Boston isn’t just beating the opposition, they are absolutely steamrolling them. The Red Sox outscored the Blue Jays 35-6 in their three-game sweep in Toronto this past weekend.
Prior to that, Boston swept the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. What about the Rays? Tampa Bay has been an extremely streaky team all year, but they have won five of their last six games overall. This is an important series for both teams.
Tim Wakefield will on the mound for the Red Sox in this one. Wakefield has given the Red Sox what they have needed thus far in 2011. He is an innings eater who keeps this team in the game and rests the bullpen. The Red Sox offense had a disappointing first month, but they are making up for it in a big way of late.
Adrian Gonzalez is proving to be a very wise offseason pickup. Gonzalez leads the majors with 60 runs batted in, and he has an average of .341 so far this year. David Ortiz is hitting .325 and Jacoby Ellsbury is batting .317. Carl Crawford and Kevin Youkilis started the season slowly, but both of them are crushing the ball of late. It’s tough to a find a weakness in this Red Sox offense.
James Shields gets the start for Tampa Bay in this one. A shield has had a very good season in 2011. He has an ERA of 2.85 for the year, but he has given up 10 earned runs in his last two starts. Tampa Bay’s pitching staff is solid, and they have a very good defense behind them.
The offense has been inconsistent this year. Matt Joyce is having an unbelievable breakout year, but the rest of the offense has struggled. Joyce is batting .330 with 11 home runs so far in 2011.
Sam Fuld carried the team for a period at the beginning of the year, but he is in a horrible offensive slump right now. Evan Longoria is a proven hitter, but he has struggled to get going this season as well.
The Red Sox are the hottest team in baseball right now, and the Rays will travel late on Monday night. At plus money, I like the Red Sox money line here.
Free MLB Predictions: Red Sox ML
Boston Red Sox (39-26) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (35-31) Free MLB Picks
Moneyline: Rays (-123) Red Sox (+113)
Over/Under: 9
Starting Pitchers: Red Sox (Wakefield) vs. Rays (Shields)
No comments:
Post a Comment