Angels wrap set with M's aiming for fifth straight win

Baseball Betting Lines

06/04/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will try to run their current win streak to a season-high five games in this afternoon's finale of a three-game series with the Seattle Mariners from Safeco Field.

The Angels have taken the first two matchups of this set with the lowly Mariners to maintain a 3 1/2-game lead over second-place Oakland in the American League West standings. Anaheim will visit the Athletics for three consecutive meetings beginning on Friday.

On Tuesday, the Angels' struggling offense jumped to a big early advantage and the club received another strong showing on the mound from Joe Saunders to record a 5-4 victory over Seattle.

Maicer Izturis had two hits and three RBI and Robb Quinlan finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored for Anaheim, which led 5-0 after 3 1/2 innings and held on the rest of the way. Torii Hunter also collected a pair of hits, including an RBI double in the first inning.

Saunders (9-2) became the AL's first nine-game winner this season with seven quality innings. The left-hander did allow four runs, but just one was earned, and yielded six hits while issuing only one walk.

Francisco Rodriguez struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to notch his major league-best 23rd save.

The Angels shelled Erik Bedard (4-4) for five runs (4 earned) and seven hits before the Seattle ace was pulled after just 3 1/3 innings. Bedard, who also walked three before exiting, entered the contest with a 1.34 earned run average at home.

Jose Lopez homered and scored twice for the Mariners, losers of three in a row and owners of the AL's worst overall record at 21-38.

Seattle wraps up a nine-game homestand this afternoon and has gone 3-5 so far on the residency. The team will turn to the struggling Carlos Silva today in hopes of avoiding a series sweep.

Like the Mariners in general, Silva has been a disappointment so far this season. The offseason free-agent acquisition has lost five straight decisions since a 3-0 beginning to the campaign and is coming off a horrible month of May.

In six May starts, Silva went 0-5 and surrendered a whopping 35 runs (33 earned) and 51 hits over just 27 innings of work. The right-hander's most recent outing was the worst of the bunch, with Silva getting rocked for seven runs on seven hits and recording only two outs in a loss to Detroit on Friday.

On the flip side, Silva owns an impressive 6-1 record with a 3.55 ERA in 10 career games (9 starts) against the Angels and beat Anaheim with eight innings of three-run ball at Safeco Field on April 12.

Jered Weaver also looks to rebound from a poor last start when he takes the hill today for the Angels. The lanky right-hander permitted six runs and 10 hits over just four innings in Friday's 10-4 home loss to Toronto.

Weaver had won two straight starts prior to that misstep, including an eight- inning gem at Chicago on May 24 in which he did not give up a run and held the White Sox to three hits.

The 25-year-old is 4-2 lifetime against Seattle despite a mediocre 5.06 ERA over eight starts. Weaver was handed a loss by the Mariners at Safeco Field on April 11, a game in which he was touched for five runs and walked four in 5 2/3 innings.

On the injury front, Angels star outfielder Vladimir Guerrero has missed the first two games of this series with a sore knee and is considered day-to-day.

Anaheim holds a slim 5-3 edge in this year's season series with Seattle. The Angels took 13 of 19 contests from the Mariners last season and posted a 6-3 mark at Safeco in 2007.

Seattle did win two of three encounters with the Angels at home from April 11-13.