MLB Betting – Rays vs Red Sox Preview & Pick
Many series over a team’s season qualify as “make or break” but the expression doesn’t apply much better than it does to Tampa’s four-game set with Boston this weekend.
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MLB Betting – Rays vs Red Sox Preview & Pick
Date: Thursday, September 15, 2011
Venue: Fenway Park, Boston, MA
Broadcast: SUN, NESN
Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox Betting Lines from BetOnline.com
Money Line: Sox -110
Over/Under: 9.5
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Tampa Bay Rays (82-65 through September 13)
Jeremy Hellickson (12-10, 2.96)
Through Tuesday night, Tampa’s massive resurgence put it four games back of the Red Sox. A four-game series means….you do the math. This is the last time these two teams meet in the 2011 regular season.
Jeremy Hellickson will toe the rubber at for Tampa at Fenway Park on Thursday night. He battled Boston to a no-decision last week at home, allowing three runs over six innings. The rookie’s lone trip to Fenway earlier this season yielded a win, albeit a lucky one, as he walked five and allowed five hits over 5.1 innings but allowed just two runs.
Boston Red Sox (86-61 through September 13)
Kyle Weiland (0-1, 6.75)
The Boston Red Sox finally stopped their losing skid with an 18-6 win over Toronto Tuesday night but they should still be very worried about their playoff hopes. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
Injuries to their pitching staff have forced them to rely on some arms that simply shouldn’t be in major-league rotations. Sorry, but John Lackey isn’t good enough anymore.
And Kyle Weiland, Thursday’s probable starter, doesn’t look ready. In three big-league starts, he has just five strikeouts compared to eight walks over 14 innings. The rookie deception factor didn’t help him against Tampa last week; the Rays managed six hits and three runs off him in four innings. That was without the book on him. What will they do to Weiland this time out – especially in a pressure-packed start at raucous Fenway?
MLB Trends
Under is 8-1 in TB last 9 on grass.
TB are 8-3 in their last 11 overall.
Over is 10-4 in Hellicksons last 14 road starts.
Over is 6-2 in BOS last 8 overall.
Over is 6-2 in BOS last 8 vs. American League East.
TB are 26-57 in the last 83 meetings in Boston.
MLB Free pick:
The Red Sox have plenty of fight left in them but I don’t like their chances on Thursday. Weiland isn’t ready to start a game with such high stakes. Hellickson, meanwhile, seems unflappable. He has the feel of a pure winner, as he battles and picks up Ws even on nights when he doesn’t have his best stuff.
Look for Tampa to close the gap on Thursday.
Rays vs Red Sox prediction: Rays 6, Red Sox 3
