MLB Baseball - MLB Series Betting – L.A. Angels at L.A. Dodgers

The I-5 Freeway Series has the traffic heading north to Dodger Stadium this weekend for the final series of interleague play. The Angels continue the final lap of nine-game road trip, after successfully navigating the East with 5-1 record in Philadelphia and Washington. This Anaheim bunch is an odd sort, with the best record in the American League at 48-31, yet has only outscored the opposition by 18 runs on the season, which places them between the Yankees and Cleveland. They only manufacture 4.3 runs per game with starting outfield one could expect do that just by them selves most nights. The Angels are baseball’s best road team by a wide margin at 26-13, +13.9 units. They appear very comfortable in close games with 36-19 record in contests decided by three or less runs.

Further north, if the Dodgers (36-42, -11 units) were playing even remotely decent baseball, they could well be leading the NL West. As Arizona has been come back to near .500, Dodger Blue has posted 11-21 record since May 24, gaining not an inch on the first place Snakes. A potential positive spin Joe Torre can use is despite how poorly the Dodgers have played, they are still just as far back as they were just over a month ago. This whole interleague thing has been bad news for the boys in blue who are 3-8 this season against the American League and 18-42 since 2005.

Chan Ho Park (2-2, 2.83, 1.405 WHIP) draws the opening assignment for the Dodgers, making just his third start of the season and second in a row filling in for Brad Penny. The best they can hope for is Park can pitch five innings and allow no more than three runs and hope the bullpen and his own team’s bats can do the rest. For nostalgia buff’s, the Dodgers are 8-2 at home when Park starts against winning teams. He’ll be matchup against a potential all-star Joe Saunders (11-3, 3.03, 1.119 WHIP). The lefty Saunders has the ability to pitch in on right-handed batters, keeping the third baseman and shortstop busy. As well as Saunders has pitched, he’s a bulldog on the road with 6-1 record and evaporating ERA of 1.89. He and the Angels are 12-3 off a loss. Sportsbook.com has the Halos as -125 favorites with total Ov8.

Jered Weaver (7-7, 4.56, 1.314 WHIP) is still only 25 years old, now in his third year with the red-clad Angels. Though not said publicly, Anaheim insiders are disheartened with the lack of progress Weaver has made, essentially regressing since 11-2 2006 entrance. What’s disturbing is RH batters hit .275 against him, meaning he’s hitting a lot of bats. Though Weaver has rebounded to win five of last seven starts, his ERA is still over four, hardly ace material the Angels were expecting. His mound opponent is Chad Billingsley (6-7, 3.63, 1.373 WHIP), whose even younger at age 23 and showing signs of being more consistent in the strike zone. Billingsley has redwoods for legs and has problems with his lower half from movement standpoint, which changes arm angle, causing him to walk more batters and go deeper into pitch counts. Twice in his last four starts, he’s walked just one hitter. The Dodgers come into this series having won last four games against team that has a road winning percentage greater than .600. Weaver has gotten pumped up for these conflicts, having beaten the Dodgers three times, with 2.08 ERA.

The Angels entered this series with 10-2 road record in June, as bullpen has been coming around with 4.05 ERA, after hovering in the high 4’s most of the season. If all goes well, they won’t be called upon much with John Lackey (5-1, 1.65, 0.933 WHIP) starting in the series finale. After beginning the season on the DL, Lackey has been a workhorse, always pitching at least seven innings in his eight starts and giving up as many as seven hits just once. The Dodgers would be wise to load up lineup with RH batters since lefties are hitting measly .175. The Dodgers will counter with Derek Lowe (5-7, 4.05, 1.285 WHIP) as their starter. Lowe’s best pitch is the hard sinker, but at 35, doesn’t have the same command he used to and gets dinged more often. The home team started this series with 13-28 record against the money line vs. a starting pitcher whose throws more than 6.5 innings per start.

Though both teams confess to no real hatred, they pick up the vibe from the fans, which adds intensity to each contest in this annual get-together. The Angels have won eight of last 10 in the Freeway Series and are superior on the road, with Torre’s troops just .500 at Dodger Stadium. Seeing the Halos are distinguished in more facets of the game than the Dodgers, they appear to be the right bet in this series wager.

The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping