This is a 10* TOTAL OF THE MONTH on the UNDER Red Sox/A's.

Boston hammered the Royals 15-1 yesterday. Oakland is off an 8-3 loss to the Rangers.

While both of those contests flew well OVER the posted number, I'm expecting more of a "duel" here in the opener of this one.

Eduardo Rodriguez is 6-4 with a 5.83 ERA for Boston. He's finally returning to form of late, most recently coming off a hard-fought win over the Yankees, allowing two runs off five hits while striking out eight. Rodriguez owns a great 93:19 K:BB over 78.1 innings this season and I think he can build off his last performance.

The A's counter with Frankie Montas, who is 7-7 with a 4.72 ERA. He is off a no-decision to the Giants on Saturday, allowing two run with five strikeouts over five innings.

Previous to that start he'd allowed eight runs in a loss to the Rangers. Montas won't be lacking for motivation today as he tries to get back into the winners circle.

Finally, note that Boston has seen the total go UNDER the number in eight of its last ten after a road victory in which it plated 12 or more runs in.

I expect these two under-acheiving, but hungry and focussed starting pitchers to garner most of the headlines in tomorrow's summaries.

The play is the UNDER.

Good luck, NP