Sunday night baseball and we will see the Texas Rangers take on the Los Angeles Angels in game 3 of their 3 game series from Anaheim. The game is scheduled for a 8:00 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on ESPN. Currently the odds have Texas favored at -105, while Los Angeles is dogs of -101. The total for the game sits at 8 runs.
Free Analysis: The Texas Rangers still have plenty of games left against the Los Angeles Angels, but they've built a nice cushion atop the AL West. With 10 games left against the Angels (51-44) following Sunday's matchup, there could still be plenty of movement at the top of the West standings. The Rangers (56-37), though, are securely in the driver's seat after rebounding from Friday's 6-1 series-opening loss with a 9-2 victory Saturday. That got their lead over Los Angeles back to six games, with surging Oakland 6 1/2 back before the Athletics face the New York Yankees earlier Sunday. Texas won for the sixth time in nine games overall as Ian Kinsler went deep and drove in three runs, Yorvit Torrealba finished a triple shy of the cycle and Mike Napoli hit a pair of solo homers. Napoli, 5 for 8 in the series, is batting .434 (23 for 53) with eight homers in 14 games in Anaheim since the Angels traded him away before last season. Adrian Beltre, who hit one of the Rangers' five homers Saturday, is 24 for 55 (.436) with 11 extra-base hits against Haren, while Josh Hamilton Comes in struggling as he is hitting just .180 in July. Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus will try to extend his hitting streak to 10. He's batting .375 (12 for 32) versus Angels pitching this season. Matt Harrison (12-4, 2.87 ERA) continues to be tough on opponents and he'll look to tie Tampa Bay's David Price for the AL lead in wins. The left-hander is 8-1 with a 1.34 ERA in his last 10 starts, including a five-hitter in last Sunday's 4-0 victory at Seattle. It was Harrison's second shutout of 2012 and the fourth of his career. Los Angeles phenom Mike Trout can set an AL record for consecutive games scoring runs by a rookie. Trout has scored in 13 consecutive games to match the record shared by Jake Powell of the Washington Senators (1935) and Don Lenhardt of the St. Louis Browns (1950). The AL batting leader has also equaled the Angels franchise record set by Jim Edmonds in 1995. The 20-year-old outfielder has been on a tear, going 18 for 43 (.419) with four homers during a 10-game hitting streak to lift his batting average to .354, but he is just 1-9 vs Harrison. Dan Haren was highly ineffective in his last four starts before going on the disabled list, allowing 22 earned runs in 21 2/3 innings. He has given up nine homers over his last five outings. Haren is just 4-9 with a 4.17 ERA in 18 career starts against Texas. He took a no-decision against the Rangers on June 3 when he allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings.
Free Pick: I really like the over here. Matt Has been rolling along for the Rangers as he has a 1.34 ERA in his last 10 starts, but he has struggled with the Halos this year, posting a 4.97 ERA in 2 starts vs them this year and he has a 5.72 ERA in his last 5 starts vs them. Dan Haren gets the call for the Angels and he has really struggled with an 8.66 ERA in his last 5 starts. Over that stretch he has allowed 9 HR's in 27 innings of work and the Rangers can hit HR's, as evidenced by the 5 they hit yesterday. Dan has also struggled with Texas as he has a 5.83 EA in his last 5 starts vs them. In this game we also have a solid OVER Ump behind the plate. When Umpire Paul Emmel is behind home plate the Over is 18-1 on the year, with an average of 11.57 rpg being scored. In his last 6 games at least 12 runs have been scored in each. Both Offenses can score and both starters have struggled with these teams and that has me expecting at least 10 runs in this one.
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Betting Strategies: Handicapping Theories
Host Marco D'Angelo and Pregame Pro Dave Essler discuss there handicapping theories and what they look at when they are handicapping games.