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CJ Wilson Faces A's In Angels Home Debut
Fans in Anaheim finally get to cheer for CJ Wilson at the Big A when the Angels and Oakland Athletics close out a 4-game series Thursday. Tommy Milone is scheduled to start for Oakland in this matchup of lefties that gets underway at 10:05 p.m. (ET).
Wilson has pitched off the mound at Angel Stadium before, but those appearances came in a Texas Rangers uniform. The southpaw was enormously successful for the Rangers the past two years when Texas went 45-22 in his regular season starts, 3-2 with a 1.25 ERA in Anaheim in five assignments.
He's off to a 2-0 beginning with his new club following wins at Minnesota and New York, allowing just two runs in 13 innings of work as a -150 favorite and +115 underdog respectively. Eight assignments vs. Oakland the past two campaigns resulted in six Texas wins with Wilson sporting a 3.01 ERA.
Milone was part of the return Oakland received in the winter deal that sent Gio Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals. He was up with the Nats last September with very good results, all five of his starts ending in Washington victories while the former Southern Cal Trojan posted a 3.81 ERA and 15:4 strikeout to walk ratio in 26 frames. He made a great first impression on the A's with eight shutout innings in a 1-0 win vs. Kansas City on April 9, but dropped a 4-0 decision last Saturday in Seattle (6 IP, 4 ER).
The first two games of the series were split with the Angels winning 6-0 Monday as -170 chalk behind Jered Weaver and the A's rallying for a 5-3 victory Tuesday as +170 underdogs. Game 3 on Wednesday had the Halos laying -160 on the Don Best odds screen with a 7-run total.
Off To Fast Start, Nats Close Series With Astros
Davey Johnson has the Nationals off to their best start since relocating from Montreal after the '04 season, and Washington could be taking aim at a 4-game sweep Thursday in the series finale with the Houston Astros (7:05 p.m. ET).
The Nationals (9-3, +5.6 units) won the first two games of the series (6-3 and 1-0) behind young hurlers Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez, favorites of -250 and -160 respectively. Washington was again heavy chalk for Wednesday's Game 3 (-190) with Jordan Zimmermann on the mound opposite Lucas Harrell. The result was still pending at press.
Thursday's series ender could result in a bunch of K's on the scorecard with Houston's Bud Norris facing Washington's Edwin Jackson. Norris has two no-decisions to show for his starts this season, but both have ended with Houston triumphs. The beefy right-hander averaged nearly nine strikeouts per nine innings the past two seasons in 58 starts for the Astros. This will be his third career assignment vs. the Nats, Houston splitting the previous two.
Jackson will be making his fifth start vs. Houston, and the previous four each finished in victory for his various teams. He's coming off a complete game 2-hitter last Saturday vs. Cincinnati, no-hitting the Reds over the final seven innings of the 4-1 triumph.
Darvish Up In Rangers-Tigers Series Opener
While those two 4-game series come to an end, a huge foursome of games in Motown begin. From the Don Best Sports "It's Never Too Early" Department, this potential ALCS clash between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers gets underway at 7:05 p.m. (ET) Thursday when Adam Wilk makes his second career start for the home team against Yu Darvish who is making his third.
Both clubs will be traveling after evening road games on Wednesday. The Rangers fly in from Boston while the Tigers are coming out of Kansas City. Motown has been on the list of places to avoid for Texas, who is 4-16 its last 20 games there and lost 11 straight in Detroit from 2007-2009. Of course, the Tigers have been beating a lot of teams at home; Detroit won at least 50 games at Comerica Park each of the past three years (4-2 vs. Rangers in 2011).
Wilk filled the role of long reliever for about six weeks in '11, and was called up last weekend to be the fill-in for Doug Fister who is on the DL. It hasn't been a smooth transition from Toledo to Detroit for Wilk. Oh, he didn't pitch badly in his first MLB start Saturday at the White Sox – 5 IP, 2 ER both on solo homers. The reason he didn't come out in the sixth wasn't the stats, but instead due to getting drilled in the dugout by a Prince Fielder foul in the top of the inning.
It hasn't exactly been a smooth transition into the major leagues by Darvish either. At times brilliant, other times rocky, the latest Japanese import has been otherwise effective with Texas winning both of his starts. He's undoubtedly going to draw at least a moderate chalk line in this game, and two stats really stand out: eight walks and .340 batting average against in 11-1/3 IP.
Darvish will be pitching on 5-days rest in this one; Texas had Monday off and could've gone with Matt Harrison, but manager Ron Washington wanted to break up his southpaws (Harrison and Derek Holland), so gave Harrison the extra time off while keeping Darvish on his normal schedule.
