4* Red Sox -124: Julian Tavarez certainly isn't a great pitcher, and his numbers for the year are rather ordinary: 5-4, 4.50 ERA, 1.34 WHIP. He's generally regarded as the No. 5 starter and the weak link on one of the best rotations in the league. However, over his last 7 starts, Tavarez has been nothing short of outstanding, and Boston's best pitcher not named Beckett. Over that span, Tavarez is 4-0 with a 3.06 ERA, including wins over arguably the two best offenses in baseball - the Yankees and Tigers. Furthermore, the Red Sox as a team are 6-1 in his last 7 starts, with the only loss coming to the premier pitcher in the league right now, Danny Haren.
Boston is playing some of their best ball of the season right now after sweeping the Giants and taking 2/3 from Atlanta and 2/3 from the Padres. Manny Ramirez has started to hit, raising his average from .268 at the beginning of June, to .300 for the first time all year. Coco Crisp is swinging the bat better than he has all year, compiling multiple hits in 3 of his last 5 games, while Ortiz, Youkilis and Pedroia have been relatively consistent all year.
Tavarez will be matched up against Jeff Weaver, coming off by far his best outing of the year, a complete game shutout against the Pirates. He's pitched fairly well in each of his last 3 starts (PITT, CHC, SD). I think this is a great spot to fade him, as it's simply a huge step-up in class from Pittsburgh's offense to Boston's. Now that interleague play is over, I expect the real Jeff Weaver to appear. He was roughed up in his first start of the year against the Red Sox, (2 IP, 7 R) and I think tomorrow night will be more of the same.
Other plays:
1* Nationals +173
1* LAD/D'Backs U 8.5 -115
1/2* Royals +250
My bad....messed up the title to the thread....should be 6/25.