Alarmingly for Texas their OPS has dropped from .853 in June (second in the Majors) to .685 which puts them 25th in the league in July.

Both the Rangers and the injury hit Red Sox are available at 5/6 for the win tonight at Bluesq

The balance of the divisions within the American League does make for some rather unfair circumstances. Consider these two teams; the Red Sox have a better record this season than the Texas Rangers yet it is the Rangers who are in a playoff position at the top of the American League West while the Red Sox are five games behind the Yankees in the much better American league East. This is a problem that has been with baseball for some time and won’t be changed anytime soon. What it comes down to on Thursday night is that the Red Sox really need to make sure that they secure the wins in all these games.

The American League West leaders send Tommy Hunter to the mound at Fenway. Hunter, who has been excellent this season (5-0, 2.34 ERA), does not have a very good career record against Boston going 1-1 with a 11.74 ERA. However that was in the past and at the moment Hunter is pitching extremely well and has given up three earned runs only once in his seven starts so far this season. In a curious scheduling glitch Hunter has had only one start away from Arlington this season so it will be interesting to see what he can do in Boston but it should be noted that the Red Sox are missing a number of key players through injury.

As for the Red Sox they are sending veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield to the mound. Wakefield, who has pitched for Boston since 1995, is 3-7 with a 5.22 ERA so far this season and was rocked in his last outing against the Tampa Bay Rays. This will be Wakefield’s second outing against the Rangers this season having faced them at Fenway on April 20th. In what was a wild game that night Wakefield pitched six innings, giving up six earned and walking five while getting a no decision as the Sox came back with a walk-off win in the ninth. Wakefield will need to put in a better performance tonight if he’s going to compete with Hunter.

Looking at the offenses involved the Boston Red Sox have maintained their strong performance throughout the month of July recording an OPS of .802 in nine games even after the injuries suffered to Martinez and Pedroia. Alarmingly for Texas their OPS has dropped from .853 in June (second in the Majors) to .685 which puts them 25th in the league in July. They have no major injuries from a hitting point of view so the Rangers will be hoping that this isn’t the start of a prolonged slump for their hitters.