posted July 18, 2008 at 15:56 in MLB Free Picks

BetUS MLB betting odds: L.A. Angels -160, Boston +140; Total 8

The Boston Red Sox (57-40) are looking to hold on to their slim lead in the American League East, and on Friday night they will look to help that cause when they visit the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (57-38) in a battle of first-place clubs in the AL that is scheduled to begin at 10:05 PM ET at Angel Stadium (natural turf) in Anaheim.

Right-handers go at it, as Boston's Clay Buchholz (2-4, 5.71 ERA) tackles John Lackey (6-2, 2.47 ERA) of the Angels.

At BetUS online sportsbook, Los Angeles is listed as a -160 favorite (Boston is +140), with a total of eight 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:

* BOS has won five of its last six games
* BOS has lost six of its last eight road games
* LA has won eight of its last 12 games
* LA has played seven of its last 11 games OVER the total
* LA has played four of its last six games UNDER the total
* LA has won four of its last five home games
* LA has played four of its last five home games OVER the total

In the HEAD-TO-HEAD sports betting trends:

* BOS has won four of the last six meetings
* BOS has won seven of the last eleven meetings
* BOS has won four of the last six meetings as the road team

The Red Sox are currently in first place in the American League East division, and are a half game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, although they are a game down in the loss column. The defending world champions might be doing a lot better if they were not so inept on the road, but they are eight games under .500 (21-29) in that department.

The Angels have a little more control over their situation. They are so games in front of the Oakland A's in the AL West, and 7.5 games ahead of the Texas Rangers. The Angels are a curious case, in that they are 26-20 at home but much better away from home, where they have posted a 31-18 mark, the best in the majors.

On Friday this team that is double-tough to beat at home goes with John Lackey, who came off the disabled list in Mid-May and until his last two starts, looked like one of the two or three best pitchers in the American League. In his first nine outings, Lackey had a sparkling 1.44 ERA. But he's faltered lately. On July 5, he gave up five runs in six innings as the Angels dropped a 7-5 decision. And last time out, on July 10, he let the floodgates open for 15 hits in 5-2/3 innings, leaving a mess that the Angel bullpen had to try to clean up, but thankfully the bats were on display as the Angels won 11-10 over the Texas Rangers.

Clay Buchholz is not fulfilling the promise he showed when he was drafted in the supplemental first round in 2005. Even though he tossed a no-hitter last September in only his second major league start, Buchholz has not carried a lot of momentum into this season, where manager Terry Francona wanted to limit him to throwing 180-200 innings.

Well, that plan for Buchholz will be moot, because he missed two months while spending some time in the minors both to rehab from an injury to his fingernail and to "work on mechanics." In two starts in May before he went down, he was knocked out before finishing five innings against Detroit and Minnesota, and when he came back (July 11) he gave up four runs in five innings against Baltimore. All in all, he has not gone beyond the fifth inning in his last three starts, compiling a 10.81 ERA and walking eleven batters in 13-1/3 innings.

Let's go OVER the total of eight runs, as it is posted in the BetUS Major League Baseball betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: OVER 8 (-105)

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