Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees: Betting Odds & Preview

Written May 4, 2009 by Steve Janus

red-sox-yankees-preview-050409 The second series of the year in one of the most storied rivalries in sports kicks off tonight as the New York Yankees host the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of a two-game set. The Sox swept the first head-to-head series this year 3-0 in Boston. New York has won 4 of their last 5 overall, while the Red Sox had a rough trip up down to Tampa Bay, losing 3 of 4 in the series. Both teams enter tonight’s prime-time match up off of a loss, but one will come away a winner tonight.

Boston Red Sox – Pitching: Starting for the Sox tonight is John Lester. So far this season Lester has been average at best, going just 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 5 starts. What is encouraging for the Boston hurler, however, is that he’s improved as of late. In Lester’s 3 most recent starts the Red Sox are 3-0 and Lester has earned a 1-0 record and is sporting a 3.32 ERA in that span. In his career he has started 5 games against the Yankees, earning just two decisions, but both were wins. His lifetime ERA against New York is 3.34. The bullpen has been a crucial part of Boston’s success this year. As a unit they currently have a 2.93 ERA and have blown just 2 saves in 10 opportunities. The Red Sox have spent a lot of time and money investing in their relief pitching and it is paying off in spades so far in 2009.

New York Yankees – Pitching: The much-hyped Yankees pitching prospect, Phil Hughes gets his second start of 2009. Hughes’s first start was impressive to say the least. He threw 6 shutout innings against the Detroit Tigers, walking just two batters, and allowing only 2 hits. Hughes has pitched just once in his career against Boston, a difficult outing last season in which he gave up 6 earned runs on 6 hits in just 2 innings of work, receiving the loss. Once considered the pinnacle of bullpens in Major League Baseball, the Yankees have fallen on hard times. Their relief crew has a combined ERA of 6.69 and they’ve converted just 55.6% of their save attempts.

Boston Red Sox – Hitting: Runs have come easily for Boston for the most part. They are hitting .277 as a team on the year and averaging about 5.6 runs per game. Where they’ve struggled, however, has been on the road, where their team BA drops to .252 and they only score 4.5 runs per game. So far this year the standout on offense has been Kevin Youkilis, who is leading the Sox in batting average (.407), home runs (6), and runs scored (23).

New York Yankees – Hitting: One thing this Yankees team can do well is score runs. They are currently posting nearly 6 runs per game and hitting at .277 as a team. They have seen a slight drop in run production against left-handed starters (like Lester), with scoring down to 5.2 runs per game against southpaws, but their average in that situation is up to .295, so I wouldn’t expect that runs per game number to stay that low for long. The Yankees don’t have one guy that has stood out from the crowd this year, but Nick Swisher has been a contributor that the Yankees did not count on coming into the season. Swisher wasn’t even slotted to play every day, but they are glad he has fallen into the role has he leads the team in home runs (7) and runs scored (21).

Both teams have good, albeit young starters going tonight and both teams have shown impressive production on offense. Today’s MLB lines show the Yankees as -107 favorites over the Red Sox with the total set at 10 runs.

If you are looking bet on baseball this season, be sure to check out the winning MLB picks from our top handicappers.

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