MLB Betting: Los Angeles Angels at Toronto Blue Jays

Added on Jun 29, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

With Interleague baseball play behind us for the season, the Los Angeles Angels head north of the border to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. The Angels are red hot but are having trouble to make up ground in the AL West since the Texas Rangers have been equally torrid. The Jays, meanwhile, are trying to stay on the right side of .500 in the toughest division in baseball.

Los Angeles Angels at Toronto Blue Jays
June 29, 2012 4:05 PM Pacific

Sometimes successfully betting on sports comes down to the most simplistic concepts. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is one that comes to mind. And that’s the case with the red hot Los Angeles Angels. After a slow start to the season they’re rampaging through the early part of the summer and are putting up good numbers in every phase of the game. They’ve always had solid pitching but now they’re producing offensively as well. Albert Pujols, who made headlines due to his early season struggles with his new team, is back to his old form hitting for power and average. And the pitching has remained strong making the Angels a very tough team to beat.

Toronto isn’t a bad team, but they’ve got the ill fortune of being just a decent team in a brutally tough division. And it won’t be any easier for them to pick up a win here than it would be playing the Yankees or Red Sox. Toronto will start Carlos Villanueva, who returns to the starting rotation after a stint in the bullpen. Villanueva has put up competent numbers in relief work but it may take some time to adjust to his new role. That’s a margin for error that the Angels won’t provide.

The Halos will counter with Earvin Santana who has been something of the ‘weak link’ in their pitching staff this season. Like the rest of the team, however, his form has improved as the days have gotten longer. His year to date ERA is 4.92 but he’s been much better in his recent assignments putting up a 3.57 ERA in his last three starts.

At this stage we’d rather be *on* the Los Angeles Angels freight train than in front of it. Santana may not be the strongest pitcher in the Angels rotation but we have no problems getting a ‘pick’em’ price with a team that is 17-7 in the month of June and has won 8 of their last 10 games. Despite this impressive run the Angels are still 4.5 games behind Texas in their division and at that pace they have to take the wins where they’ll find them. They should get one here.

Bet Los Angeles Angels (Santana) -110 over Toronto Blue Jays (Villanueva)