Alngels Almost Perfect
The Los Angeles Angels don’t seem content to simply run away with the
AL West title – they’re proving they can beat nearly every possible AL
playoff opponent.
The Los Angeles Angels don’t seem content to simply run away with
the AL West title – they’re proving they can beat nearly every possible
AL playoff opponent, every conceivable way.
Carrying another
five-game winning streak, the visiting Angels will look to become the
first 70-win team of 2008 as they face the New York Yankees on Saturday.
Oddsmakers from SBG Global
have made New York -130 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for today’s game, the over/under has
been set at 9.5 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 66% of bets for this game have been placed on New York -130 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
Los
Angeles had baseball’s best record in July, going 19-6 during the
month. But a turn of the calender didn’t slow down the hottest team in
the league, as the Angels (69-40) again beat New York 1-0 on Friday for
their 14th win in the last 16 games.
They used three three-run
home runs to beat the Yankees 12-6 on Thursday, but they only needed
four hits to secure at least a split of this weekend’s four-game set,
their final regular-season series at Yankee Stadium.
The two wins
over New York (59-50) followed a three-game sweep of Boston at Fenway
Park, continuing the Angels’ domination of AL contenders.
Los
Angeles, which leads the West by 12 1/2 games over Texas, is now 28-15
against AL clubs that currently have winning records. With a win on
Saturday, the Angels would move at least 30 games over .500 for the
first time since the end of the 2002 season, when they eventually won
their only World Series title.
On Friday, Ervin Santana pitched
eight solid innings, Torii Hunter had a ninth-inning RBI single and
Francisco Rodriguez notched his league-leading 45th save.
"It’s
incredible how he’s gotten so many opportunities," Angels manager Mike
Scioscia said of Rodriguez. "Hopefully we’ll get the offense going to
have the chance to give the guys at the back end of the bullpen some
days off."
Hunter has providing plenty of that recently, hitting
in 14 straight games. On the Angels’ current road trip, during which
they’re 7-1 to improve to 38-19 on the road, Hunter is 12-for-32 (.375)
with five homers and 15 RBIs.
He’ll try to support Jered Weaver
(9-8, 4.11 ERA) on Saturday. The right-hander, who is 3-1 with a 2.43
ERA in his last six starts, has won both of his career outings at
Yankee Stadium, allowing four runs in 11 innings. As a team, Los
Angeles is 15-9 in the Bronx since the beginning of the 2004 season.
Mike
Mussina (13-7, 3.56) will try to stop the Yankees’ struggles on their
current homestand, as New York has dropped four of five at home and
five of six overall. It trails Tampa Bay by 5 1/2 games in the AL East
and Boston by 2 1/2 games in the wild card standings.
Yankees
pitchers had allowed 44 runs in their last five games before Friday,
but it was the bats who faltered while Sidney Ponson threw seven
shutout innings Friday.
"This has not been a good homestand and
we’ve got to bounce back," manager Joe Girardi said. "To win games,
you’ve got to put everything together and we have not done that on this
homestand."
Mussina will also be trying to rebound after he gave
up a season-high six earned runs in five innings of a 13-4 loss to
Baltimore Monday to begin the homestand. In his previous four starts,
the right-hander went 3-0 with a 1.04 ERA.
In his last start
against the Angels, he allowed seven runs in 1 2-3 innings of an 18-9
loss in Anaheim last Aug. 21. He’s 15-9 with a 3.71 ERA lifetime versus
Los Angeles.
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