Yankees (51-44) vs Red Sox (58-39)
Depending on how you are looking at it the New York Yankees are either the luckiest or unluckiest team in the American League. Unlucky because they have been beset by injuries big time but lucky because they are 7 games over .500 and still in the hunt, technically.
Friday July 19
Fenway Park – Boston, MA
7:10PM
NYY: Andy Pettite (L)
BOS: Felix Doubront (L)
Moneyline: Boston -145, New York +135
Over/Under: 9.5
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New York
The commonsense thinking is that if they can get healthy they can compete for the playoffs but then they got a scare in the All-Star game when 2B Robinson Cano got hit by a Matt Harvey pitch – it looks like no real damage was done.
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It would be a big opening statement if the Yankees can win this series at Boston to start the second half.
Starter Andy Pettite may not be his vintage best but he is certainly not embarrassing himself out there this season….and the Yankees need him to keep going.
It looks like the All-Star break might have been coming at the perfect time for Pettite hasn’t gone as deep as 7 innings in more than a month. His best start of the season was actually against Boston, his first start of the season when he went 8 innings and gave up just 1 ER. It was his 19th win against Boston for his career.
I have a good feeling he can rise to the occasion to get things going for New York. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Boston
Boston finished the first half of the season in first place (with Tampa charging hard). It has been a great turnaround from a year ago, one that I have been kind of surprised by when you consider that there isn’t anyone having an other worldly season. It has been a true team effort with 6 regulars hitting over .280 on the second best hitting team in the Majors.
They are first in runs and OBP and again second in slugging. From top to bottom the Red Sox lineup has been wearing out pitching staggs all season long.
The pitching has been good enough with a surprising resurgence from veteran John Lackey. Coming into the season you never would have guessed that lefty Felix Doubront would be the most effective lefthander on the team (Jon Lester right?). Doubront still walks too many hitters but he seems to have a knack for getting out of trouble.
Surprisingly Doubront has strong numbers against the Yankees. In his lone start of the season against New York he gave up just 1ER over 6 innings and for his career he is 2-1 with an ERA of 2.52.
I don’t see the Yankees getting healthy and making a playoff push but I think there will be enough juice in the atmosphere to get a good outing out of Pettite against the rival Red Sox, even at Fenway. Doubront always seems to get himself into a little trouble and I think he might not be so sharp after the break.
I know it is not a ton to go on. Nice to have this series coming out of the break for fans.
O/U: Under
Score Prediction: New York 5 – Boston 4
