ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Prediction
Sunday May 10, 8:05 PM ET
Tampa Bay Rays (15-17) 3rd place AL East
Boston Red Sox (19-12) 2nd place in AL East
The series is split at 1 game apiece. Josh Beckett and Matt Garza will go for the series win for their respective teams.
Matt Garza (3-2) 3.51 ERA, Team Record (3-3) in starts by Garza
Josh Beckett (3-2) 6-75 ERA, Team Record (4-2) in starts by Beckett
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Tampa Bay is a team floundering early in 2009.
They have a losing record on the season but have a great 6-3 record vs. Boston thus far. They have the MLB leaders in HR’s and RBI’s in Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria. Pena has 13 HR’s and 32 RBI’s and Longoria has 11 HR’s and 44 RBI’s early in the season. The rest of the lineup has been pretty inconsistent. The Rays will have Matt Garza on the hill Sunday night. He has had great success vs. Boston this year. He is 2-0 with 14.1 IP and only 1 ER allowed. In 2008 TB was 4-1 vs. Boston in starts by Garza.
Boston owns the 3rd best record in baseball but can’t seem to beat Tampa Bay very often. They will likely be without the services of Kevin Youkilis, the league’s leading hitter. With Varitek behind the dish, TB abused him with several stolen bases in the last week. Jason Bay will need to stay red hot to keep Boston in this game. He has hit 4 HR’s and drove in 13 in the last 6 games. Josh Beckett will toe the rubber for the 3rd time against the Rays this year. He has had mixed results. He is 1-1 in 11.2 IP and has given up 8 ER. Beckett is also struggling a bit in his last 5 starts. He hasn’t gone more than 6 innings in any of them and has given up at least 3 ER in every one.
Betting Lines:
Tampa Bay +115
Boston -135
Over/Under 9.5
Sunday Night Baseball FREE PICK for Tampa Bay vs. Boston
Pick – Tampa Bay ML +115
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Chris Hahn is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog. He’s a Wichita State Shockers season tix holder! But don’t hold that against him ok? He flat out loves his New York Mets! Got a comment? In the mood to run a little smack? Chris wants to hear from you, so comment below!
