. But if something makes sense, we at least have to listen. We're (leaning) more toward listening than we've ever been."

But then there's this...

NBC Sports - No matter what Rosenthal says, Roy Halladay isn't going anywhere
The fact that Rosenthal spends any time on those options at all suggests that this is more of a "throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks" column than anything else.

NBC Sports - Manny Ramirez stiffs his minor league teammates
Say what you want about steroids, but I think this kind of thing speaks much more loudly about Manny's character:

Manny Ramirez a douche?  NO WAY!