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Picks for 5/5/09: Angels As Dog Against the Athletics

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Rivalry Page: Angels vs Athletics

Rivalry Page: Padres vs Rockies

Result: +2.33 units

Los Angeles Angels +134 over Oakland Athletics (1.0 Units) - We like the value in the Angels as underdogs today. They are pitted up against southpaw Braden today and we like that because of how the Angels fared against lefties last season. They were the league's fifth best Moneyline team against lefties last season. And this season are boasting the leagues second best overall batting average.

The Angels may have unproven starter Shane Loux on the mound which is contributing to the higher odds here but only 1 of his 4 starts this season were bad. The rest were okay. And the Athletics have the league's second worst overall batting average, better than only the Diamondbacks.

San Diego Padres +104 over Colorado Rockies (1.0 Units) - Surprisingly these Padres are home dogs against the Rockies. Both of these teams have had a sluggish go of it out of the gate but that is why the advantage goes to the home team. Specifically, these Rockies perform poorly on the road. Aaron Cook may be getting a lot of love by the oddsmakers but in five starts this season, he has over 7 ERA so forget the fact tat he was 16-9 last season. He faced the Padres at home in his last start but now he is on the road. Cook has fared much better on the road because he gets to get out of Coors field. For example, he was 10-3 last season on the road. But this is a new season. And with the Padres losing by just one-run yet scoring more than 5 runs last season, they fall into a couple of prime systems worth taking.