Tuesday night baseball and we will see the Texas Rangers take on the Boston Red Sox in game 2 of their 3 game series from Fenway Park. The game is scheduled for an 7:10 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on FSSW (Texas), NESN (Boston). Currently the odds have Boston favored at -114, while Texas is dogs of +107. The total for the game sits at 9.5 runs.
Free Analysis: The Texas Rangers sacrificed a pair of prospects at the treading deadline to bring in Ryan Dempster, hoping he was the type of starting pitcher the team could use at the top of the rotation in the postseason. The Rangers hope his second start is better than his first. Dempster went 5-5 with a 2.25 ERA in 16 starts for the Chicago Cubs this year, but allowed a season-high eight runs and nine hits - two homers - in 4 2-3 innings of a 15-9 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. Dempster allowed five hits in seven innings of a 3-0 win over Boston at Wrigley Field on June 15. This will be his first outing at Fenway since June 12, 2001, when he lost while pitching for the Marlins. He'll face a Boston squad that's looking for a third straight win after pounding out eight doubles in a 9-2 victory in Monday's series opener. Dustin Pedroia doubled three times while Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford each had two as the Red Sox (55-55) increased their major league-leading doubles total to 243. Boston had been outscored 39-12 while losing four of its previous five against Texas this season. The victory came hours after owner John Henry publicly gave first-year manager Bobby Valentine a vote of confidence despite the team's mediocre season. Our job is to go out and play," said first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who went 3 for 5 with three RBIs. "It's us that are playing out there so the .500 record we're at right now, it's on us. It's not on Bobby." Crawford, who went 0 for 10 with five strikeouts during a three-game set at Texas last month, is 9 for 18 with eight RBIs in his last four games. The Red Sox now hand the ball to Jon Lester (5-9, 5.36), who is 0-4 with a 7.91 ERA in six starts since the beginning of July. Though he's posted a 10.62 ERA while losing his last four home outings, Lester showed improvement Thursday, when he gave up three runs and struck out seven with no walks in eight innings of a 5-0 loss to Minnesota at Fenway. The left-hander is certainly hoping for a better effort than his last versus the Rangers on April 17, when he gave up seven runs and walked four in two-plus innings of an 18-3 home loss. Lester had been 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA in five starts against Texas from 2009-11. Nelson Cruz - 8 for 14 with two doubles, a triple and a home run against Lester - had two doubles and a single Monday. He's a lifetime .415 hitter with eight doubles in 13 games at Fenway. Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus is expected to be in the lineup after missing Monday's game with a sore shoulder. The All-Star is 11 for 25 with seven RBIs in his last five games after going 1 for 19 in his previous five.
Free Pick: Gotta look at the Over in this one. I know that Dempster dominated the Sox earlier in the year, but that game was at Wrigley and this game is on the road vs a Boston team that hit's very well at home. At home the Sox have averaged 5.4 rpg on the year and while they do score 1.5 rpg less at home vs righties than lefties, they have still averaged 5.08 rp/ 9 off of righties at Fenway and last night they did put up 6 runs on 11 hits vs Darvish. Now on the other side we have John Lester, who has really struggled overall and in his own park this year. John has a 5.73 ERA overall, and a 9.57 ERA in his last 5 starts, while at home his ERA is a whopping 6.96 and his WHIP isn't very good either at 1.65 at Fenway. His home starts have averaged 11.4 rpg, while his last 5 overall have averaged 12.6 rpg. The Rangers were held to just two runs last night, but they should get more chances at runs as Lester has put far too many men on base at home this year. The Sox offense is very good at home and should put up some runs on Dempster who has a 4.10 ERA in his last 16 starts vs the AL. Look for this one to hit 12+.
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MLB Free Picks: Texas Rangers at Boston Red Sox Betting
What baseball bettors need to know about Rangers at Red Sox on Tuesday (8/7/12) - with Pregame.com's Bryan Leonard and host Marco D'Angelo.