Sunday afternoon baseball and we will see the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Los Angeles Angels in game 4 of their 4 game series from Anaheim. First pitch is scheduled for a 3:35 PM (Eastern) start time and the game will be televised locally.
Current Odds
Tampa Bay -125
LA Angels +114
Over/ Under: 8 U -115
Analysis: The Tampa Bay Rays are not off to the start they were expecting, as they come in at just 19-25 on the year overall, and that includes an 11-13 mark on the road. They have played a bit bitter of late, winning 3 of their last 5 games, but still last place in the AL East is not what this team envisioned coming into the year. The Rays are middle of the pack in offense, ranking 16th in scoring (4.02 rpg) and 15th in hitting (.250), while also ranking just 23rd in homers (34). James Loney leads the team in hits (47) and RBIs (25), while Ben Zobrist leads them in runs scored (24). Longoria, DeJesus and Rodriguez are tied for the team lead in homers with 4. Surprisingly it has been the pitching that has let them down this year, as they come in with a 4.17 ERA (24th) and a 1.35 WHIP (21st). David Price gets the ball today and he comes in with a 4-3 mark and a 4.02 ERA on the year. He is 3-2 with a 3.15 ERA in his last 5 starts vs the Angels.
The LA Angels are off to a better start than last year, as they come in at 23-19 overall, but they have struggled at home, going just 10-11 here so far. The Halos have won 7 of their last 9 games overall, but they are just 6-13 in their last 19 as a dog and just 7-16 the last 23 meetings in this series. The Angels offense has been solid this year as they rank 3rd in runs scored (4.95 rpg), 12th in hitting (.253) and 6th in homers (47). Pujols leads the team in homers (10), while Howie Kendrick leads them in hits (49) and Mike Trout leads them in RBIs (28). The Pitching has been decent, as they come in ranked 16th in ERA (3.80) and 9th in WHIP (1.23). Matt Shoemaker gets his 2nd start of the year and his 3rd of his career. In his first start this year he allowed just 2 ER's in 5 innings vs the Phillies.
Pick: I will be going with the Under in this one. The first time around for a pitcher is hard on teams as they have not seen him yet. Mat Shoemaker has 2 career starts and has allowed just 2 ER's in those two starts. He will be taking on a Tampa Bay team that has scored just 3.17 rpg on the road, including just 2.88 runs per 9 off of righties away from home. So a weak offense, facing a pitcher they haven't seen should be a perfect storm for a low scoring output from the Rays. On the other side we do have an Angels offense that has been very good this year, but David Price is really starting to pitch well, as he has a 2.57 ERA in his last 3 starts, plus he has allowed 1 ER or less in 3 of his last 4 starts vs the Halos. Lets also note that he has 70 Ks on the year to just 6 walks. Amazing. No extra runners on base from him. This really has the feel of a 3-2 type game.
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