MLB Baseball
2011-07-22 - LA Angels at Baltimore Orioles
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: MLB Baseball
Friday 22 July 2011 - First Pitch 7:05pm ET
12:05am (British Standard Time)
Preview
This is an important series for the LA Angels (53-46) as they dont want to lose the momentum they built up in their series win over the Texas Rangers. The Baltimore Orioles (39-56) have nothing but pride to play for through the rest of the season.
The Angels were in danger of losing real ground to the Texas Rangers in the American League West when losing the opening game of the series against them, but they rallied for a 2-1 victory and are within 3 games of the lead of the Division.
However, they can thank their defense and their pitching staff for their wins as they the batters are really struggling at the plate. The Angels have averaged just 3 runs per game in the 7 games since the All-Star break and their batting average is a very poor 0.189.
They will be hoping Ervin Santana can give another solid outing for the team. Santana is 4-8 this season with a 3.84 ERA, but he gave up just 2 earned runs in 6 innings pitched last time out.
Santana is 3-4 with a 5.84 ERA in 10 career starts against the Orioles. He will be hoping to erase memories of last seasons painful 9-7 loss here at Camden Park when Santana allowed all 9 runs, a career high.
Baltimore were expected to have at least made some progress in the tough American League East this season but instead they are in a familiar position of being cut off at the bottom of the Division.
The Orioles will send Alfredo Simon to the mound for only his 6th career start and his 3rd this season. Simon is 2-2 with a 4.36 ERA and was only reinstated into the starting rotation after returning from the Dominican Republic.
He was actually over there attending a hearing in which he is the prime suspect of shooting his cousin on New Years Day- the hearing has been postponed until October 18th.
Simon has said that 'I dont think about that' while he is pitching for his team and that was highlighted when he held the Cleveland Indians to just 2 runs in 7 innings last time out.
He has never started against the Angels but he has a 6.75 ERA in 2 relief appearances against them from the meetings in 2010.
Head to Head
Baltimore actually swept all 6 games against the Angels last season, the first time either club had managed to do that in the 50 years they have competed against one another.
The LA Angels had actually won 5 of 6 games here before losing all 3 last season.
Baltimore are 11-21 in Game 1's this season, and they are just 6-13 when coming in off a loss.
The LA Angels are 18-14 in Game 1's, but they are 8-8 when winning their last game.
Prediction
Both teams have their issues coming into this game- the Angels are really struggling at the plate and that puts additional pressure on their pitching staff to keep them in games, while the Orioles have been on a bad run of form for some time.
The pitching duel on the mound tonight is fairly evenly matched in my opinion, with Alfredo Simon struggling against the batting line up of the Angels when pitching in relief last season while Ervin Santana is very inconsistent.
I just feel the inexperience of Simon for Baltimore may just give the Angels the edge here and allow them to take the opening win.
The Pick :
Baltimore Orioles 4-5 LA Angels
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back the LA Angels @ 1.90 (Bet365)
