Red Sox crush wild card-leading Rays

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rookie Ryan Kalish belted his second grand slam and David Ortiz also went deep, as the Red Sox blasted Tampa Bay, 12-5, in the opener of a big three-game set at Fenway Park.

With this being the final series for Boston against the Rays, it's imperative that the Red Sox sweep to continue hopes for a postseason spot. Monday's win moved Boston within 6 1/2 games of the Rays for the wild card lead. Chicago is six back.

Jon Lester (16-8) struck out exactly 10 batters for a third straight game, all victories. The lefty limited the Rays to four hits and two runs over six innings.

Ortiz and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back homers in the first inning for Boston, which was swept at home by the White Sox in a three-game series over the weekend. Victor Martinez added a two-run single in the second.

The Rays lost their third in a row and remained 2 1/2 games behind the first- place New York Yankees in the AL East.

Jeff Niemann (10-6) was pounded for a third straight start. This time the right-hander surrendered four hits and six runs over 1 2/3 frames. He's given up 19 hits and 23 runs over his last three outings for an ERA of 20.70 in that span.

Andy Sonnanstine, called up from Single-A Hudson Valley earlier Monday, gave up five runs on five hits and four walks over 4 1/3 innings for the Rays.

Carl Crawford singled in a run in the top of the first, but Martinez walked ahead of Ortiz's 28th homer of the season, a two-out shot just inside the pole in right field. Beltre then homered to left.

After Martinez singled in a pair the following inning, Ortiz doubled off Sonnanstine to drive in J.D. Drew for a 6-1 margin.

Sean Rodriguez singled in a run in the away third, but Kalish's slam to right capped a big five-run fourth. The other run came in when Sonnanstine walked Jed Lowrie with the bases loaded.

Tampa Bay scored three times in the seventh, all on bases-loaded walks, but Scott Atchison got out of the inning by retiring pinch-hitter Reid Brignac on a pop foul to first and then getting Rocco Baldelli to fly out to left.

Yamaico Navarro's sacrifice fly in the bottom half accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

Lester moved to 9-3 lifetime against Tampa Bay...Beltre has 999 career RBI and 901 runs scored...Tampa Bay leads the season series, 10-6...Before the game, the Red Sox activated veteran catcher Jason Varitek from the 15-day disabled list. He had been on the DL since July 1 with a right foot fracture. The Red Sox also selected the contract of first baseman Lars Anderson and recalled outfielder Josh Reddick from Triple-A Pawtucket..Kalish also hit a slam in a 6-0 win over the Angels on August 17...This was the shortest non-injury related start of Niemann's career.

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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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