The reeling Blue Jays 10 game road swing continues tonight as they roll into Oakland for a four game set with the Athletics. This evening’s series opener between the two clubs is scheduled to get underway at 10:05pm ET at the O.co Coliseum. MLB Odds have the hosting A’s listed as a -127 moneyline favorite; Toronto is drawing +117 odds to bring an end to its four game skid. The Under 7.5 runs in favored in tonight’s game at -130 odds.
The Oakland A’s forced their way into the AL West race, now they are trying to stay in it after dropping three of their last four games. The Athletics opened the season’s second half by winning 12 of their first 15 games, but things have gone sour since a 4-2 road swing that featured series wins over Toronto and Baltimore. Oakland, which dropped its finale with Orioles, returned home to lose two out of three to the Rays, bringing its record to 56-48.
The A’s, who are 4.5 games back of the first place Rangers and just a half game back of the second place Angels, will look to right the ship by sending 14 year veteran Bartolo Colon to the mound. The 39 year old Colon has been remarkably consistent this season, putting together a 7-8 record and 3.78 in 20 starts. He was particularly effective in his last start, limiting Baltimore to seven hits and no earned runs over 5.2 innings.
Oakland is 6-2 in Colon’s last eight appearances; however, the team is 5-6 in his 11 starts at the O.co Coliseum this season. Colon is 2-6 with a 4.64 ERA in 11 home starts.
Toronto’s second half has been a mixed bag with the club seemingly alternating between three game winning and losing streaks. It’s current road swing, which started on the heels of a 4-1 home loss to the Tigers, extended the Blue Jays slide beyond the norm as the Mariners completed a three game sweep of Toronto last night.
The Blue Jays, now 51-53 and 10 games out of first in the AL East, will call on 22 year old right hander Henderson Alvarez to stop the bleeding. Alvarez comes into tonight’s ball game with a modest 7-7 record and 4.43 ERA; however, two of his last three appearances have been noteworthy. The Venezuelan native held the Tigers to five hits and one earned run his last time out and he limited the Yankees to five hits and two earned runs in New York on July 16th.
Tonight will mark Alvarez third career start against the Athletics; he is 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA in his previous two meetings with Oakland.
MLB Odds Betting Trend: Bartolo Colon’s teams are 1-6 since 2003 when he has started as a home favorite with a moneyline spread between 120 and 140 and total between 7.5 and 8 runs.
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MLB Odds 2012 Toronto Blue Jays vs Oakland Athletics: Provided by TopBet.eu
Toronto Blue Jays +1.5 (-195), Over 7.5 (+110), +117 (Moneyline)
Oakland Athletics -1.5 (+165), Under 7.5 (-130), -127 (Moneyline)
