MLB Betting Odds: Angels Home Dogs to Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays end their nine-game western swing today in Anaheim with lefty David Price on the mound opposite Los Angeles Angels ace right-hander Jered Weaver.
Ask 100 people to name their top five pitchers in the game today, and I'd be surprised if more than one percent included either of the pitchers Wednesday in Anaheim. That's a shame since the Angels and Rays close out their set with a real dandy of a pitching matchup.
Tampa Bay will send David Price (4-2, 1.91) to the mound at Angel Stadium for the late afternoon start. The Halos counter with Jered Weaver (4-2, 2.66). Lines opened with the Angels a slight favorite to win the rubber game of the series, but have now swung to the Rays in the 110-115 range. The total is eight.
The Angels saved face in the series opener after Fernando Rodney and Brian Fuentes blew a late 4-0 lead. Juan Rivera's sac fly in the 11th salvaged the 5-4 win. Tampa Bay bounced back as 125 chalk on Tuesday with a 7-2 win thanks to Jeff Niemann and Evan Longoria. The final pegged the closing total of nine.
The Angels are now 15-20 and in the red by 6.2 units with a 17-16-2 'under' mark. Tampa bettered their MLB-best mark of 23-10 (plus 7.2 units) and are 16-15-2 on totals.
Price's fast start for the Rays this season has naturally caused a lot of the public to sit up and take notice of the No. 1 overall pick in the '07 draft. But the former Vandy ace really started to round into the form that made him such a coveted amateur last August. The southpaw had some rough moments after he was called up in May 2009, ending July with a 5.10 ERA in his first dozen starting assignments.
From August on, however, he recorded a 4.12 ERA with the Rays winning seven of his final 11 starts. Ironically, one of his worst starts the final two months came against these Angels right here at the Big A. Price allowed all six runs, five earned, in a 6-0 whitewashing LA hung on the Rays. In 10 1/3 innings versus LA last year, he was charged with five earned, walking 10 and striking out 15. The Rays went 1-1 in the two outings.
The 25-year-old pitcher is coming off a season-high in both walks (4) and pitches (119) at Oakland last Friday. Tampa Bay won that game, 4-1, with Price pitching into the eighth and allowing just three hits and one unearned run.
Joe Maddon's bunch will be trying to beat a member of Mike Scioscia's rotation that has never lost to the Rays in four career starts. Weaver is having a fine season himself, with the Angels 3-1 to date in his four home turns (2.52 ERA). In 26 innings since 2006 against Tampa Bay, Weaver has worked 26 frames and allowed just eight earnies (2.76). Three of those outings were at The Trop and it's been almost two years since the 27-year-old caught the Rays at home.
Both young hurlers are working on nice strings of homerless pitching. Price has served up just two all season, and none in his last 22 2/3 innings. Weaver allowed five in his first 24 innings, but none in his last 20.
If you're hoping to get some inspiration on a play based on the umpire for this one, think again. Brian Gorman, now working his 20th season in the bigs, is slated to be south of the dish and he's shown no play-on trends in the early part of 2010. Money line winners are split 3-3 among the home and visitors, with the 'under' holding an ever so slight 3-2-1 edge.
The weather should be just about perfect for this 4:05 p.m. PT start in Anaheim. Clear skies are expected with the temp in the mid-70s for the first pitch. There could be some shifting winds, however. Forecasts call for a northerly winds in the 15-20 mph rage in the early afternoon (in from left towards 1B) before shifting to the west at 10-15 mph (from 3B out to RF).
After taking Thursday off, the Halos will continue their homestand this weekend when the A's come to town. Tampa Bay will head home after its nine-game roadie. Following Thursday's off day, the Rays will open a five-game homestand that begins with three versus the Mariners before a two-game quickie against the Indians.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
The Tampa Bay Rays end their nine-game western swing today in Anaheim with lefty David Price on the mound opposite Los Angeles Angels ace right-hander Jered Weaver.
Ask 100 people to name their top five pitchers in the game today, and I'd be surprised if more than one percent included either of the pitchers Wednesday in Anaheim. That's a shame since the Angels and Rays close out their set with a real dandy of a pitching matchup.
Tampa Bay will send David Price (4-2, 1.91) to the mound at Angel Stadium for the late afternoon start. The Halos counter with Jered Weaver (4-2, 2.66). Lines opened with the Angels a slight favorite to win the rubber game of the series, but have now swung to the Rays in the 110-115 range. The total is eight.
The Angels saved face in the series opener after Fernando Rodney and Brian Fuentes blew a late 4-0 lead. Juan Rivera's sac fly in the 11th salvaged the 5-4 win. Tampa Bay bounced back as 125 chalk on Tuesday with a 7-2 win thanks to Jeff Niemann and Evan Longoria. The final pegged the closing total of nine.
The Angels are now 15-20 and in the red by 6.2 units with a 17-16-2 'under' mark. Tampa bettered their MLB-best mark of 23-10 (plus 7.2 units) and are 16-15-2 on totals.
Price's fast start for the Rays this season has naturally caused a lot of the public to sit up and take notice of the No. 1 overall pick in the '07 draft. But the former Vandy ace really started to round into the form that made him such a coveted amateur last August. The southpaw had some rough moments after he was called up in May 2009, ending July with a 5.10 ERA in his first dozen starting assignments.
From August on, however, he recorded a 4.12 ERA with the Rays winning seven of his final 11 starts. Ironically, one of his worst starts the final two months came against these Angels right here at the Big A. Price allowed all six runs, five earned, in a 6-0 whitewashing LA hung on the Rays. In 10 1/3 innings versus LA last year, he was charged with five earned, walking 10 and striking out 15. The Rays went 1-1 in the two outings.
The 25-year-old pitcher is coming off a season-high in both walks (4) and pitches (119) at Oakland last Friday. Tampa Bay won that game, 4-1, with Price pitching into the eighth and allowing just three hits and one unearned run.
Joe Maddon's bunch will be trying to beat a member of Mike Scioscia's rotation that has never lost to the Rays in four career starts. Weaver is having a fine season himself, with the Angels 3-1 to date in his four home turns (2.52 ERA). In 26 innings since 2006 against Tampa Bay, Weaver has worked 26 frames and allowed just eight earnies (2.76). Three of those outings were at The Trop and it's been almost two years since the 27-year-old caught the Rays at home.
Both young hurlers are working on nice strings of homerless pitching. Price has served up just two all season, and none in his last 22 2/3 innings. Weaver allowed five in his first 24 innings, but none in his last 20.
If you're hoping to get some inspiration on a play based on the umpire for this one, think again. Brian Gorman, now working his 20th season in the bigs, is slated to be south of the dish and he's shown no play-on trends in the early part of 2010. Money line winners are split 3-3 among the home and visitors, with the 'under' holding an ever so slight 3-2-1 edge.
The weather should be just about perfect for this 4:05 p.m. PT start in Anaheim. Clear skies are expected with the temp in the mid-70s for the first pitch. There could be some shifting winds, however. Forecasts call for a northerly winds in the 15-20 mph rage in the early afternoon (in from left towards 1B) before shifting to the west at 10-15 mph (from 3B out to RF).
After taking Thursday off, the Halos will continue their homestand this weekend when the A's come to town. Tampa Bay will head home after its nine-game roadie. Following Thursday's off day, the Rays will open a five-game homestand that begins with three versus the Mariners before a two-game quickie against the Indians.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
