Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees o9.0 (-110 betting odds)
Fri August 7th 2009 7:05p
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Manager Terry Francona will hand the ball to his ace, Josh Beckett. Beckett has turned himself into a legitimate Cy Young Award contender in the American League, as he is 13-4 with a 3.27 ERA after a miserable start to the season. The right-hander is 6-1 in his L/8 starts, and Red Sox bettors are 7-1 in those games. He’s averaged striking out 6.4 batters per game and only has a 2.44 ERA in that stretch; in four of those outings, Beckett didn’t allow a run. He tossed seven scoreless frames to pitch the BoSox to a 4-0 victory in his most recent start against the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees have figured him out this season though, as he owns a hefty 5.82 ERA in three starts. However, the Sox are a perfect 3-0 in those games, and Beckett has gotten the win in two of them.

Opposing the right-hander will be his former teammate, AJ Burnett. Burnett, who played with Beckett on the Marlins for several seasons, is 10-5 with a 3.89 ERA this year. After a stretch of 11 straight starts of allowing three or fewer earned runs, Burnett was lit up for seven runs in 4.2 innings of New York’s 14-4 loss at US Cellular Field on August 1st. The righty has been dominated by Boston this season, as he’s 0-1 with a 12.91 ERA in two starts. This is against the grain for his career though. Coming into this season, Burnett was 5-0 with a 2.56 ERA against the Sox. If the Yankees hope to pick up the victory tonight, he’ll have to pitch a lot more like the guy who was undefeated against the Sox before this season and a lot less like he has already this year.

It’s pretty clear that both of these offenses have the ability of lighting up the scoreboard. Neither pitcher has had success against the other squad this year. ‘Under’ bettors may be 7-2-2 in the L/11 games between these teams, but tonight, that trend should be bucked. The ball flew out of Yankee Stadium at a rampant pace last night, and the same should be true for tonight’s contest. Expect to see a crammed stat sheet and a lot of pitchers used by the time the night’s over.

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