MLB Odds: Boston Red Sox Welcome Indians to Fenway Park
The Red Sox continue their homestand this week with the Cleveland Indians at Boston's venerable old Fenway Park for four games starting Monday night.
Pity the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, I know it's tough to feel sorry for a team like Boston with two World Series titles in its hip pocket the last six years. But the Red Sox are looking more and more like they will end the year with the third-best mark in the American League only to miss the playoffs.
Boston will begin the 18th week on the MLB slate 15 games above .500. The Sox stand at 60-45 (plus 2.3 units), currently the fourth-best record in the Junior Circuit. But it's the third-best in their division behind New York and Tampa Bay. While other playoff hopefuls were busy wheeling and dealing over the deadline weekend, Boston stood pat.
The Red Sox will have a shot at making up ground on the Yankees this weekend when they head to New York for a huge four-game series. But first there's the little matter of a four-game series against the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park to start the week.
Monday's baseball betting numbers opened with Boston a 205 favorite and up, with the total set at nine.
Both teams enter the series with very modest two-game winning streaks in progress. Boston avoided an embarrassing loss in front of the Beantown faithful on Sunday with a 4-3 triumph over Detroit. Pegged as 140 favorites, the Sox blew a 3-0 lead in the top of the ninth but rallied on a Marco Scutaro squeeze bunt for their second consecutive win in their final at bat.
Cleveland continued its season dominance over the Blue Jays with a 5-4 win in Toronto as 150 underdogs. It was the sixth time in seven 2010 meetings the final score favored the Indians.
No trades this past week might not be such a bad thing for Boston who is slowly getting some of its key players back from the DL. Both Clay Buchholz, Sunday's starting pitcher, and Josh Beckett have returned from the DL the past couple of weeks. Victor Martinez is back in the lineup, and Jacoby Ellsbury might be a week or less away from returning.
The real key will be when offensive sparkplug Dustin Pedroia can get back into the lineup, though he's still at least 2-3 weeks away.
John Lackey (12-9, 4.26) gets the start on Monday for the home team, and his recent trips to the hill have also been good news for the Red Sox. Boston has won his last three starts, one at home over the Texas Rangers and the last two on the road in Seattle and Anaheim.
The right-hander missed facing the Tribe when Boston visited Cleveland in June, and that miht be a good thing considering his last start there as a member of the Angels (Aug. 2009, 5 1/13 innings, six earned).
Two of those recent Boston wins came with Lackey the underdog. Boston backers in the three contests have added a nice $3.75 to their bankroll.
Fausto Carmona (10-11, 3.92), the lone All-Star rep for the Indians, will be battling Lackey and the Sox lineup. If you've followed Carmona over his career, there's a good chance you started to salivate as soon as you saw his name on the pitching schedule for this game. Boston's hitters have been very unkind to Carmona, especially at Fenway where his ERA is 19.28 his last three starting assignments. Two of those three starts came in the 2007 ALCS when Cleveland was somehow able to win one of the games despite Carmona's numbers.
Boston beat him once already this season with a 4-1 win in Cleveland on June 7. The BoSox were 145 chalk in the game with Carmona working six innings and allowing just two earned. His problem then – and a big problem his entire career – was walks with six free passes in the six frames. He's walked 10 in his last seven innings at Fenway, and he's coming off a thrashing last Wednesday in Cleveland at the hands of the Yankees (2 2/3 IP, 7 ER).
Mother Nature is threatening to interfere with Monday's opener. Boston is looking at a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms during the day; rain chances decrease heading into the evening with a 30 percent chance of showers after dark. The forecast calls for a game-time temp around 70ºF with a light southerly breeze around 5-8 mph (1B out to the Green Monster).
The series continues Tuesday with Cleveland dugout commander Manny Acta still not naming his starting pitcher as of Sunday evening. Whoever takes the hill for the Tribe will be facing Beckett (7-3, 6.33) who will be making his first appearance in front of Red Sox Nation since May 7.
NOTE: W-L records displayed for starting pitchers are team records in games the pitchers start.
