We were robbed last night with the Red Sox blown save and 2 errors, but we look to rebound today with just 8 games on the board. There is just one play I like and it is the Angels. They've gotten beat up here the last few days and now I see value in their line so I'm jumping back on them. The issue has been their pitching not their hitting as they have a .360 average and are scoring over 5 runs per 9 vs. RHP at home. Jason Vargas will take the mound and they are hoping he can provide some veteran leadership.
Vargas has outstanding numbers against the A's with a 2.01 ERA over his last 7 starts while the line up has just a .665 OPS in 148 combined AB collectively. Vargas has also been great at Angels Stadium in the past as a member of the Mariners posting a 1.82 ERA in his last 5 stops. He faces off against the young A.J. Griffin who has a 3.06 ERA in 16 career starts in the majors. He posted great numbers on the road last year through 7 starts with a 2.90 ERA, but teams started to pick up on him down the stretch as in his last 2 road starts he gave up 9 ER in 9 combined innings while giving up 15 hits and 4 HR to the Yankees and Tigers. The Angels have that type of line up and Albert Pujols is heating up. I'm selling stock on Griffin right now as he was lucky last year with a .264 BABIP with a 81.3 LOB %. His xFIP was 4.02.
