MLB Bullets Has Gone To Be With The Angels

Write your own catchy intro here.

• They're in first place, but things just got darker for the Angels. Their ace pitcher Garrett Richards tore his left patellar tendon trying to make a play at first base. He will be out for the next six to nine months.
• Eric Garcia McKinley looks at where the Angels can go from here.
• Richard Justice says that while losing Richards is a blow, the Angels still have enough talent to win in the playoffs this year.
• Bob Nightengale says that the Angels big-name, big-money players need to carry the team.
• The Angels did get some reinforcements by picking up Gordon Beckham from the White Sox for a PTBNL and cash.
• If you're looking for some good news for the Angels, their all-time team did beat the all-time Los Angeles Dodgers team in a seven-game simulated series in the Los Angeles Times. That, and they still have a 1.5 game lead over Oakland.
• Jon Heyman has the inside story of how Rob Manfred was elected commissioner. The Nationals were the 23rd and deciding vote.
• And since that day, the Nationals haven't lost, which should give all the paranoid conspiracy theorists something to rant about. Thomas Boswell writes about how rare a ten-game winning streak is and how much fans should appreciate the Nats recent performance.
• Dayn Perry thinks the Nationals are just living up to what we all expected out of them at the beginning of the season.
• Jon Paul Morosi expects the Nationals to bring the World Series back to Washington for the first time in 81 years this October.
• Joe Posnanski has a short history of the Kansas City Royals and he says that for the first time in a while, they might actually know what they're doing.
• The Royals are trying not to look too far ahead.
• Jayson Stark talks about the problems of the Royals, Mariners and Yankees will have making the playoffs.
• A big advantage that the Royals have is that the Tigers can't seem to do anything right at the moment. David Price threw a one-hitter with no walks against his former teammates in Tampa Bay and lost 1-0.
• Jim Callis looks at six young pitchers who could end up playing a big role in October.
• This is a Cubs story, but since Al is quoted in the Wall Street Journal, it's going to get mentioned here. The Cubs attendance is dropping because they're trying to win.
• Another Cubs story, although it's getting mentioned here because it's more of a Mets story. Andy Martino believes the Cubs and the Mets are very unlikely to trade young hitters for young pitching. Both teams value what they have too much. (Which makes sense. The Cubs have lots of great young hitters because they value it highly. The Mets have lots of great young pitchers for the same reason.)
• Jon Lester is highly unlikely to sign back with the Red Sox this offseason. As you might have guessed, the two favorite teams for Lester for next season are the Yankees and Cubs.
• Reportedly, the Rusney Castillo sweepstakes are down to the Red Sox and Tigers.
• Dave Cameron thinks signing Castillo is a gamble, but one worth taking.
• Ken Rosenthal repeats his belief that the Marlins need to deal Giancarlo Stanton this winter.
• Curt Schilling revealed that the cancer he was treated for was mouth cancer that he believed he got from chewing tobacco. Schilling said that he didn't mention it earlier because he didn't want to get dragged into a debate about chewing tobacco.
• Ken Rosenthal urges Schilling, just this one time, to keep talking. Schilling needs to speak up about chewing tobacco.
• Red Sox manager John Farrell say that tobacco is a part of baseball culture.
• MLB made some significant changes in the way teams are allowed to scout international players.
• Ben Badler lists seven reasons why these rules are bad for everyone involved, except the office of the commissioner.
• Some big names have signed on play in the All-Star Series in Japan this November. And no, I don't mean "Jarrod Saltalamacchia" when I write "big names." You know what I mean. Although maybe Saltalamacchia will get invited anyway.
• Ben Lindbergh asks scouts which minor league prospects have helped and hurt their stock the most over the past season.
• Peter Gammons says that we need to understand that most young players will struggle at first in the major leagues.
• Andy Martino thinks baseball needs a pitch clock.
• Craig Calcaterra thinks that's a dumb idea, which is why it will probably get adopted. Calcaterra says just enforce the current rules.
• Keith Olbermann says that baseball doesn't really want slower games. (VIDEO)
• Bill Chuck says that hitters need to swing on more 3-0 counts.
• Richard Justice looks at the secrets of some successful managers.
• Joey Votto says that he's trying to be "un-injured." It's a pretty odd statement.
• Rob Neyer says Derek Jeter's final season is pretty much going exactly as we should have expected it to go.
• Gabe Kapler doesn't like the term "walk-off" but thinks we're stuck with it.
• Hank Aaron meets Hank the Dog.
• The Blue Jays official Twitter account thought they were the Rangers for a second. Texas, Toronto. They both start with "T", right?
• Chris Rock got a foul ball, gave it to a kid and became Bob Brenly's favorite actor in the process, probably.
• ATTENTION METS FANS: DO NOT HIT MR. MET IN THE JUNK. REPEAT: DO NOT HIT MR. MET IN THE JUNK.
• Finally, we all need to climb into the Hot Tub Time Machine and go back to the year 1976 when everyone caught a bad case of "Phillies Fever." Hey, I listened to it. You should have to, too.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.