MLB Baseball
2012-05-02 - Oakland Athletics at Boston Red Sox
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Wednesday 2 May 2012 - First Pitch 7:10pm ET
12:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
The Boston Red Sox (11-12) and the Oakland Athletics (12-13) have split the first two games of the series at Fenway Park with Boston winning Game 1 11-5 and Oakland responding in Game 2 5-3.
Boston are currently bottom of the American League East and this is the longest time into the season since 1996 they have occupied that position. However, the East is fairly tight at the moment and they are not too many games behind the New York Yankees who are their biggest rivals for the Divisional crown.
The Red Sox will give the ball to Daniel Bard who is 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA so far this season and a pitcher that is usually one of the relief pitchers in the bullpen. Bard got his first career victory as a starter last week as he gave up just 3 runs in 7 innings pitched at the Chicago White Sox.
He has pitched 14 relief innings against the Oakland Athletics and has allowed just 1 run and 8 hits, while also recording a save.
Oakland have not won a series in Boston since 2009, but will feel they have half a chance with Brandon McCarthy taking the ball for them. McCarthy is 1-3 with a 3.23 ERA this season, but he has been on the wrong side of a few decisions as he has not been given the run support in his outings.
He did receive the decision in his last start after holding the Baltimore Orioles to 2 runs from 7 innings pitched. However, McCarthy has to erase some painful memories of playing Boston in the past- he is 0-3 with a 8.83 ERA from 6 games, 3 of those as a starter, against the Red Sox although he hasn't faced them since 2008.
Head to Head
Boston dropped to 6-2 in their last 8 home games against Oakland following the loss last night.
The Red Sox are 8-3 in the last 11 games overall in the series.
Boston are 4-6 at home, Oakland are 6-6 on the road.
Prediction
Oakland have been a bit hit and miss with their bats for much of the season, while Boston either score heavily or barely register on the scoreboard.
The Red Sox have generally performed well against the Athletics at Fenway Park and they have good memories of facing Brandon McCarthy. With Daniel Bard likely to at least keep the Oakland bats a little quiet, I am interested in taking Boston on the run line at a stand-out 2.33 on offer.
This is a tight game, but I think Boston's bats are a little more consistent at the moment and should be able to win with a little bit of room to spare as long as the bullpen doesn't go back to their 'blowing big leads late' mode.
The Pick :
Boston Red Sox 5-3 Oakland Athletics
