There are a number of teams whose seasons are pretty much on life support at the moment. The events leading up to the trade deadline will determine whether or not the plug gets pulled when the calendar flips over to the month of August. The Texas Rangers are one of those teams in trouble, and they really need to get something from their 3-game series with the LA Angels, which starts out on the west coast on Friday.
Texas Rangers vs Los Angeles Angels MLB Betting Odds
Time: Friday, 10:05 p.m. ET
Venue: Angel Stadium of Anaheim
National TV: none
Opening Line: Angels -145, Rangers +135 (8)
The Rangers (45-49) are now 9 games back of the Angels in the AL West, and they need to get something going soon if they are to make any kind of splash in the second half. While Texas did just manage to take 2 of 3 from the Rockies, their bats needed to be very hot to overcome their own poor pitching efforts. The 3 games in Colorado delivered no less than 42 runs, with 26 of those coming off the Rangers bats. It’s worth remembering that all of those runs came against a pretty poor team in a very forgiving ball park. The Angels pitchers are not likely to be quite so generous as to just hang balls over the plate. A good performance by the Rangers in this series could see them shave some games off that lead, but a poor one will likely see them put the “For Sale” sign up at the deadline. Colby Lewis (9-4, 4.63 ERA) will start on Friday as he goes in search of back to back wins.
The LA Angels (54-40) closed out the first half on a tear, winning 7 of their last 9 games. The break has done little to cool them off, though, as they have started the second half by reeling off 6 straight wins. They are firing on all cylinders right now, but a lot of the credit has to go to their pitching staff, who have put together a combined ERA under 2.00 through the month of July. Not only are they playing some tight defensive ball, they are also putting runs on the board. The Angels have scored a total of 30 runs in their last 4 games, and look absolutely unstoppable right now. Nick Tropeano (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will get his second start of the season on Friday, and he will try to build off the gem he threw in his opener.
Key Betting Trends
Texas is 3-10 SU in its last 13 games
The total has gone UNDER in 15 of Texas’s last 23 games on the road
LA Angels is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
LA Angels is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
The total has gone UNDER in 10 of LA Angels’s last 13 games at home
Consider This Before Placing Your Bet
It is going to take a very good team to slow down the Angels with the way they are playing at the moment, and the Rangers are not that team. I like the Angels to get another comfortable win in this one.
Sources:
YahooSports.com: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/6893/
MLB.com: http://m.mlb.com/player/607374/nick-tropeano
