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Rays vs. Red Sox Betting Overview

On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox will play the final game of their three game series. The two American League East teams have split the first two. On Friday, Tampa Bay came up with a win behind David Price, and then Boston bounced back with a 9-5 win on Saturday, beating James Shields of the Rays. Boston comes into the game in first place in the American League East; leading the Yankees by 1.5 games. Tampa Bay is in third place in the division; 6 games back. The starting pitchers for tonight’s game are Josh Beckett for the Red Sox against Jeff Niemann of the Rays.

Tampa Bay Rays News and Betting Tips for Sunday, July 17, 2011

Tampa Bay after winning on Friday felt like they could make a run at Boston with a couple more wins. Their big game pitcher; James Shields was not able to come through for them on Saturday. Now Tampa Bay wants to pick up Sunday’s game to gain a game in the standings. Jeff Niemann, the 28 year old, is 4-4 on the season with an earned run average of 4.53. In July, Niemann has thrown 13.1 innings, allowing 15 hits and 2 earned runs. In his last start, he picked up a win in a great outing over the Yankees. Tampa Bay hopes to get the offense going, led by Matt Joyce and Justin Upton. Joyce is the leading batter on the team, at .295. Upton leads the way for Tampa Bay in homeruns, as he has 15 homeruns and 52 runs batted in. Tampa Bay as a team is batting .247.

Boston Red Sox News and Betting Tips for Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Boston Red Sox have the best offense in all of Major League Baseball. The Red Sox are batting .277 as a team, and have scored a league high 497 runs. Adrian Gonzalez has had a huge season in Boston, as he leads the team with a .346 batting average, as well as 77 runs batted in. David Ortiz is providing the power once again for the Red Sox, as he has belted 19 homeruns on the season. Josh Beckett will take the mound for Boston. Beckett is 8-3 on the season with a 2.27 earned run average. The right hander holds a 120-77 all time record as a starting pitcher. In his last outing, Beckett went just five innings, but still recorded the win over Baltimore. Beckett pitched against Tampa Bay back on June 15th, going the distance, allowing just 1 hit.

Our Red Sox vs. Rays Pick and Predictions

The American League East is the best division in all of baseball. These two teams, along with the Yankees are in the upper tier in Major League Baseball. Josh Beckett is going to be the deciding factor in this game. Beckett is having a great season, and Tampa Bay has not figured out how to hit him. Look for Niemann to be good early, but Boston will explode in the middle and late innings. We expect this game to end up a blow-out. Josh Beckett goes eight innings, and leads the Red Sox to another win over the Rays. We are betting the Boston Red Sox over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday Night Baseball.

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