Fans in Anaheim finally get to cheer for CJ Wilson at the Big A when the Angels and Oakland Athletics close out a 4-game series Thursday. Tommy Milone is scheduled to start for Oakland in this matchup of lefties that gets underway at 10:05 p.m. (ET).
Wilson has pitched off the mound at Angel Stadium before, but those appearances came in a Texas Rangers uniform. The southpaw was enormously successful for the Rangers the past two years when Texas went 45-22 in his regular season starts, 3-2 with a 1.25 ERA in Anaheim in five assignments.
He's off to a 2-0 beginning with his new club following wins at Minnesota and New York, allowing just two runs in 13 innings of work as a -150 favorite and +115 underdog respectively. Eight assignments vs. Oakland the past two campaigns resulted in six Texas wins with Wilson sporting a 3.01 ERA.
Milone was part of the return Oakland received in the winter deal that sent Gio Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals. He was up with the Nats last September with very good results, all five of his starts ending in Washington victories while the former Southern Cal Trojan posted a 3.81 ERA and 15:4 strikeout to walk ratio in 26 frames. He made a great first impression on the A's with eight shutout innings in a 1-0 win vs. Kansas City on April 9, but dropped a 4-0 decision last Saturday in Seattle (6 IP, 4 ER).
The first two games of the series were split with the Angels winning 6-0 Monday as -170 chalk behind Jered Weaver and the A's rallying for a 5-3 victory Tuesday as +170 underdogs. Game 3 on Wednesday had the Halos laying -160 on the Don Best odds screen with a 7-run total.
Off To Fast Start, Nats Close Series With Astros
Davey Johnson has the Nationals off to their best start since relocating from Montreal after the '04 season, and Washington could be taking aim at a 4-game sweep Thursday in the series finale with the Houston Astros (7:05 p.m. ET).
The Nationals (9-3, +5.6 units) won the first two games of the series (6-3 and 1-0) behind young hurlers Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez, favorites of -250 and -160 respectively. Washington was again heavy chalk for Wednesday's Game 3 (-190) with Jordan Zimmermann on the mound opposite Lucas Harrell. The result was still pending at press.
Thursday's series ender could result in a bunch of K's on the scorecard with Houston's Bud Norris facing Washington's Edwin Jackson. Norris has two no-decisions to show for his starts this season, but both have ended with Houston triumphs. The beefy right-hander averaged nearly nine strikeouts per nine innings the past two seasons in 58 starts for the Astros. This will be his third career assignment vs. the Nats, Houston splitting the previous two.
Jackson will be making his fifth start vs. Houston, and the previous four each finished in victory for his various teams. He's coming off a complete game 2-hitter last Saturday vs. Cincinnati, no-hitting the Reds over the final seven innings of the 4-1 triumph.
Darvish Up In Rangers-Tigers Series Opener
While those two 4-game series come to an end, a huge foursome of games in Motown begin. From the Don Best Sports "It's Never Too Early" Department, this potential ALCS clash between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers gets underway at 7:05 p.m. (ET) Thursday when Adam Wilk makes his second career start for the home team against Yu Darvish who is making his third.
Both clubs will be traveling after evening road games on Wednesday. The Rangers fly in from Boston while the Tigers are coming out of Kansas City. Motown has been on the list of places to avoid for Texas, who is 4-16 its last 20 games there and lost 11 straight in Detroit from 2007-2009. Of course, the Tigers have been beating a lot of teams at home; Detroit won at least 50 games at Comerica Park each of the past three years (4-2 vs. Rangers in 2011).
Wilk filled the role of long reliever for about six weeks in '11, and was called up last weekend to be the fill-in for Doug Fister who is on the DL. It hasn't been a smooth transition from Toledo to Detroit for Wilk. Oh, he didn't pitch badly in his first MLB start Saturday at the White Sox – 5 IP, 2 ER both on solo homers. The reason he didn't come out in the sixth wasn't the stats, but instead due to getting drilled in the dugout by a Prince Fielder foul in the top of the inning.
It hasn't exactly been a smooth transition into the major leagues by Darvish either. At times brilliant, other times rocky, the latest Japanese import has been otherwise effective with Texas winning both of his starts. He's undoubtedly going to draw at least a moderate chalk line in this game, and two stats really stand out: eight walks and .340 batting average against in 11-1/3 IP.
Darvish will be pitching on 5-days rest in this one; Texas had Monday off and could've gone with Matt Harrison, but manager Ron Washington wanted to break up his southpaws (Harrison and Derek Holland), so gave Harrison the extra time off while keeping Darvish on his normal schedule.
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