BoSox attempt to finish off Angels and advance to ALCS

Baseball Betting Lines

10/06/2008 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox try to advance to their fourth American League Championship Series in the last six years this evening when they play Game 4 of the ALDS against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Fenway Park.

Boston failed to sweep this best-of-five set on Sunday, as Erick Aybar singled in Mike Napoli in the 12th inning, boosting the Angels to a 5-4 win.

Francisco Rodriguez, who set a single-season record for saves, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 10th inning for the Angels, who still trail the series, 2-1, but they broke an 11-game postseason skid against Boston.

Napoli homered twice off Josh Beckett, and his single to left field started the 12th inning rally against Javier Lopez (0-1). Howie Kendrick put down a successful sacrifice bunt. Aybar's first hit of the series then came at the perfect time, as the shortstop reached out on an 0-2 pitch to loop the ball into shallow center field, scoring Napoli easily.

Jered Weaver (1-0) walked David Ortiz to start the bottom of the 12th, but Kevin Youkilis flied out to center, Jason Bay struck out, and Alex Cora grounded out sharply to third, ending the 5-hour, 19-minute marathon. It was the longest game in ALDS history.

Chone Figgins had three hits and scored for the Angels, who left 16 men on base, but managed to snap a nine-game postseason slide.

Jacoby Ellsbury was credited with a rare three-run single for the defending World Series champions, who had won their previous nine postseason contests since losing to Cleveland in Game 4 of the 2007 ALCS. Also, Boston's 11 straight postseason wins over the Angels were a major league record for consecutive playoff victories for one team versus a single opponent.

Josh Beckett started for the Red Sox and had the worst postseason start of his career, as he gave up four runs and nine hits in five innings. He had won his previous five playoff outings, while pitching to a 0.92 ERA.

Hoping to push the Red Sox into the next round will be left-hander Jon Lester, who picked up the win in Game 1 of this series. Lester gave up just an unearned run and six hits, while striking out seven with a walk in seven innings of that one, as he upped his overall postseason mark to 2-0, while lowering his ERA to 1.10.

Lester, who started Boston's World Series clincher a year ago, hasn't given up an earned run in either of his last two postseason starts, spanning 12 2/3 innings.

Los Angeles, meanwhile, will counter with John Lackey, who lost to Lester in Game 1, despite a solid effort. Lackey gave up two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings of the 4-1 loss.

Lackey has now lost four of his last five decisions.

The Angels were the first 100-game winners in baseball since the 2005 St. Louis Cardinals and the first in the American League since the 2004 New York Yankees. The Angels are also the first team since those Cardinals to win 50 (or more) games at home and on the road.

Unfortunately, the 2005 Cardinals lost to the Houston Astros in the NLCS, while the 2004 Yankees lost to the Red Sox in the ALCS.

Game 5 of this series, if necessary, will be played on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.