Baseball Betting Preview

Boston Red Sox at Baltimore Orioles

Saturday, 3:55 pm Eastern – FOX

Opening Line: Red Sox -200, Total 9.5 Under (-115)

Josh Beckett goes to the mound in search of his 15th victory of the season on Saturday afternoon as the Red Sox face the Orioles.  Beckett is 14-5 with an ERA of 3.31.  He will be opposed by Garrett Olson who is 1-0 with an ERA of 3.86 for Baltimore.

The National TV game on Saturday is a rare chance for the Orioles to showcase their team.  Baltimore manager Dave Trembley hopes the experience will be a good one. "It's great for the players, and hopefully we'll get tremendous backing from the Baltimore Orioles fans," he said, "I think it's well deserved. Obviously, we're playing one of the top teams in baseball and we're playing them here at home. I would expect that we'd play very well, just like I expect every time."

"When I was in Boston, we played in that game every week," Baltimore’s Kevin Millar said. "We have a chance to do well, to go out there and show people our young players. They'll get a chance to see Nick Markakis on TV. It's a chance to beat the Red Sox on national television, and they're in a big pennant race right now that's getting tighter and tighter as we speak. It's a great opportunity."

Current Line: Red Sox -185, Total 9.5 Under (-120)

Boston’s Josh Beckett went 6 2/3 innings in his last start against Seattle allowing one run on eight hits in the victory. Beckett has gone 1-1 with a 4.05 ERA in three starts against Baltimore this season, and he lost a 5-3 game against Erik Bedard in the last week of July. Beckett is 7-1 with a 1.52 ERA in road games and 5-1 with a 2.53 mark during the day.

The Orioles have dropped two of three in each of their prior series against Boston this year and have dropped the season series in seven of the past eight years. The Red Sox took a two-game sweep at Camden Yards earlier in the season.

Boston has led the American League East all season but the Yankees have been gaining ground and manager Terry Francona has noticed. "I don't claim to be a rocket scientist," he said. "I will say if the Yankees win out, we're probably not going to win. If they win the rest of their games, I bet you we're in trouble, but that's about as far as I'll go. We just need to play good baseball. That's kind of how we feel. I could say it a million different ways, but that's what we care about."

Some good news for Boston is that David Ortiz returned to the lineup on Friday.

Francona had planned to give Ortiz another day off on Friday night vs. the Orioles but Ortiz said he felt better after taking batting practice before the game and told Francona he was well enough to play. "Some guys can play themselves into getting hurt because of their will, but David is pretty awesome about how he feels," Francona said. "He was awesome the other day about not playing and he's that way when he does play. So that helps me a lot."

Here were the betting statistics heading into Friday’s action.  The Red Sox are 4-0 in their last 4 Saturday games. The Red Sox are 5-1 in their last 6 road games vs. a team with a losing record. The Red Sox are 9-4 in their last 13 vs. the American League East. The Red Sox are 13-6 in their last 19 overall. The Red Sox are 4-12 in their last 16 road games vs. a left-handed starter. The Red Sox are 8-1 in Beckett's last 9 road starts. The Red Sox are 50-19 in the last 69 meetings in Baltimore.

The Orioles are 1-4 in their last 5 overall. The Orioles are 0-4 in their last 4 home games.

The Under is 5-2 in the Red Sox last 7 vs. the American League East. The Over is 5-2 in the Red Sox last 7 overall. The Under is 9-3 in Beckett's last 12 road starts. The Over is 5-2 in Beckett's last 7 Saturday starts. The Under is 7-3 in Beckett's last 10 starts overall.

The Over is 5-0 in the Orioles last 5 home games. The Over is 5-0 in the Orioles last 5 overall. The Over is 5-0 in the Orioles last 5 home games vs. a right-handed starter. The Over is 4-1 in the Orioles last 5 games vs. a right-handed starter. The Over is 6-2 in the Orioles last 8 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. The Under is 8-3 in the last 11 meetings between the two teams. The Under is 14-6-1 in the last 21 meetings in Baltimore.