I'm back to blogging in the yard....wish I had some good news to talk about but as you may have heard, I am out for a few weeks with a strain in my right triceps...I'm going to do everything I can to get back as soon as possible, but I've got to be a little cautious. The trainers are wanting me to go a little slower than I want to go. I'm going to trust them. They've been here before, and I haven't. I have never missed a start in my professional career. I always want to answer the bell that fifth day but injuries are part of it and this is my first experience with being sidelined for a while. I'll tell you what, we will be fine with whoever fills in the first month for Escobar and I. If it's Moseley, Adenhart or whomever, those guys can handle the situation.



Spring Training has been fun, Torii Hunter has had this clubhouse laughing daily. He is a class act and a true pro. There seems to be something special going on with our lineup. Torii has come out on fire and Gary Matthews and Howie Kendrick have been knocking the ball all over the place. Of course Vlad has been doing his thing and our shortstops have been solid. I really like what I have been seeing out there, this is going to be a fun team to watch. For now, I'm going to do what I have to do to get back and help the team. I am getting anxious to get back home, it seems like forever ago since we arrived in Tempe for Spring Training. Talk to you all later.

Getting back home with a "W" from Fenway would have been nice but we can't worry about that now. We know what we are up against and there is not one guy in this clubhouse who doesn't think we can get the job done. Getting back home is going to help, we have responded at home all season and led the league in home wins for a reason. Beyond that, we need to play our game. You saw us play our style of ball in Boston in Game 2 but we just couldn't finish the deal. I think you will see this team come out strong today and hopefully carry some momentum through the series.

We need to get pressure on Schilling today. A polished guy like him is going to be prepared for each of our hitters. We need to recognize what he is trying to do out there and capitalize on any mistakes. Getting baserunners early and applying the pressure with our speed is how we do that. That's our game and that's how we are successful.

As I said before, getting home helps. The fans here have been great all season, actually they have been great as long as I can remember. We need to feed off the energy from the home crowd and perform on the field.

Heard about Chad Billingsley's Masquarade Party story, about dressing up like Robin Hood on one of their road trips. Well, it's time for our guys to break out their best dresses too. Each year we make the rookies dress up on one of the last road trips - last year there was a Hooters Girl, one year Superman. Jered Weaver had to dress up like a chick. He was hamming it up pretty good. I think he enjoyed it a little too much.

One of the guys buys the costumes, last year Vlad did it, then we take their clothes out of their bags and put the costumes in. They have to wear them from the time they leave the clubhouse to the time we get to the hotel. They'll walk to the bus, past all the fans, they'll go to the edge of the parking lot to sign autographs. They also have to carry all the drinks from the clubhouse to the buses and then the buses to the plane. It's nothing too serious but it's pretty funny stuff.

Fantasy football is big in our clubhouse. I'm actually in two leagues - one with some buddies in Newport and one with the team - so I'll be busy with that. Everyone is glued to the TV right now watching New Orleans-Indy. I've got a big marquee matchup in week one against our bullpen catcher Steve Soliz. He's won the league last two years and I won the year before that. He has Marvin Harrison who caught a touchdown already so he's talking some serious noise.

I like my team. I actually had the seventh pick in both my leagues and ended up with Shaun Alexander in both. I have McGahee as one of my running backs so I'm hoping he can do some things now that he's in Baltimore. We had our team draft when we arrived in Seattle, the night before we started that series. We rented a conference room brought in all the drinks, beers and sodas and order a bunch of pizzas. We had one of the rookies running the board, writing all the picks. We set it up like an NFL war room with everyone sitting around a big table. Shields and Soliz are the most serious but there's some pretty good trash talking.

Now that the NFL season has started our clubhouse will be pretty busy with fantasy football.

Playing Seattle is tough enough, but I started coming down with something and the trainers think it might be strep throat. I really felt it coming on last night and started getting pumped up with fluids, mostly Gatorade, all last night and today. The trainers definitely get an assist for getting me ready to play.

It was a big game and I was thrilled to get the ball. Scioscia gave me the ball on opening day and I've been taking my turn every fifth day. I'm thankful that my spot came up tonight and that I was able to set the tone.

