Our Tuesday night MLB predictions take us to Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum where the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A’s will continue their three-game set. Pitching stole the show in the series opener last night, but it was the Red Sox that ended up on top by a 2-1 final tally.
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The victory was much needed for manager Terry Francona’s club who most recently dropped three of four-games at home to the AL West leading Texas Rangers right out of the break. Boston’s played second fiddle to the Rays and Yankees all season long, but only finds itself six-games out of first in the division and 3.5-games out in the AL Wild Card chase.

Oakland has battled injuries all season long, but nonetheless, it still finds itself around the .500 mark coming into tonight’s baseball betting battle going 46-47 ($48) on the year. They trail the aforementioned Rangers by eight-games in the division and trail the Rays by 10.5-games for the Wild Card. The A’s have played five-games over .500 at home (26-21); good for a $400+ return on the season.

Boston Red Sox (53-40, $235) vs. Oakland A’s (46-47, $48)
Game Date/Time: Tuesday, July 20th, 10:05 ET
Game Location: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA
TV/Radio Broadcast: NESN, Comcast (CA), XM

MLB Odds: Boston Red Sox Even (Tim Wakefield – R) vs. Oakland A’s -120 (Dallas Braden – L): Total 8 O -120 8 U Even

Knuckler Timmy Wakefield enters his 16th start of the year off his most humiliating effort of the season last time out against Texas. The Rangers lit him up for eight hits (1 HR) and seven runs through just two innings of work; six of the runs were tallied in the 1st inning. The defeat dropped him to 3-8 on the year and raised his ERA to 5.65. He has however been better away from Fenway where he stands 2-3 with a 4.40 ERA & 1.29 WHIP through 45 innings of work. Boston had won his previous three starts against the A’s up until June 3rd of this season when he got roughed up for eight hits and six ER’s in the Red Sox 9-8 home loss. He’s 8-7 with a 4.81 ERA & 1.38 WHIP lifetime vs. Oakland.

Dallas Braden will be making his first start for the A’s since getting raked for 10 hits and four runs at home by the Cincinnati Reds back on June 22nd. He’s been saddled with an elbow injury since, but most recently made an appearance in the Minors to get him ready for tonight’s start. Oakland’s 4-5 with him leading its charge at home this season. He’s 4-7 overall with a 3.83 ERA, and that number falls to 3.15 at home. He led the A’s to a carefree 8-2 win in his only career home start vs. the BoSox last April. He’s 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in his career vs. the Red Sox.

MLB Insider Tip: These teams split their 2009 season series at five games apiece, but the BoSox hold a 3-1 advantage after scoring the solid win last night. Both of these clubs look to be in disarray with the plethora of injuries incurred on both sides. That said, I still have to go with the Red Sox line-up in this one as I just don’t trust the A’s to get to Wakefield even though he enters this outing in very poor form. Boston’s 17-13 ($120) vs. southpaws and has gone 6-3 ($360) when installed road underdogs in the +100 to +125 range to date. Oakland’s just 19-30 (-$910) vs. +.500 opposition on the year, and my MLB predictions have them falling into an 0-2 hole in this series tonight.

My MLB Prediction: Boston Red Sox (Wakefield)
Source: BetUS Locker Room Featured on: Handicapperspicks.com

Detroit Tigers vs. Oakland Athletics
Free Pick: Under 7 Runs
Courtesy of Mike Rose (Handicapperspicks.com)
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MLB fanatics are in for a pitching treat on Wednesday night in the Bay where Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers will look to get the best of Dallas Braden and the Oakland Athletics.

Justin Verlander enters his ninth start of the season in very fine form having gone 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA & 0.90 WHIP in each of his L/3 starts against the Yankees, Indians, and Angels. He’s allowed just 11 hits and four ER’s while striking out 20 and walking eight through 21 combined IP during that stretch.

The Tigers are 3-1 in his four road starts where he boasts a 5.48 ERA & 1.43 WHIP. He’s allowed just three HR’s on the year and hasn’t served one up in each of his L/4 outings.

Lefty Dallas Braden wasn’t able to build off his perfect game his last time out against the Los Angeles Angels who got to him for seven hits (1 HR) and four ER’s while striking out five and walking one through eight IP. The southpaw has lasted seven or more innings in each of his L/3 starts.

Oakland is 4-1 in Braden’s five Coliseum starts this season where he’s boasts a rock solid 2.00 ERA & 0.75 WHIP and has allowed just 24 hits and eight ER’s through 36 IP.

Oakland has been a nightmarish venue for the Tigers to visit evidenced by the fact that they’re 2-8 their L/10 overall visits. However, with Verlander locked in at this point, I believe he’ll give the Tigers as good a chance as possible to snag Game 1 of this series.

That said; Braden has been lights out in this venue, and has gone deep in each of his L/3 starts.

With that being the case, I expect this to be an epic pitcher’s duel with righty squaring off against lefty. Runs will be very hard to come by for both offense’s, so look for Game 1 of this abbreviated set to finish under the posted ‘total’

If you look at baseball betting as if it were the stock market, here’s a look at what we’re buying and selling through another week of play on the diamond.

Bullish Squads
Toronto Blue Jays (6-1, +$695): Toronto went on the road this week and came up with aces, sweeping Cleveland and taking three out of four from Chicago. CF Vernon Wells has reached base safely in eight straight games. In the series at US Cellular Field, he batted 8/17 (.471) with three runs, three extra base hits, a dinger, four RBIs, and two walks, raising his batting average to .339 on the season.

Milwaukee Brewers (5-1, +$550): The Brew Crew have suddenly come alive on the road, plating 51 runs over the L/6 days and finishing up what originally started to shape up as a disaster of a road trip at 6-4 overall and 5-1 in their L/6. MLB betting fans will love the fact that Milwaukee has started to rip the ball, as it is averaging 5.77 runs per game, the second highest mark in the bigs. That helps make up for a staff that has a woeful 4.76 ERA.

Bearish Squads
Florida Marlins (1-6, -$503): The Fish have been rotten this week, to say the least. Going into Washington and dropping two out of three on the heels of getting swept by San Francisco at home doesn’t bode well for a team that really hoped to compete this year. Florida is already five games out of first place in the NL East, and without the staff improving its 4.21 team ERA, this isn’t a club that is digging out of this hole any time soon.

Seattle Mariners (1-5, -$453): Speaking of teams that were trying their best to compete… Seattle has only blasted 12 homers this year, the lowest mark in the bigs. The M’s had gone 0-8 in the first eight games of this nine game home stand before stealing Sunday’s game against the Halos 8-1. Still, going 1-8 in nine home games against teams that you’re competing with for playoff spots just won’t get the job done.

Player to Buy – Dallas Braden, Oakland Athletics (1-1, 1.69 ERA): Sure, there are probably players that had better stats on the week than Braden, but how can we ignore the man who tossed the 19th perfect game in the history of baseball this week? It’s not like allowing three runs in seven frames against Texas was anything to be ashamed of either, but Mother’s Day was one to remember for the southpaw, as he tossed nine perfect frames and struck out eight Rays to make history.

Player to Sell – Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay Rays (.042, 0 HRs): How much longer can Manager Joe Maddon put up with Pena in the lineup? Not only did the dude have the lowest batting average amongst qualified players this week, but he also fanned eight times. Yes, the slugging 1B is still on a pace to blast 25+ homers and knock in 110+ runs, but let’s be real here: a .183 batting average isn’t going to cut it.