Boston Red Sox Baseball Predictions 2010: The biggest problem for the Boston Red Sox’s misfortunes last season was starting pitching. With the New York Yankees looking to win back-to-back titles in the always-competitive American League East, Boston finds itself looking to solidify the top of the rotation. The No.1, No.2 and No.3 spots will be up for grabs this Spring Training with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey for the taking.
Currently, Baseball Predictions 2010 Betting Odds makers at SPORTSBOOK.com project that the Boston Red Sox [+800 ML] have the third best chances of winning the 2010 World Series behind the New York Yankees [+275 ML] and the Philadelphia Phillies [+600 ML].
So who’s going to be the guy to set the tone for Bean Town’s pitching rotation? Beckett is 49-23 with a 3.71 ERA in his last three seasons, while Lester is 31-14 (3.31 ERA) in two campaigns and Lackey is 69-38 (3.49 ERA) in his last five seasons. “I don’t even know what ace is? I mean, is that an acronym for something?” Beckett said this week. “I’ve always kind of tried to figure that out.”
According to manager Terry Francona, the hard-throwing right-hander will certainly be not only his ace once again this year, but a leader by example as well. “That’s a huge honor, especially in an organization so rich as this one and with as much talent as we have,” said the 2003 World Series MVP. “There is a lot of responsibility that comes with that. And I don’t think that it’s what you say. I think it’s what you do.
“I don’t think that I corner people and tell them this is what you have to do. I think I just go about my work and Tito (Francona) sees that and he just kind of expects people to fall in line.”
