Injuries are certainly a part of sport and sometimes they dictate the shape of a sporting event. Case in point – UFC 147, a card that was supposed to be headlined by the rematch between Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva – supposed to be!
Two streaky teams square off in this Interleague series finale Thursday night in Boston. Both Miami and Boston have looked great at times this year and looked terrible at times this year.
Atlanta has been struggling lately but they won the last two games of their series against the Yankees and are in the thick of it in the NL East race.
While the Dodgers came on strong since opening day, the Angles lagged way behind in the AL West, but have recently shifted things into high gear and now challenge a slumping Texas Rangers for top spot in the division.
LAD: Chad Billingsly (4-5, 3.75 ERA) v LAA: Dan Haren (4-7, 3.97 ERA)
Date/Time: Friday, June 22, 2012, 7:15 PM ET
Venue: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California
Broadcast: Fox Sports West / Prime Ticket
Line: Angels -165
Over/Under: 7
The Dodgers meanwhile, were a bit of a surprise team this season, and have found a way to keep things rolling even without triple crown candidate Matt Kemp, who went down with an injury a few weeks back.
Nothing has been able to slow this team down as of yet, except for a precious outing against Anaheim.
The Halos took 2-of-3 at Dodgers Stadium, and since then have won 4-of-6.
An uptick to an otherwise disappointing season, in which people pointed fingers all over the place, but most in the direction of Albert Pujols when the team sat under .500 49 games into the 2012 season.
However, Prince Albert has reclaimed his royalty, and the Angels have been soaring ever since.
Ad into the mix that Mike Trout has been sensational since being recalled, and it’s possible the Angels could be on the verge of a miracle season.
The pitching match-up:
Dodgers – Chad Billingsley 4-5 3.75 ERA – 75 K’s – 1.35 WHIP
Billingsley got off to a good start in April, but since then he has been pretty inconsistent with more than a couple of clunkers thrown. In fact, in his last 10 starts, the veteran righty has allowed at least four runs in five of them. Including his last outing against the White Sox. If the Dodgers expect to be contenders into October, Billingsley has to get his stuff back. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Angels – Dan Haren 4-7 3.97 ERA -77 K’s – 1.34 WHIP
It’s been pretty surprising to watch Haren this season-or frustrating if you’re an Angels fan. The experienced right-hander has shown flashes of brilliance, bit has also tanked, like losing he last three straight. A few of his starts have gone the other way though has he’s tallied four wins. While Haren has gotten off to a rocky start in June, he should still approach 200 strikeouts again this season, and certainly has the talent to get things back on track this weekend.
Players to watch for:
Dodgers – Bobby Abreu .285/1/15/.390
After being cast from Anaheim Stadium, Abreu found a home with the other team from LA, and has actually been quite productive. He may be shy of .300 with his average, but his OBP more than makes up for that as it sits at .390. It will be interesting to see how he performs at the place that he spent 4+ seasons.
Angels – Mike Trout .338/6/28/.397
The 20-year old Trout he has been nothing short of phenomenal since being reinstated in the bigs. Besides his offensive numbers, the defense, attitude and hustle are all right there with them.
Matt’s Free Prediction: Angels
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What’s July 4th without a hot dog or two….or 60. There was a time and place when Kobayashi, nicknamed “the Tsunami,” was actually a force of nature. He was the man.
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With Tomas Rosicky’s injury being more severe than first thought, the Czech’s chances have fallen off quite a bit. On the other hand, most didn’t really didn’t think that they would get to this point anyways, so it is like playing with the house’s money at this point.
England was one of the four teams to not lose a match during group play. They of course drew in their first outing against the French, and then went on to win their last matches to take the group.
Two streaky teams square off in this Interleague series finale Thursday night in Boston. Both Miami and Boston have looked great at times this year and looked terrible at times this year.
The Dodgers have cooled down just a bit, but they still enter this game with the best record in baseball.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series runs its first race on a road course this week in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma.
The second-round of MLB Interleague Play heads into its final weekend of action this Friday, but there are several series that still have some unfinished business on Thursday’s slate.
Two times Oklahoma City has had a very realistic shot of winning a game in Miami and two straight times they have come up empty.
St. Louis started the season red hot, but they have fallen back to the .500 mark with a poor last month of play. Detroit dug a pretty deep hole in the AL Central, but they are slowly trying to fight their way back toward the top of the division.
After falling short of making the postseason two consecutive seasons, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim went on a giant free-agent spending spree. So far, it hasn’t paid huge dividends.
