Red Sox 07 Game 36

Sunday, May 13                                Fenway Park |  2:05 PM ET

Jeremy Guthrie, RHP (2-1, 4.64) Orioles (18-19) @ BOS Josh Beckett, RHP (7-0, 2.51) Red Sox (24-11)
AL East Standings

Team	W	L	GB	L 10	X W	X L
Boston	24	11	- -	8-2	25	10
Baltimore	18	19	7.0	6-4	18	19
New York	17	18	7.0	6-4	20	15
Toronto	15	21	9.5	2-8	16	20
Tampa Bay	14	22	10.5	3-7	13	23

ESPN.Com preview should be here.
Yahoo's preview should be here.

The recap after the game will be here.

From MLB.Com Scouting Report

Orioles: Guthrie solidified his bid for a rotation slot on Tuesday, throwing six strong innings against Tampa Bay to pick up the second win of his career. Interestingly enough, both of those wins have come against the Devil Rays. He has thrown relatively well in two starts in place of injured veteran Jaret Wright, but he will likely be kept on a short leash against Boston. Guthrie threw 67 pitches against Tampa Bay.

Red Sox: What more can you say about Beckett? He has started off 2007 like a man on a mission. With a win in this one, Beckett would become just the fourth pitcher in Red Sox history to win his first eight starts of the season. He is coming off a solid outing against the Blue Jays, in which he scattered five hits and allowed one run over seven innings. This will be Beckett’ second start of the year against the Orioles. He notched a 5-2 victory at Baltimore on April 26.

As usual all statistics were found at the day by day database at Baseball Musings and this year at Baseball Reference.

Expected Batters vs opposing starter

Player	AB	Hits	2b	3b	HR's	RBI	BB's	K's	BA
J. Lugo	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
K. Youkilis	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
D. Ortiz	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	1.000
M. Ramirez	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J.D. Drew	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
M. Lowell	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
J. Varitek	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
C. Crisp	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
D. Pedroia	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Totals	8	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	.125

Guthrie has only faced these batters once in his career. There wasn't a lot of success there, but it is a small sample size.
Historical Pitching line

Pitcher	GS	W	L	Sho	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA
Guthrie	0	0	0	0	2	2	1	0	0	2	4.50
Beckett	2	2	0	0	15	10	3	1	0	9	1.80

As I stated above Guthrie has only faced the Sox once in his career, last year while with Cleveland on 4/27. You may not remember that game but I am sure Josh does since it was a shellacking, final score 15-3 in Cleveland. That was the first loss last year for Mr. Beckett.

As for Josh, he has faced the Orioles only two times in his career. 5/15/2006 a seven inning outing giving up only 2 hits and one run (home run). Earlier this year he pitched a good game against the O's on 4/26. Eight innings of 2 runs, in a game that Wily Mo Pena won on his Grand Slam.

Unless you have been living under a rock you know that Beckett is shooting for his eighth win, tying him with Babe Ruth, Dave Ferris and Roger Moret for best start in Red Sox history. His previous wins vs the Orioles have both came at Camden Yard.

Thanks to Boston's 13 runs yesterday they only trail the Yankees and Detroit in runs scored. Conversely they have only allowed 120 runs the lowest amount in the majors. Last year after 35 games the Sox were 21-14 and had allowed 169 runs.

In my vs .500 teams this year the Sox are now 6 - 7. Making them 18 - 4 vs winning teams.