It's official: Jared Weaver will start the season for the Halos at Minnesota Monday night.

A lot of things went crazy yesterday including the mlblogs here.  But as sure as you look for a new sign of things to come, the Angels won against San Diego last night, and all things look right in the world.

I guess the Angels and MLBlogs world united this weekend and all I can say is I hope the Angels win @ Minnesota and the MLBLogs world succeeds!

With the Angels running away in the Cactus League, I hope -- ney, pray -- that this is a prelude to 2008.

So seyeth in the latest recap of Angels click here that the Angels are 18-7-3 in Cactus League play.  Nice.

Looks like these are good performances (e.g., who will be in the Angels roster):

My predictions for opening day roster:

1B - Kotchman
2B - Kendrick
SS - Aybar
3B - Figgins
LF - Anderson
CG - Hunter
RF - Guerrero
DH - Rivera
C - -Napolia / Mathis (depends on pitcher)
Bench: Morales, Itzuris Matthews Jr., Willits, Quinlan, Budde, ??? (Whoa who else is tough to figure)

Pitching is kind of nailed down anyway with Garland joining the only question is Saunders in while Escobar is out.  Think Lackey, Weaver, Garland, Escobar, Santana as the normal rotation.

What think?

Tough going if you're such a fan of the game (e.g. a big fan of a team) and you then play Fantasy Baseball.

The toughness is "hmm...I shouldn't let my heart decide I need my team's players on my fantasy squad".  But that's tough, right?

I grabbed Chone Figgins for SB, AVG, Runs, and his versatility on OF/3B.  Also added Casey Kotchman as my backup 1B (I grabbed Ryan Howard, so no way was Casey gonna start for me).

But what did you do for Angels fans + Fantasy player picks?

And check out the Free MLB.com Fantasy Baseball here...you could even win $10,000! (Or as we say in New York: "Ten Large"): MLB.com 2008 Open

So if I was a minor leaguer in the Angels, say AAA Edmonton, how would I feel?  They Angels have what, 5 outfielders (Vlad, Hunter, GA, Rivera, Matthews Jr.) vying for the 3 OF spots plus a DH depending on their health, rest, etc.

So I would feel like "get me outta here and trade me!" I think.

Enter: Peter Bourjos.  Who?  Yeah, he's a CF who yesterday showed what playing for a reason is.

He comes in late to fill in Morales' spot in the lineup, and goes 2-2 with a 3 run Home Run in the 9th, but earlier he stole 2 bases after he singled.

Gotta love a player whose situation is less than desirable as a virtual unknown and no room to come to the majors, but plays like there's no tomorrow!

Good to see the run production keeping up, especially in the come from behind win y'day.

Today we're out to an early lead, which is nice against Peavy.  If you don't know, he was the pitching triple crown winner in 2007!

It truly was a good lineup today, and we cranked out 5 runs, but alas, the Mariners scored 6.

Kudos to Torri Hunter for going 2-3 and keeping the average to .800.  And Figgins had a nice triple early on.

But pitching was the concern, with Adenhart allowing 8 runners in 2 2/3 innings and then Bonilla allowing 5 more runners in 1 inning.

Those 2 pitchers accounted for 6 runs (all earned), and that's the ballgame basically.

So don't worry about our record so far, as we've either had our regular batters take the day off, or our regular starting pitchers.

Well, if you looked at the lineup before the game, you probably would say the Angels would lose something like 8-2.

So no, we didn't have: GA, Vlad, Macier, Fig, Hunter in there.  But it looked nice to see our hopefully regular guys hit:
1. SS Aybar went 0-3
2. 1B Kotchman went 0-3
3. 2B Kendrick went 1-3 with his 3rd SB on Spring Training
4. DH but he's a 1B so likely backing up Kotchman... 2-3 with a 2R home run.
5. Rivera is likely our "full-time" DH and he went 1-3 with a double.

So at least we got some of the lower hitters a few at bats and we'll see today vs. Seattle if manager Mike gives only 1 or (no!) 2 days rest to Vlad, Hunter, GA, Fig, and Macier.

Sorted Angels stats

Hitting not much of a concern, but with rusty arms showing up in early Spring Training, I guess a lot of hitters are doing well.

Hunter at .857 is off the charts, and it's good to see Howie Kendrick at .400, along with Aybar, Figgins, Rivera, and Napoli doing quite well in the early action.

We'll have Santana vs. Contreras in Tempe today. 

So today is gameday audio only out here.  It's a $14.95 annual cost which I think is reasonable to hear the broadcast.  Purchase Gameday Audio

But otherwise, the main page of mlb.com refreshes as does it's scoreboard.

Angels Photos to be used during the season.

Well it's that time of year, when Spring is in the air not here.  Yeah, it's cold and rainy and brr in New York and I at least get the feeling of Spring when I can listen to the Angels on gameday audio on mlb.com.

So far, it's been good to see Torri Hunter bat near-1.000 and Garland settling in.