The key for me tonight was overcoming the feelings of being sick and getting into a groove. The two-seamer was working well tonight and the early runs let me settle in and maintain the lead. But as big as tonight was tomorrow is even bigger, especially this time of year. We need to keep it going and keep fighting.

As a player I really like being in a good race because the sense of urgency is always there. Seattle is definitely providing it. They are tough. No matter how well we play or what we do they are right there with us.

It would be nice to be able to clinch early because it allows you to get some guys healed up from the long season. But obviously that's not going to happen. We are going to have to play well down to the end.

As close as this race is those head to heads coming up with Seattle are really big. We have two left. We have to finish this homestand strong against Toronto because it leads right into a road trip to Seattle. We definitely have our work cut out for us.

We have a double header with the Red Sox today. I had been asked several times if I was looking forward to facing Beckett, even though he may be starting game two. I always like the challenge of going against guys who are pitching well, but I really don't concern myself too much with that. I'm facing that lineup, not the other pitcher.

Boston is a tough place to play. They have a great lineup. They work the count really well. They take a lot of pitches and try to get you deep in the count. I need to keep my pitch count down and not let them get to the bullpen too early. Getting ahead in the count and putting away guys early will be important today. Location will be important, as it always is. I have been locating my fastball pretty well lately and that has really allowed me to use my breaking ball and change up to put guys away quicker. I need some more of that today facing this lineup.

First of all, sorry it's been awhile since my last post. I did not mean to disappear like that, I've just been busy trying to keep us on track for the playoffs.

I saw the post about Jose Offerman's meltdown. Wow. I've seen a couple helmet tosses at pitchers but I've never seen the batter carrying a bat.

Actually, the best brawl I've ever seen was when I was in AAA. We were in Salt Lake playing Iowa. Brendan Donnelly hit a guy, he was probably 6-5, 230, a big old dude. And Brendan is a big boy too. It was a train wreck at the mound. It was a real brawl, not one of those shoving matches you see. This one lasted 20-30 minutes.

I kind of knew it was going to happen. The guy had hit a couple of home runs off of us and was doing a little bat tossing, jogging around the bases, that kind of stuff so we knew it was coming. I was in the middle of the first pile. There were three different brawls going on at the same time. I got my pants ripped up and had a few bumps on the back of my head from being in the pile.

The worst thing for me was that it was in AAA and I always had a hard time finding pants that fit me there. I ripped my gamers from the knee down, someone must have been kicking me so they got cut up pretty good.

I've got to say, Tampa has a great clubhouse. They have some of the

best food in the league, but the stadium sucks. They have a good

lunch here which is big because there really isn't much around the

hotel. They have a really good postgame spread too. It's kind of like

a convenience store, they have a little bit of everything. Now once

you leave the clubhouse inside the stadium is not so good. It would

probably be worse to be playing outside though. It's 95 and 100

percent humidity. It's pretty miserable. It's like East Texas

weather. I'm from West Texas where it's more of a dry heat. I guess

I've been in California too long, I'm not used to the heat anymore.

Honestly, this is one of the worst stadiums in the league, definitely

top two or three. We leave today for Minnesota so we get two really

bad ones on this trip. At least Minnesota is getting a new one though.

It's tough losing a guy like Ervin. He's been a guy that has really helped us, especially last year. He's been struggling and has been given a lot of opportunities to work things out. They just decided that they wanted to send him down so he can get it back. The talent is definitely there. He really has been struggling for an extended period of time. By sending him down he can work on things without as much pressure. He's got great stuff. He just needs to refine his location and secondary pitches. Once he does that he'll be back doing well.

It's a tough deal because you really don't know what to say - good luck, we'll see you again. And he was obviously not happy, so he didn't say much. He's been called into the the office a couple of times. They've been watching him closely for awhile now so it's not a surprise. Ervin works hard and he'll figure it out.

It's actually good for both guys because Ervin needs to work things out and Joe Saunders is ready for his chance. I told him when they sent him down earlier that he would be back for good soon. He definitely has that chance. If he pitches well down the stretch he'll be here. This is going to be his tryout. We need more consistency. We're in a close race and need a guy to be a little more consistent.

