MLB Baseball
2012-04-06 - Kansas City Royals at LA Angels
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Friday 6 April 2012 - First Pitch 10:05pm ET
3:05am (British Standard Time)
Preview
Many are considering this the biggest opening day for the LA Angels in their history as the excitement built in the off season with signings like Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson comes to a head. The fans have bought into the expectations with 5,000 additional season tickets sold, and there is a real hope that the team can go all the way this season.
The Kansas City Royals come to town to take on the Angels in this opening series and there is real hope that the team can finish as the closest challengers to the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central. However, they have to deal with an emotional stadium to open the season and it will be interesting to see how they handle the pressure.
LA have a very deep batting line up and they will be hoping their ace pitcher, Jared Weaver, can set the tone for this game. Weaver finished with an 18-8 record last season and a 2.41 ERA and he will feel confident he can help his ball club to their first win of the season as he has led the Angels to 4 straight wins over the Royals.
Weaver has given up just 2 ER in the last 28 1/3 innings pitched against Kansas City.
The Royals have the youngest squad in the Major Leagues, but they are not looking at this as a transition season, believing they have enough talent to do very well.
They will send Bruce Chen to the mound who finished with a 12-8 record last season and a 3.77 ERA. Chen has actually seen the Royals beat the Angels the last two times he has pitched against them, although he was saved by the batting line up last season. In that game, Chen allowed 5 ER in 5 innings pitched, but the Royals won the game 12-9 in extra innings.
Head to Head
Kansas City won the season series between the teams last season 7-3.
That includes winning the series 2-1 here in Anaheim after losing 4 games in a row here at the end of the 2010 series.
Other Interesting Trends
The Angels are 41-15 in their last 56 home starts with Jared Weaver on the mound.
They are 15-5 in their last 20 home games against a left handed pitcher.
Kansas City are 6-2 in their last 8 games as the underdog and Bruce Chen starting on the mound.
Prediction
I am going to back the feverish stadium to push the LA Angels to their first win of the season for the following reasons:
First, as I said, I think the fans are going to be 100% up for this game as they have been waiting patiently for opening day with the new look batting line up, especially Albert Pujols. I can see the players riding this emotion to victory.
Second, Jared Weaver is the more secure pitcher of the two and has limited Kansas City in his recent starts against them, while Bruce Chen may remember being tagged hard by them last season.
Third, I also believe the Angels are much deeper at the batting line up and could be capable of putting up a number of runs per game. If they can reach 5 runs here, I think that should be enough for Weaver to defend and cover the run line.
The Pick :
LA Angels 5-2 Kansas City Royals
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the LA Angels - 1.5 Runs @ 2.00
