Angels Look To Gain Ground Against Baltimore

The Los Angeles Angels have baseball’s best offense when looking at stats like runs scored. That has not been good enough to put them over their division rivals and leaders the Oakland Athletics.

The Angels are trying to gain ground against their rivals, as they are only two games behind the A’s in the standings, but it has not been easy to do considering they are in the middle of a series with the Baltimore Orioles, who defeated them in their last game 4-2.

As it turns out having the best offense in the league is moot, when your pitchers still let opposing teams score more runs than you.

Hector Santiago will be trying to prove that he is one of the pitchers on the squad that can get the job done and what better way to prove that than leading the Angels to victory against one of the best teams in baseball, the Orioles.

Santiago’s last few months could read like a redemption story if he is successful tonight. He lost his rotation spot in May after losing seven of his starts. Now that he has gotten a second chance he is performing better. However, the Angels need a good pitcher if they hope to contend for the pennant and Santiago can prove he is reliable tonight.

In his last outing Santiago did not only contend with the Seattle Mariners, but he also had the flu. He pitched 2 2/3 innings closing out a 16-inning game against the Mariners and leading his team to a 3-2 victory. In Santiago’s last three starts the Angels have also won.

Miguel Gonzalez will be trying to give Santiago’s comeback story a sad ending tonight.

Gonzalez has some jitters of his own he is trying to shake off after a long break. His last outing was before the All-Star break way back on July 11. However, Gonzalez has turned in quality starts in his last two outings, which were also his longest stays at the mound of the season.

Gonzalez held both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees to just two runs in his last two starts.

Both pitchers ERA hover in the 4.0 range, so it will be an interest match up.

The Angles are the favorites to win this one according to the moneyline which sits at around -134.  The moneyline for the Orioles is at +124.