posted June 10, 2008 at 15:10 EST in MLB Articles

BetUS MLB Betting Odds: Boston -260, Baltimore +220; Total 9

The Baltimore Orioles (31-31) will try to leap over the .500 mark on Tuesday night as they take on the Boston Red Sox (40-26), who are playing very good ball again, in an American League sports betting contest that is set to get underway at 7:05 PM ET at Fenway Park (natural turf) in Boston.

Right-handers take the mound, as Daniel Cabrera (5-2, 4.07 ERA) of the Orioles goes up against Josh Beckett (6-4, 4.07 ERA) of the Red Sox.

At BetUS online sportsbook, Boston is listed as a -260 favorite (Baltimore is +220), with a total of nine runs (the Under is -115, while the Over is -105).

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

* BALT has won five of its last seven games

* BALT has played four of its last five games OVER the total

* BALT has won four of its last six road games

* BALT has played four of its last five road games OVER the total

* BOS has won five of its last six games

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

* BOS has won 15 of its last 16 home games

* BOS has played four of its last five home games

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD baseball betting trends:

* BOS has won eight of the last 12 meetings

* BOS has won four of the last five meetings as the home team

* Four of the last six meetings in Boston have gone UNDER the total

Boston has gotten itself together lately, winning eight of its last ten games. And it is certainly not a bad thing that the Red Sox are at friendly Fenway, where they have won 26 of their 32 outings this season. Boston has also posted a very strong 35-18 record as a favorite, logging a 66% success rate there. To give you an idea of how dominant Boston has been on their home turf, they have outscored the opposition by 2.2 runs a game before the hometown fans.

The Sox have had a day off after beating Seattle on Sunday, and J.D. Drew has started to hit again; the outfielder hit a home run in the game against the Mariners and getting hit by a pitch to drive in the winning run.

Daniel Cabrera hopes to get something going as he opposes them tonight. Cabrera pitched well enough where the O's won eight of his first nine starts. But Baltimore has lost his last three outings. He'll be trying to rebound from his worst effort since Opening Day, as he gave up six runs in six innings against the Twins on Wednesday.

Josh Beckett's results against Baltimore have been mixed this season. On May 13 he surrendered five runs and 11 hits in just 5-2/3 innings against the O's, but was able to much better in the rematch, as he struck out ten Orioles in six innings and gave up only two runs and four hits in a 5-2 Boston win. Beckett was strong last time out, as he yielded just a single run in six frames against the Rays last Wednesday.

It's difficult to buck a team that has won 15 of its last 16 home games. But we don't want to plunge in at this price. We would explore moving with an "under," but we would lay a price there too. And as long as we're going to do that, we might as well take a special adjusted line at BetUS, which allows us to lay -125 and a run and a half with Boston, not bad considering Sunday's game was the only win out of Boston's last even that was a one-run game.

JAY'S PLAY: BOSTON -1.5 runs (-125)

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