Boston's Wakefield aims for win No. 17 in Baltimore

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Wakefield targets win No. 17 this evening when the Boston Red Sox open a four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.

Wakefield, who is one victory off the pace of major league leaders Chien-Ming Wang and teammate Josh Beckett, has won his last three starts without giving up a run, but has not pitched since August 25 because of a sore back. He scattered three hits against the Chicago White Sox over seven scoreless innings in that one, as he ran his scoreless innings streak to 22 frames.

The 41-year-old knuckleballer, who is 16-10 with a 4.16 earned run average on the year, has also recorded a decision in all of his 26 starts this season and is the first to do so since Jack McDowell posted decisions in his first 27 starts with the White Sox in 1993.

Wakefield defeated the O's the last time he faced them and is 14-13 lifetime against them with four saves and a 4.06 ERA in 43 games, 30 of which have been starts.

Boston enters tonight's tilt on a sour note after it was denied a sweep in its three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays, dropping a 6-4 decision in Wednesday's finale at Fenway Park. Jason Varitek hit a two-run homer for the Red Sox, who had a four-game win streak broken and saw their lead in the AL East shrink to six games over the New York Yankees.

Hideki Okajima (3-2) took the loss, while Curt Schilling allowed three runs and eight hits, with a walk and two strikeouts over six innings in the start.

Baltimore, meanwhile, continued to struggle and was crushed by the equally woeful Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Wednesday, 17-2, in the finale of a three-game set at Tropicana Field. Tike Redman doubled in two runs for the Orioles, who have lost 13 of their last 15 games, a stretch that began with a major-league record- setting 30-3 loss to Texas in the first game of a doubleheader on August 22.

Radhames Liz (0-2), in his third major league start, surrendered six hits and four runs through 1 2/3 innings.

Getting the call for the Orioles tonight will be 23-year-old lefty Garrett Olson, who is 1-3 with a 7.22 ERA. Olson was tagged with the loss on Saturday against the Red Sox, as he surrendered four runs and seven his in 5 1/3 innings. He has lost both of his starts to Boston this season.

Boston has won nine of its 14 matchups with the Orioles this season and is 34-16 in the series since the start of the 2005 campaign. The Red Sox have also had success in Baltimore, where they have won in 13 of their last 17 visits.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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