Tampa Bay Rays vs. Boston Red Sox Betting Odds & Pick: April 19th 2010

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Boston Red Sox
Free MLB Pick: Tampa Bay Rays +159 odds
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Many will be jumping on Boston here for two main reasons. One, the Red Sox have lost four straight games and are looking to avoid the home sweep at the hands of the Rays. Second, it is Patriot’s Day and Boston never loses on Patriot’s Day, or at least it hasn’t in the last six years. Don’t you worry, the linesmakers have already taken this onto consideration as you can definitely tell by the line. Tampa Bay is looking for its seventh straight win which would mean a perfect roadtrip. With Sunday’s win, the Rays have won three of the last five series in Fenway Park after losing 25 straight. Jeff Niemann gets the call for the Rays and there was some concern going into his last start. He was hit with a line drive in the right shoulder in his opener this season and came out but it ended up being just a bruise. He came back and tossed a quality start last time out which was no surprise as Niemann went 13-6 with a 3.94 ERA in 31 games, including 30 starts, last season. He had one very rough outing against the Red Sox and there is no doubt he will be ready for some payback. John Lackey is two-for-two in quality starts this season so he is definitely off to a great start with his new club. While Niemann was bad in his lone start against Boston last season, Lackey was even worse as he allowed nine runs on 11 hits in five innings. 3* Tampa Bay Rays