The Los Angeles Angels and the New York Yankees meet in the Bronx for a three game set. Join us as we break down the MLB odds for each game and share our betting picks for this series, as two of the hottest teams in baseball collide.
Angels vs. Yankees Game 2 Pick & Preview
The Yankees have taken the first two games of this series,
rallying to win 6-5 Friday, then getting four innings of shut-out relief from
the bullpen in a 5-3 victory Saturday.
So New York now leads the AL East by eight games over
second-place Baltimore, while the Angels now trail the Rangers by five games in
the AL West.
New York will send Ivan Nova (10-3, 3.92) to the mound as it
shoots for the sweep Sunday while the Angels will go with Jeff Weaver (10-1,
1.96) to avoid the brooming.
Nova is nine-for-17 on quality starts this season, and the
Yanks are 13-4 in games he's started. Most recently Nova gave up one earned run
on six hits in six innings against Boston, and over his last seven starts he's
allowed nine ER in 47 2/3 innings. So while Nova carried a 5.60 ERA into June,
he's worked that down to under four.
On the season, though, Nova has allowed 119 hits, including
17 homers, in 110 innings.
Nova has started twice this year against the Angels, and
gotten bounced around for nine ER on 16 hits in 12 2/3 innings. New York
managed to win both those games because it scored 11 and six runs.
Weaver, meanwhile, is 12-for-15 on quality starts this year,
and the Angels have won 12 of his starts, including the last seven in a row.
His last time out Weaver held the Orioles scoreless on three hits through seven
innings, and in his four starts since coming off the DL he's allowed just one
earned run and 16 hits in 27 2/3 innings. On the season Weaver has allowed just
65 hits and walked 22 in 97 innings.
Weaver has started once this year against the Yankees, but
that was the game he left in the first inning with a back problem. Last year
Weaver started twice against New York, and held the Yanks to three runs on six
hits over 15 innings. The Angels won both those games.
As of Sunday morning most online sportsbooks were listing
Sunday's game at right around a pick 'em, with an 'over/under' of 9.5.
Free MLB Pick
Weaver has been great this year, and he's got good recent
numbers against the Yankees. So we'll go with the Angels to avoid the sweep
Sunday.
Angels vs. Yankees Game 2 Pick & Preview
New York took the opener of this series Friday night 6-5,
scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth to overcome a 5-2 deficit. The
Yanks won as -125 favorites, and the game sneaked 'over' its total of nine.
The Yankees now lead the AL East by eight games over
second-place Baltimore.
The Angels, meanwhile, now trail division-leading Texas by
five games in the AL West. But LA also leads the AL Wild-Card race.
Freddy Garcia (3-2, 5.23) will hit the hill Saturday (1:05
pm Eastern) for New York against Jerome Williams (6-5, 4.46) for LA.
Garcia is just one-for-six on quality starts this season,
and the Yanks are 3-3 in games he's started. But he is coming off his best
outing of the season, last Saturday vs. Boston, in which he gave up just one
run on six hits through 6 2/3 innings. For the year Garcia has allowed 48 hits
in 43 innings, walked 10 and struck out 32.
Garcia's last start vs. the Angels came last September, when
he gave up five runs on seven hits in five innings of a 6-5 New York victory.
Williams will make the start Saturday coming off the DL
after suffering an asthma attack a month ago. The right-hander is six-for-12 on
quality starts this season, and the Angels are 6-6 in games he's started. But
he wasn't going too well just before his health issues. His last time out, June
18 vs. the Giants, Williams gave up four runs in 3 1/3 innings, and over his
last three starts he'd given up 14 runs in 16 2/3 innings.
On the season Williams has allowed 88 hits and 26 walks in
83 innings.
Williams has started once this season vs. the Yankees and
couldn't get out of the third inning before giving up five runs on five hits
and three walks.
Most online sportsbooks are listing New York as a favorite
of around -140 for Saturday's game, with an 'over/under' of 10 or 10.5. The
Yanks are also getting around +140 on the run line at various baseball betting
shops.
Free MLB Pick for
Saturday
We took a tough loss Friday with the 'OVER' on the
Yanks/Angels, considering the game was 2-1 into the seventh inning. For
Saturday we figure the score will be a little more exciting than 2-1 going into
the seventh inning, so we'll go with the 'OVER' for our free MLB pick.
Friday's Game 1 Preview and Pick
The New York Yankees didn't exactly start off like
gangbusters this season, but thanks to a recent run they have risen to the top
of the American League.
The Los Angeles Angels got off to a downright lousy start to
this season, but they also have been playing well as of late, climbing right
into the American League playoff picture.
So it's two teams in serious playoff contention hooking up
to begin the second half of this season when the Yanks and Angels start a
three-game weekend series at The Stadium Friday night.
To set the stage, New York sat at 21-21 back in May, but
ended the first half on a 26-10 run. In the process the Yanks flew past three
teams in the AL East standings, and now own a seven-game lead over second-place
Baltimore. New York is also a half-game up on Texas in the battle for the best
record in the American League.
The Angels, meanwhile, with their big expectations, started
very poorly this season, as Albert Pujols and the offense struggled to get
things in gear. On May 21 they sat at 18-25, but Albert finally starting
getting acclimated to American League pitching, the rest of the bats joined in,
and the Halos have been on a run since, winning 30 of their last 43 games to
get to 10 games above .500.
So LA, at 48-38, sits in second place in the AL West, four
games back of the first-place Rangers.
The Angels have also taken over the lead in the AL Wild-Card
race, and are now 2.5 games up on the field.
As of Thursday morning LA had not yet announced a starting
pitcher for Friday night, while Hiroki Kuroda (8-7, 3.50) is slated to start
for the Yanks. The former National Leaguer is 10-for-17 on quality starts this
year, and New York is 9-8 in games he's started. He was on a bit of a roll
recently, but in his most recent outing he got clipped for six earned runs on
10 hits over 5 2/3 innings in Boston last Friday.
On the season Kuroda has allowed 104 hits, including 13
homers, and 32 walks in 108 innings. All in all, not too bad.
Kuroda has one start this year against the Angels, and
picked up a win, blanking LA on five hits over eight innings back in April.
Also, the ‘OVER/UNDERS’ are 5-12 in Kuroda's starts this
season.
These two teams, with all their big bats, are a combined
71-97 on the ‘OVER/UNDERS’ this season.
These teams have split six games so far this season. The
Yankees won a series in New York back in April, while the Angels won a series
in Anaheim in May.
As of Thursday morning no betting lines had yet been posted for
Friday night's game. On the MLB futures betting market 5Dimes is listing New
York at -425 to win the AL East, +270 to win the American League pennant and
+500 to win the World Series, while the Angels are getting +700 to win the
pennant and +1200 to win the Series.
5Dimes is also lining the Yanks at -1750 to make the
playoffs and +1000 to miss the playoffs, while LA is listed at -600 to make the
playoffs and +400 to miss the postseason.
Free MLB Pick
It's kind of difficult to place a pick a baseball game without
knowing who's going to start on the mound for one of the teams, but we'll take
a stab at it anyway. The stat that catches our eye is these teams' records on
the totals. Both teams are known for banging the ball around a bit, but it
seems the odds makers are over-estimating on the ‘OVER/UNDERS’ for their games.
So we'll go with the 'under' for Friday night's game.
My Pick: Take the UNDER