The Boston Red Sox ended the first half of their season not with a cherry on top, but with a pie to their faces, as they were beaten by the Yankees on Sunday, 8-6. Nevertheless, the Red Sox rounded out the first half with a 5-2 record to improve their pedestrian record to 42-47. As for the Los Angeles Angels, they’ll enter the second half with a 48-40 record, good for first place in the American League West division.
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[sc:MLB240banner ]If the Red Sox are to make it to the top of the American League East, they’ll have to make a spectacular run in the second half of the season. Fangraphs currently has Boston’s odds to make the playoffs at a dim 26 percent.
On Friday, the Red Sox look to begin their second half on a positive note as they hand the ball to Rick Porcello. Porcello, who is 5-9 with a 5.90 ERA, is coming off a nice pick-me-up performance in Boston’s 6-3 win at home over the Marlins on July 8. In that game, Porcello allowed eight hits in six innings, but only gave up two runs, while striking out four batters.
Prior to that start, though, Porcello had a soul-crushing outing against the hard-hitting Blue Jays on July 1. He was bombarded with seven runs on seven hits in just two innings.
On offense, the Red Sox are set to have 2008 AL MVP Dustin Pedroia back in the lineup. Pedroia, who is coming off a 15-day stint on the disabled list because of a hamstring injury, is 4-for-10 (.400) in his career against the Angels’ probable starter, Garrett Richards.
Mike Napoli, who’s been hitting a poor .083 this July, might earn playing time on Friday after being left out of the lineup in Sunday’s loss to New York. That’s because the first baseman is 5-for-9 (.556) with a double and two homers in his career opposite Richards.
Unlike Boston, the Angels finished their first half campaign on a sweet note, as they decimated Seattle on Sunday, 10-3. The win was made much sweeter by the fact that it vaulted the Halos past Houston for first place in the AL West. They’ll look to keep their hold of the division’s top spot when they host Boston for the first time this season on Friday. The Angels are 6-4 in their last 10 home games against Boston.
The sight of Porcello on the mound for Boston must be fun for Angels’ hitters, who mercilessly clobbered the Red Sox righty the last time they faced him. Porcello lasted just four plus innings against the Angels on May 22, when he allowed seven earned runs on seven hits in a Boston 12-5 loss.
With Porcello looking like a deer on the headlights for the Angels’ lineup, expect for the likes of Albert Pujols and Mike Trout to make a killing at the plate on Friday. Pujols, who leads the AL in homers with 26, is a lifetime 5-for-16 (.313) hitter against Porcello. As for Trout, he is 6-for-18 (.333) with a homer and seven RBIs in the same matchup.
Garrett Richards (9-6, 3.53 ERA) is the likely Angels starter in the series opener. After picking up back-to-back wins against Texas (July 3 ) and Seattle (June 27), wherein he allowed three runs in 14 plus total innings, Richards got walloped hard by the Mariners on July 9. In that game, Richards was knocked around for 12 hits and four earned runs in an Angels’ 7-2 loss. He can recover from that ugly outing against Boston at home, where the Angels are 7-1 in Richards’ last eight starts.
