MLB Baseball
2012-04-19 - Oakland Athletics at LA Angels
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Thursday 19 April 2012 - First Pitch 10:10pm ET
3:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The LA Angels (4-8) have had a really tough start to the new season despite putting in a bunch of money to their line up, and they will look to finish with at least a split of this series against the Oakland Athletics (6-7).
The Angels had won the first game of the series by blanking the Athletics, but they have scored just 3 runs in their last two losses, although they will feel a little better now that they are sending CJ Wilson to the mound. His presence could mean the Angels do not need to put up a lot of runs on the board if they are to win the game.
Wilson was the other big signing made in the off-season and while Albert Pujols has struggled to adjust to his new surroundings, Wilson has made two promising starts for this new ball club.
The pitcher is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA so far this season and he led the Angels into Yankees Stadium and allowed just 1 run while scattering 6 hits to that powerful batting line up in a 7-1 win.
He also has had plenty of success against Oakland recently as he looks for his 4th straight win against them. Wilson has a 2.33 ERA against the Athletics and he has allowed 2 runs or fewer in his last three games against them.
The Oakland bats had been struggling before the last couple of games, scoring just 13 runs in 7 games before totalling 11 in the last two wins over the Angels.
Oakland will send Tom Milone to the mound who is 1-1 so far this season with a 2.57 ERA. This is going to be his 8th career start and he will be looking to bounce back from a rough last outing when he gave up 4 runs against the Seattle Mariners for his first career loss.
Head to Head
Oakland are leading this series 2-1 and they have now improved to 5-2 in their last 7 games played here at Angel Stadium.
They have now split the last 8 games overall.
Prediction
The LA Angels are really struggling for any kind of consistency at the plate in the early part of this season, while Albert Pujols has reached a career long start to the season without hitting a Home Run.
However, the Angels may not need to put a lot of runs on the board to win this game as CJ Wilson has been pitching very well to open the 2012 season, while also performing very well against the Oakland Athletics in his last three starts against them.
Oakland have put up almost as many runs in their last two games as they had in the previous 7, but I think Wilson will be able to control them, while Tommy Milone could have a tough outing against a tough batting line up that the Angels do possess.
The Angels had put up 18 runs in 3 games before totalling just 3 in their last 2 games and I think they will be able to get back to basics and cover the run line thanks to CJ Wilson restricting the A's.
The Pick :
LA Angels 5-2 Oakland Athletics
