Game Time: 9:38 pm ET, Thursday, June 9th , 2022 

Venue: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California

Where to Watch: MLBN. Alt 

DraftKings: Money-line: 

BetMGM: Moneyline:   

(wil update) 

Red Sox: 29-27, 4th place AL East.

Angels: 27-30, 2nd place AL West.

Game 4 of this series that may kill the Angels.  Boston won Game 1 and Game 2 of the series to extend the Angels losing streak to 12 games.  Since it has effectively wiped the Angels good start to the season off the face of the earth… Angels Ownership had had enough and immediately fired Manager Joe Maddon.  OL’ Joe, Big Joe’, Clowny… whatever nickname you know Joe Maddon by he insisted he will manage again because “I am damn good at it”.  The new-look Angels under interim manager Phil Nevin begins tonight in Game 3.  I gave out the Angels on the money-line (yesterday) as my pick because Shohei Ohtani would be on the mound… all streaks come to an end… and  now with a new manager there may also be a new enthusiasm.  However, Shohei Ohtani got pushed back a game and now is pitching in this one.  Leaving yesterday's call for a win hanging in the wind. This article though will focus on Game 4 of the series!  The second game of the new interim manager. The Red Sox on their end do not care who manages the other team.  Let’s check the pitching matchup.

An American League matchup between two teams that are simply not living up to their promise of building a better roster.  The 4th place American League East team is hovering just 1 game below .500… but in a division that includes the New York Yankees, The Toronto Blue Jays, and the Tampa Bay Rays… all of whom are 7.5 to 12.5 games ahead of the Red Sox.  It is early in the season for sure… we have a whole summer to still play… but it will be tough as heck for the Sox to climb out of the hole they have dug for themselves.  The 2nd place AL West Los Angeles Angels are exactly at .500… fortunately for them they play in a division with some terrible, terrible teams.  The one team ahead of them is the cheating Houston Astros… and they are 7.5 games ahead… but the Texas Rangers, the Seattle Mariners, and the Oakland Athletics should not be a threat… in fact they should provide lots of easy wins.  So head to head who is the great betting opportunity?:  The bad team in a good division?... Or the ok team in a bad division?.... Who is more battle tested and resilient enough to make us some fresh cash?

The Boston Red Sox have won 6 of their last 10 games.  4 Overs, 5 Unders, and 1 Push along the way.  Third baseman Rafael Devers is leading the team with 11 home runs… They still have JD Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, and Alex Verdugo… They are also suffering through an injury list that is loaded with pitchers.  The Red Sox do not have bad numbers… In fact the numbers are pretty good. They do, however, have a pretty bad record.  The Sox have gone 2-0 against the Oakland Athletics (with game 3 playing now), 1-1 against the Cincinnati Reds, 2-3 against the Baltimore Orioles in a long 5-game series, and 1-0 against the Chicago White Sox.  They are winning at a good clip… can it last against the Angels?

The Los Angeles Angels have won ZERO of their last 10 games.  Again I can not say this enough… ZERO of the last ten games the Angels have played in have ended in a loss for the Angels.  The Angels started the season pretty well and have been on a collision course with the town dump while riding in a wheeled dumpster set ablaze with oily rags and kerosene soaked tree stumps. It has been a career killing streak.  Firings will need to take place.  To be fair to the Angels 7 of those losses were against the Yankees and the Blue Jays… still if the Angels don’t have the “stones” necessary to fire managers and trade players in response… They simply have no hope of the roster ever taking the uniform seriously.  They went 0-2 against the Philadelphia Phillies, 0-3 against the New York Yankees, 0-4 against the Toronto Blue Jays, and 0-1 against the Texas Rangers.  

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The Red Sox are 5th in scoring with 4.85 runs per game, 2nd in batting average with .260, and 10th in OBP with .320.

The Angels are 11th in scoring with 4.4 runs per game, 15th in batting average with .244, and 14th in OBP with .315

The Red Sox are 12th in team ERA with 3.76, 7th in WHIP with 1.18, and 18th in errors with 28 so far.

The Angels are 18th in Team ERA with 4.01, 11thin WHIP with 1.20, and 17th in errors with 28 on the season so far.

Our prediction for Thursday, June 9th is….  Angels 6 - Red Sox 4

The Angels will finally get a win.  With Ohtani finally on the mound (after getting scratched and pushed back a game from Game 3) the Angels will do it.  After blasting Manager Joe Maddon out of the organization, the players may feel relieved or re-energized.  Also the numbers are too similar between these clubs for the Angels to let this land on a sweep.

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(will update)

Red Sox: RF JD Martinez (rest) Quest ** CF J. Bradley Jr (personal) Out

Angels: C K. Suzuki (neck) Quest ** 3B A. Rendon (wrist) Out ** SS D. Fletcher (groin) Out

Red Sox: RHP Nick Pivetta, 5-4, 3.50 ERA, 58 strikeouts in 61 innings pitched, 1.10 WHIP.  “Piv” is pitching well this season.  He’s gotten his WHIP into an OK position, certainly better than his career average.  Also his ERA has improved vs his career average.  

Angels: RHP Shohei Ohtani, 3-4, 3.99 ERA, 65 strikeouts in 47 innings pitched.  The 6’4 Japanese import is a true two-way player in a league that nearly never sees that.  At the plate he has 44 hits with 8 home runs and 11 walks.  He can drive a quality defense and drive a quality offense.  

Red Sox: RF Jarren Duran, CF Enrique Hernandez, 3B Rafael Devers, DH JD Martinez, SS Xander Bogaerts, LF Alex Verdugo, 2B Trevor Story, 1B Franchy Cordero, C Christian Vasquez 

Angels: RF Taylor Ward, P Shohei Ohtani, CF Mike Trout, 1B Jared Walsh, 2B Luis Rengifo, LF Brandon Marsh, C Max Stassi, SS Andrew Velazquez, 3B Tyler Wade 

Red Sox: Alex Cora

Angels: Joe Maddon

80* the day will be partly cloudy. By nightfall and the opening pitch the temperature will drop to the high 60’s.  Humidity at 55%, winds at 7mph.