Tampa Bay Rays vs. Chicago White Sox Betting Predictions: July 21st 2009

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Chicago White Sox o10.0 (-110) - Tue July 21st 2009 8:10p
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The Rays have flat out gotten the job done in a majority of rookie Jeff Niemann’s starts in ‘09. They carry a 12-4 overall mark the 16 times he’s taken to the bump, and they’re a very impressive 8-2 in his 10 road starts. The lengthy righty is 8-4 on the year with a 3.73 ERA and 1.39 WHIP with a K/BB ratio of 52/38 through 91.2 total innings of work. He tossed the second shutout of his career against Toronto in his start before the All Star break, and Tampa Bay has won five of his L/6 road starts. He’s been hit well by the ChiSox in his career (14 hits in 2 starts), but has only surrendered a total of three earned runs.

After picking up his third victory of the year against Cliff Lee and the Indians back on June 30th, Clayton Richard has been atrocious getting blasted for 12 hits and 10 combined ER’s while lasting just 4.2 total innings his L/2 starts. The southpaw knows he must perform in this outing or else he might be relegated back to the bullpen. He’ll be making his 13th start of the season on more than 10 days rest, and will be making his first career start against the Rays (didn’t give up a run in two relief appearances).

The Rays didn’t have many chances to do what they do best last night, so look for a more conscious effort from their speedsters to try and get on base early at all costs. Richard can be taken advantage of normally, but the added pressure of working under the scrutinizing eyes of his coaching staff will make it that much harder. Throw in the fact that Tampa excels with Niemann on the road, and you’ve got a nice recipe for a Rays high scoring road victory in this spot. We’re going against a pair of $$$-making trends that have recently developed in this series (TBY 7-17 L/24 in Chicago & Under is 18-7 L/25), but this looks to be as good a spot as any for Tampa and the Over to cash…