Los Angeles Angels (19-27) vs Kansas City Royals (21-22)
The Los Angeles Angels are on their best run of the season having won their last 4 games against the Chicago White Sox and Seattle.
Thursday May 23
Kaufmann Stadium – Kansas City, MO
8:10PM
Probable Starters:
LAA: Joe Blanton (R)
KC: Ervin Santana (R)
Moneyline: Kansas City -140, Los Angeles +130 at Bookmaker
O/U: 9
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Los Angeles
The season thus far has been a huge disappointment but there is still time even though their poor performance combined with the strong play of Texas has created a huge hole.
The only way that is going to happen is if their stars start playing like them. Right now OF Josh Hamilton has fewer home runs and RBI than 2B Howie Kendrick. If that trend continues much longer this team is sunk.
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Joe Blanton’s stint as an Angel has been pretty disastrous…and ugly
He is 0-7 and the Angels win in his last start was their first in 9 tries so far.
He is plain not giving them a chance with an ERA close to 7 and a WHIP approaching 2. Blanton has never been considered an ace but in the past he has been a pretty decent 5th starter. The fact that he even has a role in the rotation is an indicator of how dire things are for the Angels in the pitching department right now.
Kansas City
Kansas City is limping right now, just 3-7 in their last 10 games, erasing a start that had them competing well with Detroit and Cleveland in the A.L. Central.
They also need some of their “stars” to wakeup as 1B Eric Hosmer has just one home run on the season and 3B Mike Moustakas is batting under .200. OF Alex Gordon is doing his best to make up the difference by hitting a fantastic .352 but he can’t do it all from the top of that Royals lineup.[dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
The pitching remains solid which leads you to believe the Royals can escape their current funk.
While Blanton has been a disaster for L.A. Ervin Santana has been critical to the Royals early season success.
The former Angel is looking at a potential career year with an ERA of 2.77 and whip just over 1. His record is just 3-3 but if he keeps pitching like he has that could easily improve significantly.
Until this season he played his entire professional career for the Angels so hopefully he won’t be anxious on the mound Thursday night – the advantage is definitely with KC here.
Hard not to like the value in this one. If you have been fading Blanton this season you would already be up 8+ units, even with the win L.A. took in his last outing. K.C. is good value at home even though they have not been playing great lately. Santana is not walking anybody this year and the Royals are 3-1 in his home starts.
With a little more run support he might be 6-2 instead of 3-3 this season.
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Kansas City 7 – Los Angeles 3
