A’s (56-40) vs Angels (45-49)
Oakland continued their trend of mediocre play on the road dropping the first game of their weekend set against Los Angeles.
Saturday July 20
Angels Stadium – Anaheim, CA
9:05PM
Probable Starters:
OAK: Dan Straily (R)
LAA: C.J. Wilson (L)
Moneyline: Los Angeles -140, Oakland +130
O/U: 8
[dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
ATS Matchup Stats | Gambling Insight!
Check out our in-house Handicapper!!! Buy Razor Ray’s MLB Picks Today!
Oakland
The offense scored just a single run against Jered Weaver, the seventh game in a row that they have scored 3 or less. Oakland is 9th in scoring this year but it seems like they are boom or bust team.
Small ball and Moneyball have never really gone hand in hand and the A’s were additionally hamstrung on Friday with a late scratch of slugging OF Yoenis Cespedes, maybe there really is a Home Run Derby curse.
It must be nice for Oakland to have a guy like starter Dan Straily around.
CLICK GRAB OUR BEST Expert MLB Baseball Picks for 2013 GAMBLING season!
I am pretty sure that last year he led the Minors in strikeouts and he has pitched well in the Majors but they keep bringing him up and sending him down. Straily’s strikeout totals haven’t been realized in the Majors but he has been tough to hit and owns a 6-2 record this season – his BAA is a very nice .217.
Given the way things could have been orchestrated it is surprising that the A’s start him against the Angels this weekend.
His career numbers against them are awful. He was lit up by L.A. in a start back in April contributing to a career ERA of almost 8.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles started the second half as well as expected. They got a good pitching perfromance from their ace and got their longball stroke going with homers from OF Mike Trout, IF Erick Aybar and most importantly 1B Albert Pujols. Pujols had a quiet first half but maybe he is coming around and lets face it, 16 homers at this point is far from terrible. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
OF Josh Hamilton also chipped in a couple of hits and if they can somehow get the two of them going at the same time this team could get on a nice run.
If the Angels are going to get back in the race this season it will be in part because starter C.J. Wilson continues to pitch well. The Angels have won 5 of his last 6 starts and even though he has never been a low pitch count guy he has been working deeper into ball games of late. As an A.L. West lifer he has lots of experience against Oakland.
He is 1-1 this season against the A’s but his better start came on the road. No surprise there as A’s stomping grounds make lots of pitchers, including their own, look better than they are.
Building on last night’s momentum the Angels take another one. Oakland’s offense is showing little signs of life and there is no hard information of Cespedes status – he would be a nice bat in the lineup against a lefty like Wilson. Oakland has been poor on the road all season long at just a game over .500.
Texas lost too yesterday so the Angels gained ground there too. Maybe this is a race afterall.
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: Los Angeles 4 – Oakland 2
