Philadelphia at Boston

The Red Sox are hot. They've won six straight and look to Josh Beckett to give them their 8th victory in the last ten games against the Phillies. The Red Sox love playing NL East opponents against whom they are 13-2 the past two seasons. Beckett was hit hard three starts ago vs. the Yankees but since then he's pitched well against Texas and Atlanta. At home this season he's a perfect 3-0 witha 2.67 ERA and he's 2-0 in interleague play. Philadelphia managed a couple of recent wins against Tampa Bay and New York at home but overall they are looking like a team to fade right now. They have lost eight of their last ten games and ten of thirteen. They are starting Ryan Madson who has a solid record but a poor 6.18 ERA in his starts. Boston's bats are alive - they've averaged 6.9 runs per game over their past seven games. That's a good thing as over the past three seasons the Sawx are 14-1 at home following two games in which they scored 8+ runs. And, MLB home teams scoring 5.4+ runs/game batting .350 or better over their last 3 games facing a team with a good bullpen (ERA under 3.75) are 34-7 (83%) over the past decade. Red Sox here.