Battered and Bruised
His Detroit Tigers are the only team in the majors without a win, but manager Jim Leyland isn’t getting upset yet.
The Tigers will try again to shake their season-opening losing streak on Wednesday when they continue their three-game series with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
Oddsmakers from Sportsbook.com have made Boston –118 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has been set at 9.5 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 52% of bets for this game have been placed on Boston –118 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
The Tigers fell to 0-7 on Tuesday, falling 5-0 in the Red Sox’s home opener. Detroit is off to its worst start since dropping its first nine games in 2003 en route to an AL-record 119 losses.
"You get angry if people are going through the motions and if they’re not trying," manager Jim Leyland said. "But that’s not what’s happening."
The Tigers have the second-highest-payroll in baseball and spent much of it assembling what was supposed to be one of the most fearsome lineups in baseball. However, they have scored just 15 runs and are hitting only .234 so far this season.
Detroit also committed two errors Tuesday after making three in its previous game and yielded 12 hits, six walks and a balk.
"It’s frustrating. Right now, we’re the worst team in baseball because of the way we are playing, in all areas of the game," said starter Kenny Rogers, who lasted only 4 2-3 innings. "I wanted to be the guy to turn things around. Every player in the locker room wants to be that guy."
Tuesday’s shutout was Detroit’s second of the season and marked the fifth time they have scored three or fewer runs.
The Red Sox (4-4), meanwhile, pulled back to .500 after opening the season with a trip that took them to Japan, Oakland and Toronto. Daisuke Matsuzaka, Manny Delcarmen and Hideki Okajima combined on the five-hitter, and Kevin Youkilis had three hits and two RBIs.
Boston went 51-30 during the regular season at Fenway last year and 7-1 in the postseason en route to its second World Series title in four years.
"We needed to get through this day," manager Terry Francona said. "Now we can go about the business of playing baseball and seeing how good we can be."
The Red Sox went 1-1 against the Athletics in Tokyo, 2-0 in Oakland and 0-3 in Toronto. Jon Lester (1-1, 3.38 ERA), who lost to the A’s in Japan on March 26, will make his third start on Wednesday after throwing 6 2-3 scoreless innings in last Wednesday’s 5-0 win in Oakland.
"I felt good, I felt strong," Lester told the Red Sox’s official Web site. "I’ll just carry it over into my bullpen (session) and keep working."
Lester, who had made just 27 appearances coming into this season, has never faced the Tigers.
Detroit counters with Jeremy Bonderman (0-1, 5.68), who gave up four runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings in his season debut on Thursday, a 4-1 loss to Kansas City. Bonderman gave up a two-run homer to Alex Gordon on a changeup he has been trying to work into his repertoire.
"I was getting a lot of quick outs on sinkers and stuff like that," Bonderman told the Tigers’ official team Web site. "When I threw (changeups), I felt I threw them well. I’ve given up home runs on other pitches, so giving up a home run on a changeup is part of the game."
Bonderman is 3-4 with a 4.58 ERA in nine career starts against the Red Sox, but has won his last three decisions against them.
Here are some top trends for tonight’s matchup:
-DETROIT is 0-7 (-11.2 Units) against the money line in all games this season.
-BOSTON is 23-29 (-17.2 Units) against the money line when playing on Wednesday over the last 3 seasons.
by: Dave Michaels – thespread.com – Email Us
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