Why the love for the A's? I know they've gotten to Haren in the past, but the Halos have also hammered McCarthy. 14 hits, 7 runs in 5 1/3 last time out. Even if you consider the pitching a wash, which I don't, gotta give the offensive edge to the Halos IMHO. Hate seeing both of you on the opposite side, but I gotta back Haren here at this price.
In my opinion, Angels do not have a pitching advantage in this game. At a quick glance, one would see a 10-5 Haren up against a 1-5 McCarthy and automatically think there is a major advantage. However, there are a couple of advantages the A's have that balances the teams out. Home advantage is one. The Coliseum takes away hits and produces more outs with all of that foul ground territory...one of the better pitcher's ballparks. Nobody knows the layout of that field better than A's players.
Also, I don't see much of an advantage for the Angels on offense in this game. I'm still not convinced the Angel's O is all that great. Granted, the Angels did get to McCarthy earlier in the season, but Oakland showed back on May 24th they can hit Haren as well - scoring 5 runs on him in 7 innings.
Plus, Oakland has been competitive with the Angels this season - leading the season series at 5-4
Vegas has that line set low for a reason. It should be a good, low scoring game and I'll take the + money home team
