Rays, Red Sox start series at Fenway

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays can deal the final blow to the Boston Red Sox' playoff hopes this week, as the American League East rivals open a three-game set at Fenway Park.

The Rays come into tonight's opener trailing the New York Yankees by 2 1/2 games in the American League East. The Red Sox, though, are 10 games back in the divisional race.

Boston did not help its cause any this weekend, as it was swept in a three- game set by the Chicago White Sox, losing both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday, then blowing a ninth-inning lead on Sunday before falling 7-5.

Victor Martinez hit a two-run homer and David Ortiz added a two-run double for the Red Sox, who stumbled to their sixth loss in eight contests.

Jonathan Papelbon (5-6) took the loss and was saddled with his seventh blown save of the year, charged with four runs and two hits with a pair of walks over 1 1/3 innings.

"We worked hard and went to the ninth with a two-run lead," said Boston manager Terry Francona. "We felt pretty good about ourselves. But then we walk away an hour later with a loss and it doesn't feel good."

Heading to the hill for the Red Sox tonight will be left-hander Jon Lester, who has won four of his last five starts. Lester beat the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday, but allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings. He is 15-8 on the year with a 3.27 ERA.

Lester beat the Rays two starts ago with a terrific effort and is 8-3 lifetime against them with a 3.86 ERA in 15 starts.

Tampa, meanwhile, failed to gain any ground on the Yankees on Sunday, as it dropped an 8-7 decision to the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of a three-game set.

Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton and Rocco Baldelli all hit two-run homers in defeat for the Rays, while Dan Wheeler (2-2) was charged with the loss after giving up two runs on two walks after getting just one out for Tampa Bay.

Getting the call for the Rays tonight will be righty Jeff Niemann, who has had two awful outings after a stint on the disabled list. After allowing 10 runs in 3 1/3 innings on August 25, Niemann was again charged with the loss last Tuesday against Toronto, which battered him for seven runs and seven hits in five innings.

Niemann, who is 10-5 on the year with a 3.97 ERA, is 2-1 in three starts against the Red Sox with a 3.94 ERA.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

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