SPORTS BETTING

• Bettors cashing in on Angels

  Posted on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT by GetChalk

  
  

  Call them the Los Angeles Angels or the Anaheim Angels, or even the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but baseball bettors know Los Angeles' American League contribution by another name – cash.

  While the eyes of baseball bettors focused on the Colorado Rockies' and the Tampa Bay Rays' return to form, the Angels quietly compiled 17 wins in June and improved their season record to 42-33. Halos backers made out like bandits last month and have earned nearly 11 units on the year.

  Los Angeles opened the month on the road. It went 4-5 at the beginning of June but didn't start to pick up steam until interleague play began on June 12. The Angels returned home and opened their doors to the National League, sweeping the San Diego Padres in three games before heading to San Francisco for another series sweep.

  Following a series-opening win against the cross-town Dodgers, the good times came to a halt in Anaheim. The Halos lost three straight contests at home, including the opener against the surging Rockies. However, that skid was a minor speed bump for L.A., which blew away Colorado in the remaining two games before traveling to Arizona for a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks.

  The team is currently in Arlington playing a three-game set with their AL West rivals, the Texas Rangers.

  Fueling the Angels' profitable June was the team's offense, which flexed its muscle against the National League. Los Angeles hit over .280 and averaged more than 5.5 runs per game last month. It scored eight or more runs eight times and belted 33 home runs in that span.

  The Angels had six players hit over .300 last month, including bottom-of-the-order hitters Mike Napoli (.364) and Maicer Izturis (.328). The top of the lineup was also efficient with leadoff man Chone Figgins (.351) and on-base specialist Bobby Abreu (.306) setting the table for the offense.

  Clean-up hitters Torii Hunter, Vlad Guerrero, and Juan Rivera combined for 14 home runs and 46 RBI heading into Tuesday. Rivera has been huge for the Halos, batting over .300 with eight round trippers and 24 RBI in June.

  That offensive outburst made up for the dreadful month Los Angeles' pitching staff had. The Angels had a combined ERA over 4.00 in June and failed to get solid innings from their starters. Jered Weaver and rookie Sean O'Sullivan combined for a 6-1 mark in eight total outings, but starters John Lackey, Joe Saunders, and Matt Palmer watched their ERA balloon to over 4.00 last month.

  The Angels’ bullpen got a boost from new closer Brian Fuentes, who was 9-for-10 in save opportunities and didn't allow a single earned run in June. Right-handed set-up man Justin Speier was also solid, posting an ERA just over 1.00 in 8 2-3 innings of work last month.

  Los Angeles' run marched the team past the Rangers in the AL West standings, putting 2.5 games between them going into their head-to-head meeting Tuesday night.

  Texas did not fare as well in interleague action and finished June with an 11-15 record after tearing it up in May. The bubble burst on the surprisingly-solid pitching staff that fueled a 20-9 mark in the second month of the schedule. Texas posted a team ERA over 4.00 and backed that up with the worst batting average in the American League for June; the bats hit .223 and averaged only 3.6 runs per game.

  A current hot stretch for the Seattle Mariners has them just 3.5 games off the pace. Seattle has won seven of its last 11 games and finished June with a 15-10 record behind the best collective ERA in the bigs last month. The Mariners posted a 2.84 ERA with stellar showings from ace Felix Hernandez and closer David Aardsma.

  Sitting at the bottom of the division and 10.5 games out of first place are the Oakland Athletics. The A's hit just .235 in June heading into their final game of the month and were losers in five of six games as of Tuesday night.