Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Angels
Free Pick: Los Angeles Angels (-122 betting odds)
Wed Jul 22 ’09 8:10p
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The Angels send Joe Saunders to the hill as they look to lengthen their lead in the AL West. Last season Saunders was an all-star but this year he’s struggled posting an 8-6 record with a 4.85 ERA. Saunders has faced the Royals once this season and shut them out 1-0 back on May 9th. Saunders will be opposed by lefthander Brian Bannister who enters with a 6-7 record but a solid ERA of 3.66. Bannister will need to bring his A game against an Angels team that is 18-8 vs. lefties this season.

The key for the Angels hostile takeover in the Western Division has been their offense. The Angels are the second highest scoring team in the league at 5.4 runs per game and lead the league in hits with just under 10 knocks per game. The Angels are 7-3 in their last ten games and during this stretch they’re averaging over six runs per game. Toss out Sunday’s 1-0 win over Oakland and you’re looking at a per-game average of seven runs per contest.

The Angels have put together this streak, for the most part, without Tori Hunter and Vlad Guerrero who are both on the disabled list. The Halo’s have also had to make due without Juan Rivera the past several games because of a hamstring injury.

On the flip side, the Royals are the lowest scoring team in the league at 3.9 rpg and that could explain in part their eight game losing streak and 3-13 record in their last 16 home games.

Even without the big guns like Hunter, Guerrero and Rivera, Mike Scoscia continues to plug the holes. Eric Aybar is coming off a 7-9 performance in Tuesday’s doubleheader raising his batting average to .490 in the month of July. Macier Iztirus has stepped up as well while the Angel bullpen continues to improve. I look for another strong effort from the Halo’s in support of Saunders today.
 

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