King Felix goes for Mariners at Fenway

Baseball Betting Lines

07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners enter the final leg of a challenging road trip with tonight's opener of a three-game series with the American League East-leading Boston Red Sox from Fenway Park.

The surprising Mariners have acquitted themselves well on the nine-game trek, which began with a weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers -- owners of baseball's best record -- and continued with three straight meetings with the New York Yankees. Seattle is 3-3 so far on the trip after knocking around Yankees ace CC Sabathia in last night's 8-4 victory.

Seattle battered Sabathia for six runs and 10 hits over the game's first 5 2/3 inning and had five players finish with multiple hits on the night. Franklin Gutierrez went 3-for-5 with a solo home run to lead the way, while Russell Branyan belted a towering two-run shot in the ninth inning to cap the scoring.

Ichiro Suzuki and Chris Woodward also knocked in two runs to help the Mariners avoid a series sweep and win for the eighth time in their last 12 games.

Miguel Batista (5-2) collected the win with two scoreless innings in relief of starter Jason Vargas, who lasted just four frames and allowed all four New York runs. The Seattle bullpen combined to hold the Yankees scoreless over the final five innings.

The Mariners, who enter tonight's play trailing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim by 3 1/2 games for first place in the AL West, will now take on a Boston club that's a major league-best 25-10 at home this season. Seattle counters by sending out one of the game's most dominant pitchers as of late in ace Felix Hernandez.

Hernandez is 4-0 over his last seven starts and has produced a sensational 0.85 earned run average during that stretch. The 23-year-old phenom has worked at least 6 2/3 innings in each of those games and hasn't suffered a loss since May 29.

The right-hander is coming off a brilliant performance against the Dodgers on Saturday, when Hernandez yielded one unearned run on four hits and fanned nine batters over eight stellar innings.

"He's getting better and better," said Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu after the game. "He was electric [Saturday]. You can't say enough about him."

Hernandez has also held his own against the Red Sox in the past, as he owns a 3-1 record with a 3.05 ERA in six career encounters with Boston. In addition, the native Venezuelan has yet to give up a run in his two previous starts at Fenway Park, having tossed 15 scoreless innings while winning both outings.

The Red Sox hand the ball to 10-game winner Tim Wakefield, with the veteran knuckleballer also carrying a four-decision winning streak into tonight's tilt.

Wakefield put forth one of his best starts of the year Saturday at Atlanta's Turner Field, where he spun six shutout innings in a 1-0 victory over the Braves. He gave up just three hits and walked one over the course of the game.

The 42-year-old has also been quite tough to beat at Fenway, having compiled a 6-0 record with a 3.55 ERA in his seven home starts of 2009. The Red Sox are 12-3 overall in games he's pitched this year.

Wakefield is just 4-9 with a 4.06 ERA in 25 career appearances (15 starts) against Seattle, however, although he defeated the Mariners in Boston with seven innings of two-run ball in June of last season.

The Red Sox had their lead over the second-place Yankees in the AL East extended to three games with Seattle's win last night and enjoyed an off day on Thursday following a wild series in Baltimore. Boston took two of three matchups from the Orioles, but the team's bullpen suffered an epic collapse in a shocking 11-10 defeat on Tuesday. Baltimore scored 10 times over the seventh and eighth innings to rally from a 10-1 deficit.

Boston rebounded with a stirring comeback of its own in Wednesday's finale, putting up four runs in the top of the ninth to force extra innings and earning a 6-5 triumph on Julio Lugo's RBI single in the 11th.

Kevin Youkilis brought the Sox within 5-3 with a two-run homer in the ninth, while Rocco Baldelli delivered a pinch-hit two-RBI single with two outs that tied the contest.

"Obviously we thought we should have won [Tuesday's] game," said Baldelli. "[The Orioles] thought they should have won this game. It was nice to come back and get that win, especially getting on the plane and going home."

The Mariners won two of three games from the Red Sox at Safeco Field from May 15-17 but are just 5-17 over their last 22 visits to Fenway Park. Seattle has not taken a series in Boston since winning two of three tests from August 14-16, 2001.

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds

Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it. Work left to do: Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney. Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson. Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable. Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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