This getaway day contest, for both clubs, pit the visiting Toronto Blue Jays against the LA Angels in Anaheim this afternoon. With a getaway day tag hanging over both teams expect brisk defensive play and a large strike zone from scheduled home plate umpire Jim Wolf, who has a history of being pitcher friendly, especially in series finale’s when the umpiring crew is traveling. Wolf has four UNDER the total results in his last five getaway games (third game of a three game set).
913 Toronto at 914 LA Angels (-155, 8u)
3:35 PM ET, Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California
Toronto blanked Los Angeles on Tuesday night behind R.A. Dickey as Toronto halted a five-game skid and won for only the third time in 11 games. The Jays made up some ground on first place Baltimore closing to within 2 1/2 games of the Orioles in the American League East. The Angels were shutout for only the second time this season but figure to suffer some regression to the mean after scoring 51 runs in their last 6 games coming into the Tuesday night tilt.
Blue Jays RH Marcus Stroman (4-2, 3.44 ERA) has strung together three strong starts, permitting a total of only three runs in 21 2/3 innings of work. Stroman did not factor in the decision in a 1-0 loss at Oakland on Friday despite striking out a career-high seven in seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball.
The Angels have a big advantage heading into this Wednesday afternoon contest behind LH C.J. Wilson (8-6, 4.23) despite the southpaws string of struggling starts. Wilson allowed three homers and six runs over 4 1/3 innings against an offense, Houston, that has had most all of their success this year against left-handed pitching. Wilson also lasted only 3 2/3 frames in his previous outing, giving up four runs and walking four against the Royals in Kansas City but the surface numbers in that outing don’t tell the entire tale. The contest was sloppy and the strike zone was small with Todd Tichenor calling balls and strikes. The final score in that June 29th loss to the Royals saw the total sneak to the north side of 8.5 with a 5-4 Kansas City win — a game that could easily have seen the winners score three runs or less.
Despite the perception that these two teams are dependent on offense the UNDER has come in at a perfect 8-0 clip when the oddsmakers have set the opening total between 7 and 8.5 runs in the last eight Blue Jay games. The UNDER is a perfect 7-0 in Blue Jays last 7 road games; 5-0 in the Jays last 5 games as an underdog of +110 to +150 and a perfect 8-0 in Toronto’s last 8 games as an underdog period. . The UNDER is 47-19-1 in Blue Jays last 67 when playing a team with an overall winning record and 41-17 in Blue Jays last 58 road games against clubs that are .500 or better on the season.
The Angels, despite scoring 51 runs the past week, are 5-2 to the UNDER as a favorite.
TOTAL UNDER 8 RUNS
