Jerod Weaver of the Angels has not been the same since tossing his no-hitter despite posting two Quality Starts in three outings since then, while the league looks to be catching up to Jarrod Parker of the A’s. Go ‘over’ Wednesday.
The posted total seems too low in one of the Wednesday afternoon MLB matchups when Jerod Weaver and the Los Angeles Angels (19-25 overall, 8-15 away) take on rookie Jarrod Parker and the Oakland Athletics (22-22 overall, 10-11 home) as the teams wrap up a three-game series from the O.co Coliseum in Oakland, CA at 3:35 ET.
The posted total at Pinnacle Spots is 6½ for this contest with the current odds on the ‘over’ set at -110.
The Angels were expected to compete with the Texas Rangers for the American League West title, but they are having a tough time escaping the basement in the division although they are still within shouting distance, trailing first place Texas by eight games. Los Angeles snapped a three-game losing streak here 5-0 last night as Albert Pujols continued to come around with his fourth home run of the season.
The Halos’ pitching has been fine in this series as they lost the series opener by just a 2-1 score on Monday, so conventional wisdom says that their staff ace Weaver should dominate the weak-hitting A’s today. Well, maybe, maybe not.
Now Weaver is unquestionably one of the best pitchers in baseball when he is on top of his game, but that is exactly our point as he has not seemed quite the same since no-hitting the Minnesota Twins four starts back, as the season-high 121 pitches he threw in that game may have taken a tad out of him.
Yes he officially has two Quality Starts in three starts since then sandwiched around his worst start of the season vs. the Texas Rangers in a Sunday night game, but keep in mind that the two Quality Starts came vs. a couple of weak offenses in the Twins again and then the San Diego Pares last time out, and what really sticks out to us has been the drop-off in his strikeout-to-walk ratio since the no-hitter.
You see Sabremetricians are huge fans of Weaver because he has 53 strikeouts vs. 13 walks and has allowed only four home runs in nine starts covering 61 innings this year. However, in his three starts since the no-no, Weaver has a lowly eight strikeouts and has walked six in 16.1 innings, and two of the four home runs he allowed this year have come in his last two outings. He is simply not the same pitcher right now that he was in his first six starts this season.
The Athletics are a pleasant surprise at .500 thus far and they are currently in second place in the division, five games behind Texas. Their starter Parker is a highly regarded youngster who began this year with a splash, allowing two runs or less in his first four starts before getting lit up in his last outing.
That said, we are not as high on Parker just yet as the Oakland organization, as his command has not been there at the Major League level. The youngster has 16 walks against just 17 strikeouts in 27.2 innings, which has led to some high pitch-counts and in Parker going seven innings just once. He came one out shy of getting a Quality Start vs. the Detroit Tigers two starts back, allowing two earned runs but lasting only 5.2 innings due to four walks and 112 pitches.
Then his lack of command finally caught up to him vs. one of the worst offenses in baseball in the San Francisco Giants in his last start Friday, as they reached him for six earned runs in only two innings despite getting only four hits, as Parker walked four and struck out no one. The Angels were struggling offensively for most of the year, but they are batting .285 vs. right-handed pitchers the last 10 games so we do not think Parker’s task will be easier today.
It certainly does not help that the sleeping giant Pujols is awakening, as he has all four of his home runs along with 15 RBI in his last 16 games, so look for the offenses to do enough to go ‘over’ this low posted total on Wednesday.
The posted total at Pinnacle Spots is 6½ for this contest with the current odds on the ‘over’ set at -110.
The Angels were expected to compete with the Texas Rangers for the American League West title, but they are having a tough time escaping the basement in the division although they are still within shouting distance, trailing first place Texas by eight games. Los Angeles snapped a three-game losing streak here 5-0 last night as Albert Pujols continued to come around with his fourth home run of the season.The Halos’ pitching has been fine in this series as they lost the series opener by just a 2-1 score on Monday, so conventional wisdom says that their staff ace Weaver should dominate the weak-hitting A’s today. Well, maybe, maybe not.
Now Weaver is unquestionably one of the best pitchers in baseball when he is on top of his game, but that is exactly our point as he has not seemed quite the same since no-hitting the Minnesota Twins four starts back, as the season-high 121 pitches he threw in that game may have taken a tad out of him.
Yes he officially has two Quality Starts in three starts since then sandwiched around his worst start of the season vs. the Texas Rangers in a Sunday night game, but keep in mind that the two Quality Starts came vs. a couple of weak offenses in the Twins again and then the San Diego Pares last time out, and what really sticks out to us has been the drop-off in his strikeout-to-walk ratio since the no-hitter.
You see Sabremetricians are huge fans of Weaver because he has 53 strikeouts vs. 13 walks and has allowed only four home runs in nine starts covering 61 innings this year. However, in his three starts since the no-no, Weaver has a lowly eight strikeouts and has walked six in 16.1 innings, and two of the four home runs he allowed this year have come in his last two outings. He is simply not the same pitcher right now that he was in his first six starts this season.
The Athletics are a pleasant surprise at .500 thus far and they are currently in second place in the division, five games behind Texas. Their starter Parker is a highly regarded youngster who began this year with a splash, allowing two runs or less in his first four starts before getting lit up in his last outing.
That said, we are not as high on Parker just yet as the Oakland organization, as his command has not been there at the Major League level. The youngster has 16 walks against just 17 strikeouts in 27.2 innings, which has led to some high pitch-counts and in Parker going seven innings just once. He came one out shy of getting a Quality Start vs. the Detroit Tigers two starts back, allowing two earned runs but lasting only 5.2 innings due to four walks and 112 pitches.
Then his lack of command finally caught up to him vs. one of the worst offenses in baseball in the San Francisco Giants in his last start Friday, as they reached him for six earned runs in only two innings despite getting only four hits, as Parker walked four and struck out no one. The Angels were struggling offensively for most of the year, but they are batting .285 vs. right-handed pitchers the last 10 games so we do not think Parker’s task will be easier today.
It certainly does not help that the sleeping giant Pujols is awakening, as he has all four of his home runs along with 15 RBI in his last 16 games, so look for the offenses to do enough to go ‘over’ this low posted total on Wednesday.
MLB PICKS: Angels, Athletics ‘over’ 6½ (-110)
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