First pitch: Wednesday, 10:10 p.m. EDT
Line: Los Angeles -135, Seattle +125, Total: 6.5

Jared Weaver is looking to get back on track and lead the Angels over their division foe, the Seattle Mariners.

Jared Weaver (6-3, 2.26 ERA) had one of the best starts in Major League history, jumping out to a 6-0 start with a 0.99 ERA. His past three starts have been subpar, in which he went six innings in each, but gave up three runs once and four runs twice. Weaver lost all three of those outings, but could get back on track against Seattle, who he has had tremendous success against. Weaver is 10-3 lifetime against the Mariners, and is 4-0 with a 1.06 ERA in his past six starts against them, as L.A. has won all six of those starts. Erick Aybar (.328 BA) has been scorching hot for the Angels, batting .345 with two homers and 8 RBI in his past 12 games.

The Mariners will send Jared Weaver’s former Long Beach State teammate, Jason Vargas to the mound. Vargas (2-2, 3.86 ERA) has pitched extremely well his past three starts, going 2-0 with a 1.90 ERA. Vargas had an extraordinary performance last Thursday in Baltimore, in which he pitched nine scoreless innings on only 101 pitches, but ended with a no-decision. Seattle has had an awfully hard time scoring runs their past eight games, batting a league-worst .199. The Mariners need Ichiro Suzuki (.302 BA), to improve on his .293 OBP this month and set the table for the middle of the lineup.

The Angels have been pretty much average all year being 22-21 overall, 13-11 in road games and 5-6 against division opponents. An interesting stat is that Los Angeles is 9-3 in its past 12 Wednesday games. Seattle is only 17-24 this year overall and a disappointing 9-12 at home. The Mariners also do not come back well after losses, going 8-15 after a loss. They are also 1-7 in their past eight games. With Weaver’s track record of dominating this Mariners team, which is not hitting at all right now, I like Los Angeles to win Wednesday at Safeco Field.

More FoxSheets ammunition for the Angels includes:

Play Against - All underdogs with a money line of +125 to +175 (SEATTLE) - poor hitting team (AVG <=.260) against a very good starting pitcher (ERA <=3.50) -AL, cold hitting team - batting .200 or worse over their last 3 games. (62-17 since 1997.) (78.5%, +35.4 units. Rating = 3*).

L.A. ANGELS are 11-3 (78.6%, +11.3 Units) against the money line after scoring 1 or less runs in a loss to a division rival over the last 2 seasons. The average score was L.A. ANGELS 5.9, OPPONENT 2.7 - (Rating = 2*).