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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (10-5) @ Texas Rangers (10-5)
Pitching Probables: LAA – Ervin Santana (0-1, 3.74 ERA) TEX – C.J Wilson (1-0, 3.72 ERA)
Game Info: 5:05 PM PT; TV – Fox Sports West; Radio – KLAA 830 AM
The Angels are coming in hot off a sweep of Chicago this weekend, hitting a tasty 5 game winning streak. What makes this series even sweeter is the fact that both teams are tied for first, so you know one team is going to come out on top. It looks like we’re gonna have ourselves a nice little no holds barred brawl. Not to skip the fact that this is the best start in Angels franchise history, curious that it would come on the 50th year anniversary. There may be a magical season in store for us.
The Angels picked the perfect time to hit a winning streak, and the fact that our team is hot while the Rangers are cooling off makes this coming duel of the champions even better. You just know both of these teams are aching to get at each other, Texas wants to show the has-beens that the new kids are here to stay while the Angels want to prove they’re still the AL West Champions. Everyone knows that this is the opportune time to get a jump on the other and grab that AL West lead early in the year. The question is, who will it be and exactly how are they going to win this series?
Monkey See Monkey Do- Do expect to see the ball get hit hard everywhere in this series. This isn’t going to be a pitchers series like the Indians, this is going to be an all out slugfest, especially within the comfy hitters confines of the gracious Arlington ballpark. Every player on the Angels knows whats at stake, and they’re all going to bring their A game. Torii Hunter is finally going to get off his slump, he’s always hit very well at Texas. Vernon Wells is finally going to get hot, maybe even hot enough to hit his first home run as an Angel. What a perfect place to do it, in a hitters’ ballpark.
Monkey See Monkey Don’t- Don’t expect to see a gracefully exquisite pitching duel. In fact, don’t expect to see anything resembling a pitchers duel. This is going to be the perfect time for some of our laggy hitters to finally get their feet under them. The one hitter I’m most excited about watching this series is Mark Trumbo, he’s been raking against lefties, and the Rangers just so happen to be sending a lefty on the mound. Wilson is a precision pitcher, he’s gotta hit his spots to be successful and he tends to nibble on the strikezone. Perfect for Trumbo, if Wilson’s control is off in the least bit or he makes some mistakes Trumbo will capitalize HARD on those mistakes. Wilson does tend to leak a pitch into the stands every so often, so why not today?
The Monkey’s Bananas Prediction of the Game- Torii Hunter’s finally going to come off his rather embarrassing slump, and he’s going to come off of it big time. Hunter loves hitting in Texas, he’s always excelled there. In fact, I remember Hunter hitting a home run in three consecutive games last year. Torii Hunter may not do that again this series, but he definitely will be working the longball. I predict Hunter to go 3-4 with a home run, effectively putting his slump in the rear-view mirror.
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