The Red Sox continue their homestand this week with the Cleveland Indians at Boston's venerable old Fenway Park for four games starting Monday night.
Pity the Boston Red Sox. Yeah, I know it's tough to feel sorry for a team like Boston with two World Series titles in its hip pocket the last six years. But the Red Sox are looking more and more like they will end the year with the third-best mark in the American League only to miss the playoffs.
Boston will begin the 18th week on the MLB slate 15 games above .500. The Sox stand at 60-45 (plus 2.3 units), currently the fourth-best record in the Junior Circuit. But it's the third-best in their division behind New York and Tampa Bay. While other playoff hopefuls were busy wheeling and dealing over the deadline weekend, Boston stood pat.
The Red Sox will have a shot at making up ground on the Yankees this weekend when they head to New York for a huge four-game series. But first there's the little matter of a four-game series against the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park to start the week.
Monday's baseball betting numbers opened with Boston a 205 favorite and up, with the total set at nine.
Both teams enter the series with very modest two-game winning streaks in progress. Boston avoided an embarrassing loss in front of the Beantown faithful on Sunday with a 4-3 triumph over Detroit. Pegged as 140 favorites, the Sox blew a 3-0 lead in the top of the ninth but rallied on a Marco Scutaro squeeze bunt for their second consecutive win in their final at bat.
Cleveland continued its season dominance over the Blue Jays with a 5-4 win in Toronto as 150 underdogs. It was the sixth time in seven 2010 meetings the final score favored the Indians.
No trades this past week might not be such a bad thing for Boston who is slowly getting some of its key players back from the DL. Both Clay Buchholz, Sunday's starting pitcher, and Josh Beckett have returned from the DL the past couple of weeks. Victor Martinez is back in the lineup, and Jacoby Ellsbury might be a week or less away from returning.
The real key will be when offensive sparkplug Dustin Pedroia can get back into the lineup, though he's still at least 2-3 weeks away.
John Lackey (12-9, 4.26) gets the start on Monday for the home team, and his recent trips to the hill have also been good news for the Red Sox. Boston has won his last three starts, one at home over the Texas Rangers and the last two on the road in Seattle and Anaheim.
The right-hander missed facing the Tribe when Boston visited Cleveland in June, and that miht be a good thing considering his last start there as a member of the Angels (Aug. 2009, 5 1/13 innings, six earned).
Two of those recent Boston wins came with Lackey the underdog. Boston backers in the three contests have added a nice $3.75 to their bankroll.
Fausto Carmona (10-11, 3.92), the lone All-Star rep for the Indians, will be battling Lackey and the Sox lineup. If you've followed Carmona over his career, there's a good chance you started to salivate as soon as you saw his name on the pitching schedule for this game. Boston's hitters have been very unkind to Carmona, especially at Fenway where his ERA is 19.28 his last three starting assignments. Two of those three starts came in the 2007 ALCS when Cleveland was somehow able to win one of the games despite Carmona's numbers.
Boston beat him once already this season with a 4-1 win in Cleveland on June 7. The BoSox were 145 chalk in the game with Carmona working six innings and allowing just two earned. His problem then – and a big problem his entire career – was walks with six free passes in the six frames. He's walked 10 in his last seven innings at Fenway, and he's coming off a thrashing last Wednesday in Cleveland at the hands of the Yankees (2 2/3 IP, 7 ER).
Mother Nature is threatening to interfere with Monday's opener. Boston is looking at a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms during the day; rain chances decrease heading into the evening with a 30 percent chance of showers after dark. The forecast calls for a game-time temp around 70ºF with a light southerly breeze around 5-8 mph (1B out to the Green Monster).
The series continues Tuesday with Cleveland dugout commander Manny Acta still not naming his starting pitcher as of Sunday evening. Whoever takes the hill for the Tribe will be facing Beckett (7-3, 6.33) who will be making his first appearance in front of Red Sox Nation since May 7.
NOTE: W-L records displayed for starting pitchers are team records in games the pitchers start.