I've said it before right here, but I just I think the whole vibe of the Yankee Stadium is fun. It's a fun place to pitch. It's always a challenge. It always feels like a playoff game every time you pitch here. That's fun. Facing Clemens added to it and so did Old Timers Day. I went outside and checked it out when they were introducing the old-timers. It's a special place, man. It's always fun to play here.

It was fun facing Clemens. It was kind of toe to toe. He pitched good and I had it going it on a little bit. My arm felt really good today and that was the best my breaking ball has felt this year. I showed it for a strike enough that they had to chase it when I didn't throw it for a strike. When you face the Yankees your focus has to be sharp regardless of who you're pitching against because their lineup so good. I was more concerned with getting those guys out than what Roger was doing. He was obviously pitching good and I couldn't give up too much. The extra innings got a little nerve wracking but Shields and Frankie got it going again. It was a great game to play in and a great game to win.

Today after we won in Baltimore, I got word that I made the American League All-Star team. I'm definitely thrilled to represent the Angels for my first All-Star appearance. It is truly an amazing feeling and something we all dream of as kids. To be honest, it makes it a lot better that the team has been playing well because everyone on this team deserves the credit. I'm a little disappointed that some of my teammates weren't selected, we have a lot of guys who are deserving. Vlad and Frankie also made the squad so it will be fun going up there with those guys. I'm going to take it all in, I guess there are a lot of parties and events to attend while we are there. I would like to catch the Home Run Derby, that is always something that I enjoy watching on TV during the break. Those guys hit some absolute rockets all over the yard.

I remember as a kid being so excited to watch all the guys in the All-Star game. For whatever reason, I remember a game-winning hit by Julio Franco in 1990 that won a game for the AL. Yup, the same Julio Franco who is still plating today - amazing. We have to keep the win streak alive for the American League. We all have a job to do at this game with the winner now getting home field advantage for the World Series. Thanks for reading.

Believe me, I can spend a lot of time writing about the offense. It always seems like somebody is picking us up. If the pitching is bad the offense picks it up and when the hitting is not there the pitching picks it up. It's just good team ball when you can win both ways.

But when I wrote the headline I was writing about Orlando Cabrera. With the All Star game coming up and the team being announced tomorrow I'd love to see his name called. He's been unbelievable on defense and at the plate. As a pitcher his defense has been great. He's making the routine plays and the spectacular ones. As a pitching staff, having a guy like that behind you allows you to be much more aggressive in the zone.

On offense it's been as good as his defense. Even when he's been getting out he is hitting it on the barrell. He has been unbelievably consistent, really dialed in this season. I would love to see him make the All Star team. He deserves to be there.

Someone suggested to me that it would be cool to have our pitching coach, Mike Butcher post some guest blogs on my page. As long as he doesn't rip me...

Of course it would be cool. Butch does a great job and we all enjoy working with him. And I agree with him, we enjoy pushing each other and helping each other out. We have a good group of guys.

My shoulder has been a little sore. I had something similar two years ago in spring training. It's like a knot in my shoulder and it's tough to get loose. I got a shot in there the day after I pitched and it feels pretty good now. I'll probably move back just one day, that's it. So instead of starting Sunday I should be ready to go Monday.

It's been different, I'm not going to lie. This is the first time I've moved back since I was drafted in '99, but I don't think it's a big deal. We had a day off so I get two extra days rest. After the cortizone shot it's loosened up and I've just been doing some shoulder exercises every other day to get the strength back. They asked me to take it easy on the upper body lifting this week so I've slowed that down this time through.

It's been tougher to get loose. The first thing that goes is a little arm speed, then the command is a little off. My breaking ball wasn't as good as it has been. The shoulder might have had something to do with it, but I won't use that as an excuse. I just didn't pitch well, it happens, but it was pretty awesome how the boys picked me up. I don't take it real well when I'm the reason for losing. When you win everything else is forgotten.

The guys have been asking how I'm doing. They want to know the deal and they want me out there. I think they get a little concerned because it has never happened with me. They know it must be something, but once I tell them it's alright they know I'll be there.