RED SOX/ATHLETICS Under 7 ?115 - All 3 of the Tuesday MLB Playoff games went easily Under, and this game features the best pitching matchup of all. Pedro was his typical self this season, going 14-4 with a 2.22 ERA and a 1.04 ratio. He was virtually unhittable in September, allowing a TOTAL of 3 runs for the entire month in 33 innings! In fact, he has allowed 2 runs or less in 9 of his last 10 starts, with the only bad outing coming vs. a Yankees team that hits him better than the rest of the league. Martinez has handled the Athletics well over the years, posting 8 consecutive Quality Starts against them. He allowed just 2 earned runs in his only start against Oakland this year, albeit in a 4-0 loss to tonight?s opposing pitcher, Tim Hudson. Hudson finished the year at 16-7, and his ERA (2.70) and ratio (1.07) were quite comparable to Martinez numbers. He has always done his best pitching in this stadium, as the A?s as a team are an incredible 53-15 in all of Hudson?s CAREER home starts! He was 9-3 with a 2.32 ERA in this ballpark this year, with the Under going 13-7, 65.0% in those starts. In that start against Pedro on August 11, he tossed a Complete Game 2-hit shutout at the Red Sox. This figures to be another exciting nail-biter, and I don?t expect these teams to score much more than the 4 runs they combined for the last time these starters squared off.
