Posted on 4/1/2008 5:13:01 PM

MLB Baseball Baseball Betting Odds - Boston at Oakland

By Charles Jay

BetUS MLB baseball betting odds: Boston -135, Oakland +115, Total 8.5 (Under -120, Over - Even)

The defending world champion Boston Red Sox (1-1) try to climb over the .500 mark on Tuesday when they take on the Oakland Athletics (1-1) in American League action that will take place on the natural turf of McAfee Coliseum in Oakland. Game time is set for 10 PM ET.

Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka takes the hill for the Red Sox, while Joe Blanton gets the start for Oakland, in what is a battle of right-handers.

At BetUS Sportsbook, Boston is listed as a -135 road favorite (Oakland is +115), with a total of 8.5 runs (Under -120, Over is even money).

Here are some of the MLB betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

(NOTE: These trends also revert back to the 2007 season)

* BOS has won eight of its last nine games

* BOS has won four of its last five road games

* OAK has lost 11 of its last 14 games

* OAK has played four of its last five games UNDER the total

* OAK has lost seven of its last nine home games

* OAK has played four of its last five home games UNDER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:

* BOS has won four of the last five meetings

* OAK has won eight of the last ten meetings as the home team

* Four of the last five meetings have gone UNDER the total

Things have gotten tough for the starting rotation of the Red Sox because of injuries. Josh Beckett was unable to start the season, and Curt Schilling will not be seen till later in the season. In an interesting scheduling twist, Boston and Oakland opened their season a week ago in Japan with a two-game set. It brought about some strange answers to trivia questions, like Oakland's Emil Brown, who hit his first homer of the 2008 season in Japan on Wednesday, then hit his first spring training homer three days later in Los Angeles.

The scheduling quirk also allows the two opening-night pitchers - Daisuke Matsuzaka and Joe Blanton - to also start the third game of the season. Dice-K got the better of things the first time around, allowing only two hits and two runs in five innings. But he also walked five batters, which is a concern. He had just a 5.19 ERA in the second half of the season, and as anyone who followed the Red Sox knows, he faded a bit because he was overworked in comparison with the way pitching schedules operate in Japan.

But starting once a week is what he was used to, so this should be to his liking. And during the early part of the season, there is no reason to expect that he won't show the same kind of winning form he did last year, when he was 10-6 with a 3.86 ERA heading into the All-Star break.

Blanton is a big guy (6'3", 250) and a solid starter who has won 30 games over the last two years, but we'll be willing to give Dice-K the edge right now. And it's not a prohibitive price, so we move with Boston, the -135 favorite in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: BOSTON

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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com touches all the bases as a regular contributor to the BetUS Locker Room)