LA vs Minnesota MLB Betting Preview
The New York Yankees lost a baseball game Thursday night against the Royals, but they lost much more than that before the game even started.
Los Angeles Angels vs. Minnesota Twins MLB Betting Preview
Starting Pitchers: Los Angeles (Santana) vs. Minnesota (Pavano)
Date/Time: May 9, 8:10 p.m. EST
MLB Gambling Odds from BetOnline
Moneyline: Angels (-145) Twins (+135)
Runline: Angels -1.5 (+115) Twins +1.5 (-135)
Total: 8.5
The Angels have been baseball’s most disappointing team thus far in 2012. The team that was supposed to be one of the best in baseball started the season 6-14. Jered Weaver’s no-hitter seems to have woke the team up a little bit of late. The Angels entered last night’s game with the Twins with a 13-17 record.
Minnesota was hoping for a rebirth of old times this year, but the Twins have the worst record in baseball right now. Let’s take a quick look at this matchup.
Ervin Santana threw a no-hitter last year, and he had a breakout season in 2011. Santana hasn’t been very good so far this year. The Angels have lost all six games he has started, and he has an ERA of 5.59. Albert Pujols finally broke his homerless streak at 110 at-bats to start the season. The Angels are certainly hoping he starts producing the way they expected.
Pujols’ batting average sits at .197 right now. It isn’t just him though, the Angels offense as a whole has been awful. The offense that experts expected so much from is averaging just 3.70 runs per game. Luckily for the Angels, their starting pitchers lead the majors with 22 quality starts. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Last season was brutal for the Twins, and so far this year it has been more of the same. Justin Morneau is already on the disabled list with a wrist injury, and the team has lost 8 of their last 10 games. Minnesota has been bad all around this season. The Twins offense is averaging just 3.39 runs per game.
Josh Willingham and Denard Span have been bright spots on the offense, but this lineup just isn’t very good. As poor as the lineup is, the pitching staff is that much worse. Minnesota is dead last, by a large margin, in team ERA. The Twins pitching staff has an ERA of 5.70.
Carl Pavano actually has a team-best ERA and his is just 4.62. Clearly, the Twins need some pitching help in a hurry.
Both pitchers have struggled this year, and I don’t see much value in the side on this game. I think there will be several runs scored here.
MLB Free Pick: Over 8.5
