Boston Red Sox A Road Favorite Over New York Yankees Tuesday Night

June 7th, 2011-

One of the most-heated and popular rivalries in baseball begins another three-game set on Tuesday night, when the Boston Red Sox visit the New York Yankees.

Last time the Red Sox visited the Yankees, they were able to sweep the series, and will look for a similar result beginning with tonight.

Boston (33-26) is just one game behind New York (33-24) in the AL East. Now, both teams look to get either draw closer to spread out the distance between them.

“It’s big for a lot of reasons,” New York’s Mark Teixeira said. “We want some momentum going into the off day and then the series against Boston.”

Boston will throw ace Jon Lester (7-2, 3.94 ERA) on Tuesday night, who has been a Yankee-killer for the Red Sox in his career. Lester is 7-1 against New York, including going 4-0 in his last four starts against their big rival.

On the other side of the diamond, New york will start Freddy Garcia (4-4, 3.34 ERA) opposite Lester.

Garcia also has a good record against the Yankees’ rival, going 5-0 in his previous nine starts before dropping to Boston back in May.

Derek Jeter continues to try and move closer to the 3,000-hit milestone, as he is just 14 hits shy of the feat. The future hall-of-famer has posted lackluster numbers this season though, but is close to .300 against Lester for his career (12 for 38).

Oddsmakers are favoring the road team in this one, installing Boston as a -127 favorite on the Moneyline and +125 on the run line as a 1.5-run favorite on MLB Odds At Bodog Sportsbook.

The Yankees assume the role of the underdog, at +117 on the moneyline, and -145 on the 1.5-run runline.

The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm Et.