MLB Betting Odds: Rays and Red Sox Rekindle Rivalry at Fenway
James Shields is mired in a slump and going against a squad that has beat him 13 out of 17 times when the Rays open a series at Fenway Park tonight.
Everyone knows about the big rivalries in baseball. The Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers, Giants probably come to mind first. But the undercard on the list of antagonistic foes includes some hostile matchups that are in many ways better than the ones that get the most media play.
Take the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, for example.
Even before Tampa put together its marvelous run to the World Series in 2008 and became known as a winning club, there was an unfriendliness between the two clubs. That was only natural given the fact the city has been the longtime home of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and has been the home of the Yanks' spring training since 1996, two years before the old Devil Rays took to a major league field.
The rivalry simmered for a while before boiling over on June 5, 2008 right here in Fenway Park. James Shields (7-8, 4.55) – Coincidentally the starting hurler for the Rays in Tuesday's series opener – plunked then-Boston outfielder Coco Crisp with a pitch and all heck broke loose. Games between the two clubs really haven't been the same since.
Crisp has moved on since then with the Royals and A's and probably wishes he was back in Boston and in the lineup. Shields might be leaning the other way and wishing he was pitching somewhere else, at least on Tuesday when the three-game series begins.
The Tampa Bay right-hander is in need of breaking out of a slump, having dropped his last six starts. Fenway Park wouldn't be his first, second or even 29th choice of stadiums to try and accomplish that.
Shields is 1-6 in seven career starts at Fenway, posting a 7.26 ERA over 34 2/3 innings. Even if the game was at Tropicana Field in St. Pete, Shields wouldn't want to take on the Red Sox. Boston has won 13 of the 17 games Shields has started, including a pair of 2008 ALCS contests.
John Lackey (8-7, 4.69) gets the call for Terry Francona's club and is also hoping to break clear from the inconsistency that has plagued him this season. He does have nine quality starts of the 15 he's made and Boston is 6-2 when he hurls at Fenway despite Lackey having a 5.03 ERA.
He was hammered in an April loss to the Rays at Fenway, giving up eight runs in 3 1/3 frames. Lackey then bounced back with a good effort in Tampa when the clubs met again in late-May. That epitomizes how the head-to-head battles have gone so far with the Rays sweeping four in Boston before the Red Sox broomed three at the Trop.
MLB odds opened with Lackey and the BoSox 120-125 favorites. The total was set at 9½ with more chalk on the 'under.'
Unless you're one of those bettors that swears by the law of averages and believes everything evens out, then I see no reason how anyone can back Shields. Lackey hasn't been his usual consistent self, but Shields has a bad history in Fenway and is on a bad run to boot.
Daytime clouds are expected to clear as the evening hours approach in Boston. It should start out in the upper-70s before cooling into the 60s or even upper-50s as the game progresses. Winds are forecast out of the WNW at 10-15 mph (3B out towards Pesky's Pole).
The series continues Wednesday with Matt Garza (9-6, 4.10) on the hill for Tampa Bay against Daisuke Matsuzaka (6-3, 4.50) for the Red Sox.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
James Shields is mired in a slump and going against a squad that has beat him 13 out of 17 times when the Rays open a series at Fenway Park tonight.
Everyone knows about the big rivalries in baseball. The Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers, Giants probably come to mind first. But the undercard on the list of antagonistic foes includes some hostile matchups that are in many ways better than the ones that get the most media play.
Take the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays, for example.
Even before Tampa put together its marvelous run to the World Series in 2008 and became known as a winning club, there was an unfriendliness between the two clubs. That was only natural given the fact the city has been the longtime home of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and has been the home of the Yanks' spring training since 1996, two years before the old Devil Rays took to a major league field.
The rivalry simmered for a while before boiling over on June 5, 2008 right here in Fenway Park. James Shields (7-8, 4.55) – Coincidentally the starting hurler for the Rays in Tuesday's series opener – plunked then-Boston outfielder Coco Crisp with a pitch and all heck broke loose. Games between the two clubs really haven't been the same since.
Crisp has moved on since then with the Royals and A's and probably wishes he was back in Boston and in the lineup. Shields might be leaning the other way and wishing he was pitching somewhere else, at least on Tuesday when the three-game series begins.
The Tampa Bay right-hander is in need of breaking out of a slump, having dropped his last six starts. Fenway Park wouldn't be his first, second or even 29th choice of stadiums to try and accomplish that.
Shields is 1-6 in seven career starts at Fenway, posting a 7.26 ERA over 34 2/3 innings. Even if the game was at Tropicana Field in St. Pete, Shields wouldn't want to take on the Red Sox. Boston has won 13 of the 17 games Shields has started, including a pair of 2008 ALCS contests.
John Lackey (8-7, 4.69) gets the call for Terry Francona's club and is also hoping to break clear from the inconsistency that has plagued him this season. He does have nine quality starts of the 15 he's made and Boston is 6-2 when he hurls at Fenway despite Lackey having a 5.03 ERA.
He was hammered in an April loss to the Rays at Fenway, giving up eight runs in 3 1/3 frames. Lackey then bounced back with a good effort in Tampa when the clubs met again in late-May. That epitomizes how the head-to-head battles have gone so far with the Rays sweeping four in Boston before the Red Sox broomed three at the Trop.
MLB odds opened with Lackey and the BoSox 120-125 favorites. The total was set at 9½ with more chalk on the 'under.'
Unless you're one of those bettors that swears by the law of averages and believes everything evens out, then I see no reason how anyone can back Shields. Lackey hasn't been his usual consistent self, but Shields has a bad history in Fenway and is on a bad run to boot.
Daytime clouds are expected to clear as the evening hours approach in Boston. It should start out in the upper-70s before cooling into the 60s or even upper-50s as the game progresses. Winds are forecast out of the WNW at 10-15 mph (3B out towards Pesky's Pole).
The series continues Wednesday with Matt Garza (9-6, 4.10) on the hill for Tampa Bay against Daisuke Matsuzaka (6-3, 4.50) for the Red Sox.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
