Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox ALCS Game 5 Pick: The Tampa Bay Rays are one win, in the American League Championship Series, away from the franchises’ first berth in the MLB World Series. Looking for the win Thursday night, the Rays hand the ball to their ace, pitcher Scott Kazmir . The lefthander finished the regular season with a 12-8 record and 3.49 ERA. Countering for Boston is ace right hander Daisuke Matsuzaka . Dice-K was solid in 2008 with an 18-9 record and 2.90 ERA.
Oddsmakers at online sportsbook Bodog (Bodoglife.com) currently have the Red Sox listed as 155-money line favorites versus the Rays, while the game's total is sitting at 9. The Rays are getting +140 money line odds.
Kazmir, moved up from Game 6 to Game 5 after the Rays won Game 4, could not make it out of the fifth inning in Game 2 during the Rays' 9-8 win. Kazmir has struggled with his mechanics and seems to experience his biggest problems in the first inning; he threw 38 pitches in the first inning. The young left-hander continues to try and gain command of his slider and his velocity has been down. Lacking his normal ability to bury his slider, Kazmir has relied primarily on a fastball-changeup combination this season.
Matsuzaka opened this American League Championship Series with what was easily the best of his six career postseason starts. Dice-K went two batters into the eighth inning and allowed four hits and no runs. He walked four, but struck out nine. He is 3-1 with a 3.98 ERA lifetime in the postseason. Before his Game 1 gem, Matsuzaka had never pitched more than 5 1/3 innings in a postseason game. This is his first start of this postseason at Fenway Park. During the regular season, Matsuzaka was 9-3 with a 3.34 ERA at Fenway. He will make this start on five days of rest.
Willy Aybar homered and drove in five runs on Tuesday to lead the Rays to an easy 13-4 win over the Red Sox in Game 4 of this series. The Rays got the win as +127 road underdogs in that contest, while the combined score went well OVER the night's posted total (9).Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria also homered in that win for Tampa Bay. Andy Sonnanstine gave up three earned runs over 7 1-3 innings.
Tim Wakefield was knocked around for five earned runs in 2 2/3 innings for the Red Sox. Kevin Cash homered off Sonnanstine in the third.
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