MLB – Boston at Minnesota
We’re already into the season’s second month and if you haven’t started up yet
2007-05-07
We’re already into the season’s second month and if you haven’t started up yet, this weekend is a great time to start building your baseball bankroll. We’ve had four or five weeks now to measure up the teams and it’s becoming more evident that there are a few clubs whose bandwagon you’re going to want to jump on. One of those is Boston, who is currently near the top of the profitable units rankings in MLB, but facing a tough test this evening in Minnesota. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM ET as one of 15 games on the full baseball betting board.
The big story on tap for Saturday night’s game is the pitching mismatch, as the Red Sox send normal setup man Julian Tavarez up against the league’s premiere left handed starting pitcher, Johan Santana. Santana is 3-2 with a 3.60 ERA right now but clearly hasn’t been pitching up to his normal standards thus far. In fact, in April, he lost back-to-back home games for the first time since June of 2004. Tavarez, meanwhile, is 1-2 with an astronomical 7.58 ERA in four starts. He is only in the rotation because of the ongoing Lymphoma treatments to Jon Lester.
The Red Sox went into the weekend trailing only Cleveland in terms of winning percentage in all of Major League Baseball. They were on a 14-5 stretch since splitting their opening eight games. In the process, they were able to separate themselves by over 5 games in the standings. The biggest contributing factor has been the awakening of the bats in the lineup. In fact, since the unusually slow hitting start to the 2007 season, the BoSox have poured in 5.8 runs per game in their last 13. The outburst was ignited in the sweep of the Yankees on April 20th.
The Twins meanwhile, are caught in the clutches of playing in one of the league’s toughest divisions. They have been both streaky bad, and streaky good at various times in the early going, and went into the weekend two games over .500 and still within striking distance of the front-running Cleveland Indians. With this Red Sox series, Minnesota is beginning an important stretch of games, with Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland on the horizon. Therefore a big effort by Santana in stopping the two game home losing streak is essential.
Look for the reigning Cy Young and the hosts to get it done here, though the price might not be as appealing to you as many of the other games on the board. Get in on today’s baseball action by visiting the live odds page.
MLB News
Click here to read latest MLB news