MLB Baseball Betting Odds
Friday, July 17
 
BetUS MLB betting odds:  Angels -120, Athletics +100, Total 9
 
Left-hander Joe Saunders (8-5, 4.65 ERA) will take the mound for the Angels, and he'll be opposed by righty Trevor Cahill (5-8, 4.67 ERA) of the A's.
 
Here are some of the MLB Baseball betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
 
* LA has won four of its last five games
* LA has played six of its last nine games OVER the total
* LA has won eight of its last ten road games
* OAK has lost four of its last six games
* OAK has played seven of its last nine games UNDER the total
* OAK has lost seven of its last nine home games
 
In the HEAD-TO-HEAD sports betting trends:
 
* LA has won five of the last seven meetings
* Four of the last six meetings have gone UNDER the total
* LA has won the last four meetings as the road team
* Four of the last five meetings in Oakland have gone UNDER the total
 
The Angels had their hitting shoes on last night. They pounded out 13 hits and beat Oakland 6-2, getting an unexpectedly strong pitching performance from Ervin Santana, who went eight full innings and allowed just a run on three hits, improving his lifetime record against Oakland to 10-1. Brian Fuentes, just back from the All-Star Game, came on to pick up his 27th save. The Angels are 13 games over the .500 mark, two games ahead of the Texas Rangers in the AL West and thirteen games in front of Oakland, which occupies last place.
 
Los Angeles has not had a big problem putting guys on base and scoring runs of late. They have not sent 35 runners across the plate in the last four games, and they have been playing those games without Torii Hunter and Vladimir Guerrero. Still, they had four .300 hitters in the lineup on Thursday, including Chloe Figgins, who had a hectic time getting to St. Louis for the All-Star Game at the last minute as he took the place of Evan Longoria. Kendry Morales, who is hitting .284, has a 16-game hitting streak going.
 
Joe Saunders took it on the chin last August 27 against Oakland, going only 1--1/3 innings and allowing six runs. Since then, however, he has allowed just two earned runs in 20-1/3 innings against the Athletics. He has not been on much of a roll lately, though. Saunders was hit hard against Texas on June 30, allowing eight eanred runs, then gave up five runs in back-to-back starts against the Orioles and Yankees. His ERA over his last three outings is 11.57.
 
Trevor Cahill has also been ineffective over his last three. The Colorado Rockies pummeled him for seven runs in 3-2/3 innings on June 27, and he was not able to come back well against Cleveland, as he failed to get out of the fourth inning again. Last time out he improved a bit, allowing four runs on four hits in 5-1/3 frames against Boston. Over his last three outings he struck out six and walked eight.
 
Saunders has a 5.74 ERA on the road this season, but we will take a page from the "Santana file" and favor his recent mastery over the Athletics. It's the Angels at -120 in the BetUS American League baseball betting odds.
 
JAY'S PLAY:  L.A. ANGELS (-120) ***
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

(Charles Jay touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)