Give this much to the Boston Red Sox: They're going for it this year.
The boys from Beantown badly needed some pitching to help out their much-maligned starters, and Red Sox Nation will get its first look at its newest acquisition on Wednesday Night Baseball when Drew Pomeranz takes the ball against the San Francisco Giants.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
The Red Sox are favored virtually every time they're at home, and this isn't going to be an exception even though Pomeranz is a bit of a wild card at this point in his first start at Fenway Park. The Giants have the best road record in baseball at 28-18, and that's why they're still pulling away from the Dodgers and the rest of the pack in the NL West with less than half the season to play.
PITCHING MATCHUP
All eyes are going to be on Pomeranz on Wednesday night. The lefty was picked up for a big price of prospects from the Padres during the All-Star break, and now, he's going to go from having no pressure on him whatsoever in San Diego in a pitchers' park to having to pitch under the pressure of a pennant chase for the first time in his career while pitching in a tremendous hitters' park.
Pomeranz, who was really nothing more than an average pitcher before last season, has been hot this year, going 8-7 with a 2.47 ERA on a team which is going nowhere in a hurry. The most alarming stat is his K/9 of 10.15, a number which he has never come anywhere near touching his entire career, even when he was a relief pitcher.
The Giants have a big, fat question mark surrounding them in this game. Matt Cain is the scheduled starter for the time being, but he's still up in the air for sure since he's technically still on the DL. Cain was sidelined with a hamstring injury and was out on a rehab assignment in High-A ball on Friday. The results were awful, as he allowed nine runs on 10 hits with three walks in just four frames against High-A competition.
LIVE BETTING
With Junichi Tazawa on the DL with shoulder problems and Craig Kimbrel battling a knee injury, the Boston bullpen is all of a sudden really shorthanded.
Koji Uehara has been good closing out games in the ninth thus far, as he's 4-for-4 as a closer since taking over just before the All-Star break. Uehara was always fantastic as a closer, but he just didn't cut it as a middle relief man prior to this. His stats for the season aren't good as it is, as he's just got a 4.54 REA. He's striking out batters a ton, but he's allowing far more contact now than usual as well. We wouldn't feel safe with him against a goo San Francisco lineup in the ninth inning of a one-run game.
QUICK PICK
Cain is a big question mark for the Giants, but we see a lot of other flaws in the Red Sox right now as well, not the least of which is the fact that we're not convinced Pomeranz truly is the answer to all of life's problems at the back end of this pitching staff.
Especially if the Giants don't play well in the first two games of this series, don't be surprised if the oddsmakers are down on them in this one, especially after getting swept in San Diego over the weekend. Still, this is when San Fran is almost always at its best when it has its back against the wall. If we can get a +140 price or so on the Giants, we can't walk away from it.
MLB Odds: Giants 7, Red Sox 5
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