MLB Baseball
2009-08-20 - Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays
A Sports Betting Pick by BetOnline
MLB Betting :
Red Sox To Triumph In Battle Of Lefties
The mid-August baseball races aren’t as closely contested as the fights on the upcoming UFC 102 fight card but they are slowly heating up.
Jon Lester(9-7) vs Brett Cecil (5-1)
Boston Red Sox
(Overall 68-51 - Road 30-33 - Last W 6-1 at TOR)
The Boston Red Sox find themselves in an interesting predicament. They had a good offseason, they appeared to have the deepest starting pitching rotation in the Majors, they made the big splash at the MLB trade deadline – not the New York Yankees – yet they still find themselves way behind the race for the American League East.
Even so, those who are betting online know that the Red Sox can make the playoffs via the wild card but even in that category, they are struggling. The Texas Rangers will not go away and the Tampa Bay Rays are also buzzing around, which means the Red Sox need a steady dose of wins to make the playoffs.
The Boston Red Sox are in more desperate need of wins so one might figure that the effort advantage is on their side opposed to the Toronto Blue Jays, who aren’t playing for much these days.
Another contributing factor might be the fact that Jon Lester is on the mound for the Red Sox. Lester has not been as dominant as he was in the playoffs last year but he’s still 9-7 with a 3.71 ERA this year.
So far this month, though, he’s been very sharp.
In his three August starts, Lester has a 2.37 ERA. He’s struck out 28 batters and walked just five. But his issue has been run support. In his last seven starts, the Red Sox have averaged 4.1 runs per game.
Toronto Blue Jays
(55-63 Overall - Home 31-28 - Last L 1-6 v BOS)
Jays rookie pitcher Brett Cecil struggled at the start of this season but has settled down a little bit. He posted an ERA of 3.04 in July and has been fairly good over his last five starts.
While Cecil has posted an ERA of 4.76 in his two starts this month, if you package in his three previous starts, Cecil’s ERA is just 2.03 in his last five outings.
Not many sports picks will side with Cecil in this contest as baseball is all about what have you done lately. His numbers have trended south in August so bettors are likely to stay away.
The Betting Verdict :
A good pick in this game might be the under as this game figures to be low-scoring.
The Pick :
Under The 8.5 Run Total
