Minnesota Twins vs. Los Angeles Angels Betting Odds & Picks: July 26th 2009

Minnesota Twins vs. Los Angeles Angels
Free Pick: Los Angeles Angels (-136)
Sun July 26th 2009 3:35p
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Get the brooms ready for the Angels who are going to finish off a four-game sweep of the Twins at the Big A.

Does anyone need any convincing about how good this Angel team is? The Halo’s started the season without injured pitchers John Lackey and Ervin Santana. There was the tragic loss of rookie Nick Adenhart and the season ending injury to set-up man Scott Shields. The Angels are presently without Tori Hunter and Vlad Guerrero who are both on the DL. Juan Rivera hasn’t played for week and on and on it goes. With all that adversity the Angels are still kicking butts and taking names. They’ve won eight in a row, nine of their last ten and 12 of their past 13. In those 13 games the Angels have been without Hunter and Guerrero and have actually picked up the pace. They’ve scored 100 runs (7.7 per game) and are batting .326 as a team with double-digit hit totals in nine of those 13. The Angels have made things look easy. They’re batting .401 with runners in scoring position over the past 13 games.

The Twins are reeling. After Saturday’s 11-5 loss, a game in which the Angels scored nine-runs in the fourth, Minnesota has lost five of the six games on their west coast and they’ve been outscored 39-14 during their four-game losing streak. Right now the Twins and for that matter the American League can’t slow down this Angel jugggernaut.

Not that pitching has made much of a difference in this series, for either team, but Ervin Santana will go for Anaheim whil rookie Anthony Swarzak goes for the Twins. Santana, who is struggling to regain his all-star form of a year ago, is 3-5 on the year with an sky high ERA of 6.79. Swarzak comes in with a 2-3 ledger and a 4.15 ERA.

The Angels have abused Twins pitching in this series. Minnesota’s starters, relievers and even closer Joe Nathan have all struggled leaving manager Ron Gardenhire scratching his head.

The way the Angels are hitting right now it’s tough to imagine anyone this side of Toronto being able to shut them down. That’s why there going to get the nod (again) in the series finale.