Boston Red Sox (19-20) AT New York Yankees (20-17)
May 15, 2011 at 8:05 PM EST
Moneyline: BOS -130, NYY +120
Total: 8.5
SP: BOS- Jon Lester, NYY- Freddy Garcia
If pitchers’ duels are your thing, you may be in luck tonight. Jon Lester and Freddy Garcia both sport ERAs under 3.00, though only Lester has been able to cash in on it with a good win – loss record (4-1), while Garcia has received less than stellar run support (2-2 record). It is actually Garcia who has the slightly better ERA at 2.61.
Boston will look to sweep the Yankees, after shutting them out in a 6-0 win on last night. The pitching dominance came at the hand of Josh Beckett, whose pitches were effective and in the strike zone all night. “That’s probably the best cutter I’ve seen him have in a while. Changeup— he used all his pitches,” Boston manager Terry Francona said. “We have a lot of confidence in him. We always have. He worked hard and said last year he was going to come back with a vengeance, and I think he has.”
There is a lot of clouds of speculation around the disappearance of Jorge Posada, who now claims to be injured after being ejected in the 7th inning of Saturday’s loss. “Want me to tell you what I think? (The Yankees are) doing that guy wrong,” Boston’s David Ortiz remarked, “You know why? Because that guy is legendary.”
“I told him I couldn’t play, and that I needed time to clear my head, and that was it. My back stiffened up a bit. I was taking a lot of groundballs at first base and working out, and it stiffened up,” Posada lamented. “I wasn’t 100 percent to play the game. I mean, nothing serious.”
Jacob Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez both had multiple RBI games on Saturday and Dustin Pedroia went 3 of 4 from the plate, while also scoring a run.
Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester is 4-1 with a 1.99 ERA in his 7 starts at Yankee Stadium, and his record is 3-0 with a 0.89 ERA over the last three. He didn’t do well in his last appearance, giving up 5 runs in 5 1/3rds innings of 7-6 ten inning loss. But that should change against the Yankees, as he has dominated them historically. Manager Terry Francona said Lester’s pitching was “uncharacteristic, and that he “[wasn’t] throwing it where he wanted to.” Pitchers do have bad days, but Red Sox fans will have to hope it isn’t part of an actual trend.
Freddy Garcia, taking the mound for the Yankees, gave up only one run and 6 hits over 6+ innings in the 3-1 win over the KC Royals on Tuesday. He knows his power is not what it used to be, but his variety of pitches keep him competitive…”I don’t have the power anymore. I’ve got to go out there and make it happen,” he said.
Some betting trends:
Boston is 5-2 SU in their last 7 games and the Red Sox are 8-4 SU in their last 12 games on the road. The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Boston’s last 9 road games while the Red Sox are 6-1 SU in their last 7 against the Yankees. The Red Sox are 5-1 SU in their last 6 road games in Yankee Stadium while the total has gone UNDER in 4 of the last 6 at Yankee Stadium.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of the Yankees’ last 5 games and the Yankees are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games. The total has gone UNDER in 5 of their last 6 at home while they are 1-4 SU in their last 5 home games. The Yankees are 1-6 SU in their last 7 against the Red Sox and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of their last 6 at home against Boston. The Yankees are 1-5 SU in their last 6 games at Boston.
Garcia has gone 5-0 with a 4.55 ERA in his last 9 starts against the Red Sox, but with Lester’s pitching that may not be good enough. Expect for Lester to come out and exercise control over a variety of pitches. Like I said, this game might not have much offensive production and I like the ‘under’ on this one.
