Felix Doubront of the Red Sox and Henderson Alvarez of the Blue Jays both have an ERA a shade over 5.00, but these are two teams that look dead in the water with listless offenses right now. Go ‘under’ in Boston on Friday.
Look for a lower scoring game than the double-digit total would indicate Friday night when Henderson Alvarez and the Toronto Blue Jays (61-75 overall, 27-41 away) take on Felix Doubront and the Boston Red Sox (63-75 overall, 32-38 home) in the first game of a weekend three-game series from Fenway Park in Boston, MA at 7:10 ET.
The posted total at Pinnacle Sports is 10 for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -111.
Now we fully understand this pitching matchup does not seem conducive to a fairly low scoring game, as Doubront is 10-7 but with a 5.03 ERA and 1.50 WHIP while Alvarez is 7-12 with nearly identical key numbers as Doubront, owning a 5.04 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. However, these are two teams that have mailed it in for this season and both offenses have been quite listless as of late.
There is a very good chance that Bobby Valentine’s days as the Red Sox manager are numbered, not only because of the team’s lousy performance on the field but also because of behind-the-scenes bickering as the players hate playing for the obnoxious manager, so much so that some players had a private meeting with upper management a short while ago to share their grievances.
Valentine did not help his cause while live on the air on Boston radio a few days ago when he threatened to punch the interviewer in the nose when asked if he had “checked out” for the season, a question brought about by Valentine arriving late for a game in Oakland last week.
It certainly looks like the Boston players have thrown in the towel as they now return home from a dreadful 1-8 west coast road trip where they were swept by the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics and then lost two out of three games to the last place Seattle Mariners. If not for a four-run sixth inning in a 4-3 win Tuesday night in Seattle, the Red Sox would be returning home with a bagel.
Boston scored three runs or less in seven of the nine games during the trip and two runs or less in six of them, averaging 2.23 runs per game overall while batting a dismal .223 over that western venture. Add in the whole mess with Valentine and this team is totally dysfunctional right now.
The Blue Jays have lost four of their last five games and they were shut out in back-to-back contests before posting a rare win over the upstart Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. Unlike the Red Sox, at least Toronto has an excuse due to an injury depleted lineup that has resembled a AAA lineup for several weeks now. Most notably, Jose Batista is now out for the season after undergoing wrist surgery a few days ago.
Batista re-aggravated that wrist injury when he tried to come back last week, perhaps sooner than he should have. With all of their top hitters on the Disabled List, the Blue Jays are batting a pathetic .214 overall over their last 10 games while averaging just 3.50 runs per game during that span.
These are simply two teams that cannot wait for this season to be over with, and they will be put out of their miseries in about four weeks. Therefore, look for the teams to combine to stay in the single-digits at Fenway Park Friday.
The posted total at Pinnacle Sports is 10 for this contest with the current odds on the ‘under’ set at -111.
Now we fully understand this pitching matchup does not seem conducive to a fairly low scoring game, as Doubront is 10-7 but with a 5.03 ERA and 1.50 WHIP while Alvarez is 7-12 with nearly identical key numbers as Doubront, owning a 5.04 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. However, these are two teams that have mailed it in for this season and both offenses have been quite listless as of late.There is a very good chance that Bobby Valentine’s days as the Red Sox manager are numbered, not only because of the team’s lousy performance on the field but also because of behind-the-scenes bickering as the players hate playing for the obnoxious manager, so much so that some players had a private meeting with upper management a short while ago to share their grievances.
Valentine did not help his cause while live on the air on Boston radio a few days ago when he threatened to punch the interviewer in the nose when asked if he had “checked out” for the season, a question brought about by Valentine arriving late for a game in Oakland last week.
It certainly looks like the Boston players have thrown in the towel as they now return home from a dreadful 1-8 west coast road trip where they were swept by the Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics and then lost two out of three games to the last place Seattle Mariners. If not for a four-run sixth inning in a 4-3 win Tuesday night in Seattle, the Red Sox would be returning home with a bagel.
Boston scored three runs or less in seven of the nine games during the trip and two runs or less in six of them, averaging 2.23 runs per game overall while batting a dismal .223 over that western venture. Add in the whole mess with Valentine and this team is totally dysfunctional right now.
The Blue Jays have lost four of their last five games and they were shut out in back-to-back contests before posting a rare win over the upstart Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. Unlike the Red Sox, at least Toronto has an excuse due to an injury depleted lineup that has resembled a AAA lineup for several weeks now. Most notably, Jose Batista is now out for the season after undergoing wrist surgery a few days ago.
Batista re-aggravated that wrist injury when he tried to come back last week, perhaps sooner than he should have. With all of their top hitters on the Disabled List, the Blue Jays are batting a pathetic .214 overall over their last 10 games while averaging just 3.50 runs per game during that span.
These are simply two teams that cannot wait for this season to be over with, and they will be put out of their miseries in about four weeks. Therefore, look for the teams to combine to stay in the single-digits at Fenway Park Friday.
MLB Pick: Blue Jays, Red Sox ‘under’ 10 (-111) ---
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