LOS ANGELES ANGELS @ BOSTON RED SOX
Baseball : United States : MLB Regular Season
Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - Start 7:10PM ET
(12:10AM GMT)

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LOS ANGELES ANGELS
60-60 W/L, 27-33 Road, 6-4 Last 10, L2 Streak

Scott Kazmir is back off the DL and will start for the visiting Angels. In his first 2 starts back he has surrendered just 3 runs and 7 hits in 11 innings, pitching against the likes of Toronto and Detroit. Kazmir is also no stranger to this Boston side, having faced them as a starter on 27 occasions.

He did get pounded by the Boston batters earlier this season but his form recently is very sharp and he does bring in the revenge factor in terms of motivation. I reckon the left-handed hurler keeps it tidy, seeing as Boston has scored just 12 runs in their last 3 games.

The Angels are hitting less than .255 on the road this season.

BOSTON RED SOX
68-52 W/L, 35-23 Home, 5-5 Last 10, W1 Streak

John Lackey pitches for Boston tonight. Lackey is now 2-0 with a 1.88ERA in 2 starts against the Angels this season and seems to have their number. In those 2 games, he gave up only 3 runs and 9 hits over 14.3 innings. Boston's bullpen has an impressive 9-4 record with a 3.65ERA at home.

The Angels bats are cold at the moment, scoring a total of just 23 runs in their last 8 games. In that span, they have also got shut-out twice.

Players like Matsui, Abreu, Izturis and Aybar all have atrocious numbers against tonight's opposing pitcher, while Kendrick, Napoli and Hunter aren't that much better.

BETTING VERDICT

Lackey is clearly very good against his old club, and Kazmir has the kind of current form that you can count on to continue.

I'm going with Under the run total.

The Pick :

Under 10 runs

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the Under 10 runs @ 1.95 (Pinnacle) - MAIN BET