MLB Baseball
2012-07-13 - Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Friday 13 July 2012 - First Pitch 7:10pm ET
12:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
Both the Tampa Bay Rays (45-41) and the Boston Red Sox (43-43) will be glad to see the first half of the season over and will be hoping that the second half produces a turnaround in the amount of injuries the team suffered. With the New York Yankees in a promising lead in the American League East, these two teams may already be in a position of scrambling for a Play Off spot through one of the two Wild Card spots in the American League.
Tampa Bay and Boston have both suffered significant injuries throughout the course of this season and have missed some vital cogs. The likes of Evan Longoria, Jacob Ellsbury and Carl Crawford have all missed length of time and only Ellsbury looks set to return for this game.
Both of these teams are trailing the Yankees in the AL East- Tampa Bay are 7.5 games behind, while the Red Sox are 9.5 games behind. However, both are still more than in touch with the Wild Card positions with Boston being just 2.5 games out from those in what could be a wild race to the finish.
Jeremy Hellickson will be given the ball for the Rays and he has a 4-5 record with a 3.41 ERA this season. However, he is just 0-5 in his last seven starts for Tampa Bay and has been supported by just 13 runs in those games while his 4.23 ERA hasn't made it possible to escape too many decisions.
The pitcher is 1-0 in three starts against Boston this season and has a 4.23 ERA in those games. He has only pitched against them once at Tropicana Field in those games, holding the Red Sox to just 1 run in 6 innings pitched.
Franklin Morales will be given the opportunity to bounce back from a disappointing start against the New York Yankees as he is given the ball by the Boston Red Sox. He gave up 6 runs to the Yankees in just over 3 innings pitched in his last start and now has a 1-2 record with a 3.50 ERA so far this season.
However, Morales can point to the fact he was 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in three starts before the game with the Yankees as he faces the Rays for the first time.
Head to Head
Boston lead the head to head with Tampa Bay 5-4 this season. Each team has 1 series win and 1 series tied so far in 2012.
Tampa Bay have split their home games 1-1 against the Red Sox, although they had won 4 in a row before losing the last one at Tropicana Field.
Tampa Bay are 24-19 at home this season, Boston are 21-19 on the road.
Prediction
This is another close game to start the second half of the season, but I do like the chances of Boston to pick up the win to open this three game series in Florida.
Franklin Morales was tagged by the heavy hitting New York Yankees in his last start, but he had shown some potential before that and he could be supported by a batting line up that has had some success against Jeremy Hellickson in the past.
Boston had a poor end to the first half of the season, but the break may have given them the opportunity to regroup and get a little healthier. It is a pick 'em contest, but I like the Red Sox chances in this one.
The Pick :
Tampa Bay Rays 3-4 Boston Red Sox
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll take the Boston Red Sox @ 1.95
