Angels Take Tex To New York

It got a little easier to do some baseball betting on the Los Angeles Angels this week, as the runaway leaders in the AL West bolstered their lineup by trading for Mark Teixeira.

A top commodity on the trade market, first baseman Teixeira was hitting .283 with 20 home runs and 78 RBI for the Atlanta Braves before the deal went down. And those numbers were going up; Teixeira had served up five multi-hit games over his last 10, with three home runs and nine RBI. The cost for the Angels was first baseman Casey Kotchman (no slouch at the plate either, he was hitting .287) and pitcher Stephen Marek.

Teixeira will now take over the No. 3 spot in Los Angeles’ batting order, where he’ll be surrounded by the likes of Chone Figgins, Vladimir Guerrero, and Torii Hunter. That kind of firepower might be overkill for the Angels during the regular season – they’ve built up a double-digit lead on both the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics in the AL West standings – but they’re thinking ahead to October and success in the playoffs.

And one of the teams they could meet in the postseason will be their opponents this weekend, as Teixeira and company head to New York for a big four-game set against the Yankees. The Yankees took it on the chin against the middling Baltimore Orioles earlier in the week, so they’ll be looking to get back on a roll during this weekend series.

Thursday’s series opener will see New York’s Andy Pettitte taking on Los Angeles’ Jon Garland. Pettitte is 12-7 with a 3.76 ERA on the season, and the Yankees are 8-2 over his past 10 outings. The lefthander turned in a big game against the rival Red Sox last time out, giving up three runs (one earned) on five hits over six innings to get the victory.

The Angels are 6-4 over Garland’s last 10 outings, and he’s been hit hard in two of his past three starts (giving up five runs versus the Orioles and seven runs versus the Athletics). The righthander will be hoping to revert back to his July 6 form on Thursday night, as he gave up just one run in a complete-game win over the Blue Jays that day.

Friday’s matchup is expected to be Ervin Santana (11-5, 3.57 ERA) vs. Sidney Ponson (6-2, 4.59 ERA), while Saturday the Angels will send out Jered Weaver (9-8, 4.11 ERA) to take on Mike Mussina (13-7, 3.56 ERA). Sunday’s finale is slated to feature Angels veteran John Lackey (9-2, 2.93 ERA) and the Yankees’ Darrell Rasner (5-8, 4.92 ERA).

Those probable pitchers could change, though, if New York makes a deal for a new hurler before the trade deadline. The Yankees are rumored to have interest in Seattle’s Jarrod Washburn (5-9, 4.50 ERA), who has pitched well over the past few weeks. Washburn’s arrival in pinstripes would bump either Ponson or Rasner from the rotation.

Thursday’s first pitch is set for 7:05pm ET, with Friday’s game starting at that time as well. Saturday’s action gets underway at 3:55pm, with Sunday’s contest at 1:05. The baseball odds for these games could move around if the teams make any more deals. New York did make one move on Wednesday, picking up catcher Ivan Rodriguez from the Detroit Tigers.