Angels try to rebound against Twins

Baseball Betting Lines

07/21/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Now just a game in front in the American League West, the LA Angels of Anaheim try to bounce back tonight as they challenge the Minnesota Twins in the second game of a three-game set at the Metrodome.

The Angels, who are ahead of the surging Seattle Mariners in the division by just a single game entering the weekend, have lost four of the last five outings following a 7-5 setback in the series opener last night.

Justin Morneau homered and drove in three runs and Jason Kubel finished 3- for-3 with a two-run triple for the Twins as they snapped a three-game slide with the triumph. The duo picked up the offensive slack for the club after Michael Cuddyer was placed on the 15-day DL with a sprained right thumb prior to the contest.

Carlos Silva picked up the win for the home team as he allowed four earned runs on 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings, while Joe Nathan logged his 19th save of the campaign as well.

LA starter John Lackey made it through only five innings, permitting seven runs, five earned, on 10 hits, while fanning three. Mike Napoli finished with three hits and Chone Figgins scored twice for the visitors, who again failed to hit a home run for the 13th straight game, the club's longest drought in more than three decades.

Following up an impressive rookie season in 2006 in which he went 11-2 for the Angels, Jered Weaver heads out to the mound for LA tonight in search of his seventh win of the campaign.

Weaver, a product of Long Beach State, has not won in more than a month and failed to earn a decision in his most recent outing on Sunday when he allowed two unearned runs on four hits versus Texas at home. Striking out six and walking two over seven innings, Weaver's Angels bowed in a 5-4 decision.

In his only previous appearance this season versus Minnesota, the right-hander got plenty of run support in a 16-3 drubbing of the Twins at home. In that game Weaver permitted just a single run on five hits over seven innings of action. That victory marked the only decision of his brief two-year career against Minnesota.

As for the Twins, they have Boof Bonser slated to oppose Weaver on the hill. Bonser, a right-hander from Florida, is also in his second year in the majors and has not earned a victory since the second week of June. More recently Bonser threw 6 1/3 innings versus Oakland on Sunday, giving up three runs on five hits and a trio of walks, but he failed to factor into the 4-3 win for his team.

Morneau, who has two home runs and six RBI over the last six games for the Twins, is now second in the AL in both home runs (26) and RBI (81) for a team that is eight games out of contention in the AL Central behind both Detroit and Cleveland.

Despite being second in the American League in hitting this season with a mark of .283 over 95 games, the Angels are second-to-last in home runs with a mere 64, dragging the team's slugging down to .408. Although he does not appear among the league leaders at the moment, Figgins is hitting .317 for the club this season, while Vladimir Guerrero is at .326 with 14 home runs and 78 RBI.

The Angels took two of three from the Twins earlier in the season and are 17-12 in the series since the start of the 2004 campaign.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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