Angels: Mike Trout decided that having surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee was a better alternative than postponing the procedure and being a designated hitter the rest of the season. “It was an option they put out there. It would have been just maintaining the pain level of it,” the Angels slugger said before Thursday’s game against the Royals. “The day I got the MRI and it showed that I was in a lot of pain. It would have been a tough road for the rest of the year to bear that.” Trout has also struggled whenever he has been a designated hitter. In 1,518 career games, he has been the DH only 81 times and has a .214 batting average. Trout — who is sidelined with a major injury for the fourth straight season — still doesn’t know when the latest one occurred.

Phillies: RJ Boyle’s stream of Sunday’s Phillies game lagged about a minute or so behind the live broadcast on ESPN. The delay isn’t usually much of an issue — until the 26-year-old “big time” Phillies fan got a quick call from a family member. Boyle’s cousin asked, “Is that you on TV.” “Well it can’t be me, I’m sitting in my living room,” Boyle recalled. “He goes, well, is your Twitter profile @RJBoyle28?‘” Uh, yeah. Why? ESPN Sunday Night Baseball commentator Karl Ravech had plucked Boyle’s question off social media thanks to the #AskSNB hashtag and asked it to mic’d up Phillies left fielder Brandon Marsh. “If you had to start a rock band, who would you take from the team and what’s the band name?” Boyle wrote. Marsh rattled off catcher Garrett Stubbs, slugger Kyle Schwarber and outfielder Cristian Pache as his fellow band members, then as he hustled off the field after making a catch, blurted out the first ridiculous name that popped in his head. “Stay Loose and Sexy, baby,” Marsh said. Like that, a Phillies’ catchphrase was born. And maybe a new favorite player blossomed for Boyle. “It’s been (Bryce) Harper,” Boyle said, “but right now, I think I need to order a Brandon Marsh jersey.” This is how organic slogans and social media recognition erupt — as well as the kitschy merchandise such as bobbleheads and T-shirts that have sprouted all over Philadelphia in less than a week all thanks to a rather innocuous question. “I figured, what’s the most random thing that still fits Marsh that I could ask,” Boyle said. “I can’t believe it caught on like this but it’s cool.” There are no discounts for anyone these days, though, even for a baseball fan who stuffed a few bucks in small business coffers this week. Boyle still had to pay $32 plus shipping for his AC/DC inspired SL/SS shirt from breakingt.com. The ESPN broadcast had an audience of 1.68 million fans and quite a few of them called or contacted Boyle. His social media following grew by a few hundred. Who knows? Maybe he’ll even get his hopeful shoutout from Marsh and the Phillies.

Giants: The Giants acquired minor league outfielder Rodolfo Nolasco from the Pirates on Friday in a trade that sent right-hander Daulton Jefferies to the Pirates. The Giants also dealt right-hander Mitch White to the Brewers for cash.