Yankees Visit BoSox At Fenway

The Red Sox and Yankees are both waiting for the Rays to collapse in the AL East, but in the meantime the rivals will open a three-game weekend series at Fenway on Friday.

And doing any baseball betting on BoSox/Yankees contests this season has already provided a mixed bag of results. Boston took two of three games from New York at home back in the middle of April, but the teams then split a two-game set at Yankee Stadium a week later. New York and Boston then met in the Bronx once again earlier this month, and once again neither team came out ahead (they each won two contests).

That leaves Boston with a slight 5-4 lead in the season series between the two teams, and as a slight favorite on the baseball odds for this weekend. And it’ll certainly help Boston’s cause if they can get a good performance from ace Josh Beckett Friday night.

Beckett is 9-6 with a respectable 3.97 ERA on the season, but he’s also surrendered 12 earned runs in 19 innings pitched over his last three outings. Boston’s offense managed to bail the righthander out in two of those games, but Beckett was tagged with a loss by the Angels in his outing on July 19 (giving up four earned runs over his eight innings).

The Yankees will counter Beckett with Joba Chamberlain on Friday. The young righthander is now 2-3 with a 2.52 ERA, and he’s managed to pitch into the sixth inning in each of his last three starts. Still, Chamberlain was just 0-1 with two no-decisions over that span despite allowing only seven earned runs over his 18 2-3 innings worked.

Saturday will see Boston’s Tim Wakefield (6-7, 3.89 ERA) take on New York’s Andy Pettitte (11-7, 3.86 ERA), while Sunday’s series finale features a matchup of Boston’s Jon Lester (8-3, 3.20 ERA) and New York’s Sidney Ponson (6-1, 4.02 ERA). Of that quartet Lester hasn’t taken a loss since May 25, although he’s had a couple shaky no-decisions in recent weeks. The Yankees are 4-0 in Ponson’s last four trips to the mound.

Beckett has already started three games against the Yankees this season, and the Red Sox won all three of those contests. Lester also has a win against New York this year (a complete-game shutout on July 3), while Wakefield and Chamberlain each picked up a no-decision during a July 6 matchup. Pettitte was on the losing end of Lester’s shutout.

The Yankees now have Johnny Damon back in their lineup, as he was activated from the disabled list earlier this week. Outfielder Hideki Matsui and catcher Jorge Posada are both sidelined indefinitely. The Red Sox are hoping to able to activate designated hitter David Ortiz before Friday’s game, while shortstop Julio Lugo remains on the DL.

Friday’s game will get underway at 7:05pm ET, with Saturday’s start set for 3:55pm. Sunday’s finale will be the featured game of the week – the first pitch will be at 8:05pm.