Baseball Betting: Los Angeles Angels at Tampa Bay Rays

Added on Apr 06, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

Nothing signals the onset of spring and the fact that summer is just around the corner like daytime baseball action and we’ve got a very entertaining AL matchup on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Angels take on the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa is off to a horrible start and is still looking for their first win of the 2011 season with a record of 0-4. The Angels haven’t exactly been tearing it up, posting a 2-3 record to date.

Los Angeles Angels (Haren) at Tampa Bay Rays (Hellickson)
April 6, 2011 10:10 AM Pacific

There’s an old saying that ‘the early bird gets the worm’ and in this matchup–at least for those of us on the West Coast–the ‘early bird’ will get an opportunity to take a very attractive value based position in this game. Not really sure what to expect of Tampa Bay this season. They won the AL East last year and ‘on paper’ look poised to compete again but they were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in a season opening 3 game set and lost the opener of this series 5-3 on Tuesday. The Rays haven’t distinguished themselves in any phase of the game, but they’ve been especially ineffective at the plate. They’ve now scored a whopping 6 runs in 4 games and a 1.5 runs per game average just isn’t going to get it done in the Majors.

The Angels opened their campaign by dropping 3 of 4 at Kansas City which could be interpreted as a ‘sell’ sign but we don’t see it that way. The Royals may not contend this year, but they’re a team with a nucleus of young talent that should be very competitive throughout the season. The top of the Halos’ rotation–Jered Weaver and today’s starter Dan Haren–looked very sharp in their 2011 debut. Haren pitched 7 innings allowing 6 hits, 1 ER and striking out 7 and didn’t factor in the decision as LA lost 2-1. Tampa will go with Jeremy Hellickson who has yet to see action this year, though he showed promise in four late season starts.

As we stated at the top of this page, we’re going to reserve judgement on the Tampa Bay Rays’ prospects for this season but that won’t stop us from playing against them here. If you’ve watched baseball for any length of time you know that you just can’t ‘flip a switch’ and start hitting well after a slump. Until Tampa’s bats wake up they’ll remain a ‘go against’ and that’s especially true opposing a solid pitcher like Haren. Rays were a money burner at home against RHP in 2010 losing -8.3 units on the year. We’ll also look Under the total–Tampa has failed to exceed the total in 3 of 4 games this season.

Bet Los Angeles Angels (Haren) -110 over Tampa Bay Rays (Hellickson)
Bet Los Angeles Angels/Tampa Bay Under 7′ -120