Saturday afternoon baseball and we will see the Boston Red Sox take on the New York Yankees in game 2 of their 3 game series from the Bronx. The game is scheduled for a 4:05 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on Fox. Currently the odds have New York favored at -125, while Boston is dogs of +115. The total for the game sits at 9.5 runs.
Free Analysis: The Red Sox are 6 1/2 games out of the second wild card spot and, at four games below .500, 13 1/2 games south of the first-place Yankees in the American League East. The New York Yankees and their fans can take extra-special delight in the struggles of the rival Boston Red Sox. New York (71-48) opened this set with a 6-4 victory Friday night at Yankee Stadium on the strength of five solo home runs - two by Nick Swisher and one apiece for Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin. Jeter's homer was the 250th of his career. "If you do it long enough, good things happen," said Jeter, who joined Willie Mays as the only players with 3,000 hits, 250 homers, 300 steals and 1,200 RBIs. "I consider it a good number. Other people might not. But for me it's a lot of homers." The power surge was nothing new for the Yankees against the Red Sox this season. New York has homered 28 times in 10 meetings - seven wins - including a pair of contests with five homers. Swisher has hit five of the long balls. For Boston the losses keep adding up in Valentine's first season, though the manager said Friday he doesn't agree with club president Larry Lucchino's comments that negative media coverage is partly to blame for the team's struggles. Valentine had to like what he saw from scheduled Saturday starter Jon Lester (6-10, 5.20 ERA) in his last outing. The left-hander struck out a season-high 12 in six innings of Sunday's 14-1 rout of Cleveland, allowing one run and three hits to earn his first win in six weeks. He had been 0-5 with a 7.49 ERA over his previous seven starts. Lester faced the Yankees twice during his winless drought, getting charged with nine runs and 13 hits over 10 1-3 innings and suffering one loss. He surrendered two homers - to Jayson Nix and Chris Stewart - in a July 28 outing in the Bronx. Nix is 6 for 16 (.375) with three homers in his career off Lester, while Jeter is 19 for 55 (.345) with one home run. David Phelps (3-3, 2.53) will take a second straight turn in the rotation for New York in place of CC Sabathia, who is on the 15-day disabled list due to left elbow soreness but could return next weekend. Phelps threw a career-high five innings Monday, allowing two runs and scattering six hits to earn an 8-2 victory over Texas. The rookie right-hander has yielded three runs in six innings of relief versus Boston this season. The Yankees have won eight of 10 overall, while the Red Sox have dropped seven of 10.
Free Pick: Had the Yanks last night and will go with them here again. The Sox are really dead in the water in the playoff chase and it looks like they have given up. True they did come back from an early deficit last night but they were pretty much handed those 4 runs thanks to a stupid error by Hughes. Had they turned the DP, Boston would not have gotten 4 runs in that inning. Jon Lester gets the ball for Boston tonight and he has pitched well on the road, with a 4-2 mark and a 3.17 ERA, but he is 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA in day games and he has struggled with the Yanks of late. In his last 3 starts vs the Yanks, Lester has allowed 16 ER's and that's in just 14 innings of work. The Sox are 3-1 in his last 4 starts here, but he does have an 8.27 ERA in those games. David Phelps will be making his 5th start on the year and he has pitched very well in his first 4, allowing 2 ER's or less in each start. Phelps has a 1.86 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP in 29 innings at home this year. Boston can hit, but i just don't expect them to get much off of Phelps in this one. The Yanks want to keep winning and are still motivated for this one. Yanks should take game 2 here.
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