Blue Jays sent Halladay to hill versus Angels

Baseball Betting Lines

08/14/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim target their fourth straight win this evening when they open a three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.

Los Angeles, which will be starting a seven-game road trip tonight, enters this series on the heels of sweeping the Minnesota Twins over the weekend, outscoring them 20-6 and improving their major league best home record to 40-17. The Angels have won six of seven, 12 of their last 17 and still hold a three-game edge on the Seattle Mariners in the AL West.

As good as the Angels have been at home, they have struggled away from the friendly confines of Angel Stadium this season, going just 29-30 on the road. They, along with the Milwaukee Brewers, are the only division leaders with a losing record on the road.

Hoping to reverse that trend tonight will be 26-year-old left-hander Joe Saunders, who is 6-0 with a 3.46 earned run average. Saunders' most recent win came last Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox, as he allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Saunders has faced the Jays just twice in his career, going 1-0 against them with a sparkling 1.80 ERA.

The Blue Jays will counter with ace right-hander Roy Halladay, who is an impressive 9-1 in 12 home starts this season. Halladay won his second straight start at Rogers Centre on Wednesday against the New York Yankees, as he surrendered four runs and six hits in seven innings to run his record to 13-5 on the year to go along with a 4.17 ERA.

Halladay is 4-4 lifetime against the Angels with a 5.48 ERA in 11 starts.

Toronto enters this series after splitting a four-game set with the Kansas City Royals, dropping Monday's finale 6-2 at Kauffman Stadium. Alex Rios and Curtis Thigpen each knocked in a run for the Blue Jays, who lost for only the fourth time in their last six tries.

Jesse Litsch (4-5) was tagged for five runs -- two earned -- on six hits over 6 2/3 innings.

This is the first time these teams have played this season, but Toronto won the season series 6-4 last year and is 16-9 in the matchup since the start of the 2004 campaign. The Angels have also struggled north of the border, where they have won in just one of their last seven visits.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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