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Padres to renew acquaintances with Giants ace LincecumBaseball Betting Lines08/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- The San Francisco Giants were able to come up with a long- awaited and much-needed victory over the San Diego Padres on Saturday. Now the current National League West runner-ups will send out ace Tim Lincecum in hopes of winning this key three-game series between the two divisional foes that concludes this afternoon at AT&T Park. The Giants were able to drew even in this set and close within 2 1/2 games on the Padres for first place in the division with a hard-fought extra-inning triumph yesterday afternoon. San Francisco scored in both the seventh and eighth frames to overcome an early two-run deficit, then earned a 3-2 win when Juan Uribe singled home Buster Posey in the bottom of the 11th. Buster began the Giants' half of the 11th with a double off Tim Stauffer (3-2) and following an intentional walk to Pablo Sandoval, Uribe delivered a single to right that scored Posey and completed the comeback. San Francisco had lost eight of their first nine games against the Padres this season, including all four bouts that had taken place at AT&T Park. San Diego edged the Giants by a 3-2 count in Friday's opener of this set. "It's a big win," manager Bruce Bochy admitted on the Giants' official site. "It gets to the point where you start thinking about [the previous losses] too much. "[The Padres] have won a lot of these games, and three or four of them could have gone either way just like [Saturday]." San Francisco seemed to be on its way to another setback after trailing 2-0 after six innings and standout Mat Latos on the hill for the Padres. However, Sandoval chased the San Diego starter with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the seventh, and the Giants tied the contest when Mike Fontenot singled to start the bottom of the eighth, took second on Aubrey Huff's double, and scored on a Pat Burrell ground out. Latos gave up just the one run and struck out nine without a walk over the first six-plus innings, but left after having thrown 108 pitches. Youngster Madison Bumgarner was sharp as well for San Francisco, with the rookie permitting only two runs in seven innings to keep his team in the game. Saturday's big win also kept the Giants in front in the NL Wild Card standings, where Bochy's squad currently holds a half-game edge on Cincinnati and leads Philadelphia by only one game in the race. The Padres have so far been able to avoid a matchup with Lincecum this season, which may help explain their success against San Francisco. The reigning two- time NL Cy Young Award recipient has given San Diego fits in the past, having registered a stellar 1.67 earned run average over 11 all-time starts in this series. He's 4-2 lifetime against the Friars and has limited them to a .196 average in a combined 75 2/3 innings of work. Lincecum does enter today's clash in a bit of a cold stretch, however. The slightly-built right-hander is 1-2 with a 5.40 ERA over his last five starts and has lost his last two times out, including Tuesday's 8-6 setback to the Chicago Cubs in which he was tagged for a season-high six runs and eight hits and lasted only four innings. The All-Star hurler pitched significantly better in his prior defeat, holding Atlanta to three runs and fanning seven over 6 1/3 frames in a 3-2 loss to the Braves on August 5. San Diego had a five-game win streak end with yesterday's defeat and will try to start another surge today behind Wade LeBlanc, with the young lefty hoping to build off an encouraging performance in his last start. The Louisiana native matched a career high with eight strikeouts and yielded just one run over 5 2/3 innings to beat Pittsburgh this past Tuesday, only his second victory in his past 10 mound trips. LeBlanc had surrendered four runs in 6 1/3 frames in each of his two previous assignments, losses to both Florida and Los Angeles, and had dropped six of his last seven decisions before besting the lowly Pirates. In fact, both of his lone two wins since mid-June have come against Pittsburgh. The 26-year-old has fared well when facing the Giants over his brief big- league career, however, sporting a 2-0 record and an excellent 1.93 ERA in three lifetime starts against San Francisco. LeBlanc only managed to pitch 4 2/3 innings in a showdown with the Giants at AT&T Park back in May, though, allowing two runs and walking four batters in a no-decision.
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2007 online football betting PreviewMy fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online." The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet. To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession. However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks. Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable. Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone. Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC. 2007 College Football Betting PreviewThere will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson. The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans. So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California. USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl. USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter. Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles. That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy. The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?" The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning. Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years. Las Vegas Sports LinesThe Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States. It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella." The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot. The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan. Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season. After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country. To visit this sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards. Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55. Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M. Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early. Memphis vs. Ohio State To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards |
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