AL West: The Oakland Pitching Factory

Baseball Betting Lines

05/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Year after year, the Oakland Athletics have churned out solid young pitchers from their farm system in assembly-line fashion.

This year has been no different, as Oakland's pitching staff ranks third in the American League with a combined 3.92 ERA. The starting rotation boasts an average age of 26.7 years, which is the youngest in the majors. Dallas Braden, owner of a perfect game already this season, is the second-oldest pitcher in the rotation, at just 26.

"You look in the winter at all the top-notch pitching free agents and see how few real top-notch guys are available." manager Bob Geren said in a recent interview with the team's Web site. "To be able to grow your own and see them blossom into that style of pitching is a credit to numerous people."

That development begins at the lower levels of Oakland's minor league system, where the coaches emphasize preparing the pitching prospects with the tools, and mindset, needed to make it to The Show. Once there, A's pitching coach Curt Young takes the reins and further fine-tunes those skills, closely monitoring each pitcher's progression.

Young is in his seventh season as Oakland's pitching coach. Over the past six seasons under his tutelage, the A's pitching staff has allowed the fewest home runs in the American League (909), has the lowest opponent batting average (.259) and ranks second in ERA (4.10).

Prized free agent acquisition Ben Sheets (31) saw his Oakland tenure get off to a rocky start, and things came to a head during a two-game stretch a few weeks ago when he allowed a combined 17 runs.

On Sunday, Sheets baffled the Bay Area-rival San Francisco Giants by allowing just two hits in six innings, striking out eight along the way. It marked the second straight shutout of the Giants, after 24-year-old Gio Gonzalez tossed eight scoreless innings in Saturday's 1-0 victory.

All told, A's pitchers held the Giants to just one run in sweeping the three- game series over the weekend. San Francisco was held scoreless for the final 20 innings of the series.

Since giving up those 17 runs, Sheets has allowed a total of seven runs over his last four starts, to which he credits an adjustment with his arm angle. Manager Bob Geren also pointed to Sheets developing his cut fastball and relying on his changeup more frequently. While the numbers certainly suggest the veteran right-hander has turned a corner, Sheets said he is only now starting to feel more at ease on the mound, which is evident by his increased velocity.

"I'm just feeling a lot better from start to start," he told the Oakland Tribune. "When I look back at month to month to month, I can really tell a big difference. The more you do something, the more comfortable you feel at it. It feels good, because I think I'm starting to settle in."

Thanks to Sheets and the rest of the pitching staff, the A's have won three straight to move above .500 (23-22), as they trail the division-leading Texas Rangers by just two games. Now, the A's pitchers look to keep dealing as the team embarks on a 10-game road trip through Baltimore, Detroit and Boston.

RANGERS SHUFFLE STARTING ROTATION

Rangers' manager Ron Washington has been searching for another lefty bullpen option to go along with Darren Oliver. It appears the search has ultimately landed on starter Matt Harrison, who learned he will join the bullpen upon his return from the disabled list.

Harrison, who has not made a relief appearance since 2006, began a rehab assignment in Double-A on Monday. Barring any setbacks, he could join the team in his new role as early as Friday in Minnesota. In six starts for the Rangers this season, Harrison went 1-1 with a 5.29 ERA before being shutdown with left biceps tendinitis.

"I really don't know what to expect," he told the Star-Telegram. "I talked to (Dustin) Nippert. He said it's different because every time the phone rings down there, your adrenalin gets going. It's something I'm going to have to experience firsthand, and hopefully the minor league games will help."

In other pitching news, Washington announced over the weekend that he had switched C.J. Wilson and Derek Holland in the rotation. Wilson will now pitch Saturday against the Twins, while Holland will pitch Sunday, giving him seven days off between starts. The team has two open dates this week, which opened the possibility for such a move.

After winning the first five games of their seven-game homestand, the Rangers lost consecutive games this weekend against the Chicago Cubs by identical 5-4 finals. Thus far the road has not been very kind to the Rangers, who are 18-9 at home but just 7-11 elsewhere.

PROBLEMS AT THE TOP FOR SEATTLE

The box scores show that Seattle managed just two runs over the final 22 innings of this weekend's series with the San Diego Padres. And with that, the Mariners are now just 5-16 in May and have not won a series all month long.

Chone Figgins was acquired in the offseason with the hope that he'd team up with leadoff man Ichiro Suzuki to give Seattle a formidable 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup. However, that plan hasn't quite worked out, which is just one of the many reasons Seattle (16-28) now has the second-worst record in the American League.

According to the team's Web site, Suzuki and Figgins have both reached base only 17 percent of the innings which they've batted consecutively. Of course, it's tough to fault Suzuki, who is hitting .348 and has 22 multi-hit games. Figgins, a former leadoff man with the Angels, is hitting just .195 with a team-high 42 strikeouts in the No. 2 hole.

Although Figgins doesn't blame his struggles on his new home in the lineup, one can't help but correlate the two. After all, he is a career .291 hitter and is coming off an All-Star nod last season -- which is why the team gave him $36 million over four years. Still, despite the team's well-documented offensive struggles, Figgins isn't putting any added pressure on himself. What's more, he evens claims he's been swinging the bat better lately.

"My mind-set never changes no matter where I am (in the order)," Figgins told the Seattle Times. "I think times like this show you what you're made of. I'm not the kind of guy that's going to give in. I'll never give in. I'm going to go out and keep playing.

"That's who I am. I've always been like that. Stuff never comes easy. If you can realize that and battle through the hard times you can get rewarded."

ANGELS MISSING SOME FORMER STARS

The early polls are in for the 2010 All-Star ballots, and so far the results should be of particular interest to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Among the leading vote-getters at their respective positions are the Rangers' Vladimir Guerrero and the Yankees' Mark Teixeira, two key figures of the Angels' not-so-distant past.

Teixeira, who hit .358 and had a .632 slugging percentage in 54 games with the Angels in 2008, is the leading vote-getter at first base thus far, nearly 138,000 votes ahead of Minnesota's Justin Morneau.

Guerrero, an eight-time All-Star with the Halos, has rebounded from his knee problems to hit .339 with 10 homers and 37 RBI in his first year as the Rangers' designated hitter. He leads the voting at DH with 374,333 tallies. Ironically, the Angels' new DH, Hideki Matsui, ranks second with 298,487 votes.

However, Matsui's votes can be credited more so to his reputation than to his production thus far. He was hitting just .161 in the Month of May entering Monday's series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays. With Toronto left-hander Brett Cecil on the hill for that game, Angels' manager Mike Scioscia dropped Matsui to seventh in the lineup. That change, it appears, will remain in place until Matsui picks things up at the plate.

"Against lefties right now, we want to keep Juan (Rivera) behind Kendry (Morales) so Hideki will hit behind Juan against lefties, and most likely hit higher against righties," Scioscia said. "I talked to Hideki (Monday), and I think when he starts swinging it, we'll get him in the middle of the lineup. Right now he's searching, and so against lefties we'll go with this lineup."

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds

Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it. Work left to do: Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney. Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson. Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable. Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional sports lines can be found at: www.Sportsbooks.com

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.