Santana hopes for a little run support in LA

Baseball Betting Lines

07/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scoring runs is vital to winning baseball games. The New York Mets must have missed that memo.

The suddenly-dismal club will try to cross the plate a few times tonight in the second portion of a four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. New York is 1-7 on its 11-game, three-city tour out West and has been shut out three times on the journey. In Thursday's 2-0 loss in the series opener, Hiroki Kuroda held the Mets to five hits over eight shutout innings and Hong-Chih Kuo closed the door in the ninth for his third save.

Mets starter Hisanori Takahashi pitched well, but suffered the loss after giving up both runs and three hits through seven innings. Jeff Francoeur ended with a team-high two hits for New York, which has lost 10 of 12 games overall and is 4-13 in the past 17 road games. It has been held to four runs or less in 13 straight games, going 3-10 in that span, and is 5-13 in July after going 18-8 in June.

"Offensively, we are still struggling. We just can't put things together. At some point we have to turn this thing around," said Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

Manuel might get his wish with ace Johan Santana taking the mound tonight. Santana will try to beat the Dodgers for a second time this season, as he fired six shutout innings and allowed four hits with six strikeouts in a 4-0 victory on April 27 at Citi Field. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner improved to 3-0 with an even stellar 0.44 earned run average in three career starts against Los Angeles.

Santana is 2-0 with a 0.58 ERA in his previous four starts and did not record a decision the last time out in Sunday's 4-3, 10-inning win at San Francisco. He limited the Giants to a run despite allowing eight hits in eight innings.

The left-hander is 7-5 with a 2.87 ERA in 20 overall starts this season and will try to even his road mark Friday night. Santana is 1-2 in 10 away starts this season.

Los Angeles has won two in a row since a six-game slide and got a big night from Matt Kemp, who homered and drove in both runs to lead the way. The Dodgers are five games behind San Diego for the lead in the National League West Division and have been getting solid pitching the past few games.

"It was a great outing and we certainly needed it," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said of Kuroda's outing. "It was a carbon-copy type of game from last night. Putting wins back to back is the most important thing."

Torre will pin tonight's pitching duties on Vicente Padilla, who will try to run his unbeaten streak to five games. Padilla is 3-0 with a 0.98 earned run average in his last four starts, but did not figure into the decision of a 5-4 loss on Sunday at St. Louis.

Padilla threw six scoreless innings before the bullpen imploded and remained at 4-2 in 10 starts this season. He has enjoyed pitching at Dodger Stadium this year, going 3-1 with a 2.20 earned run average in four starts.

The right-hander from Nicaragua has also experienced success against the Mets as evidenced by his 10-3 mark in 21 career games (12 starts).

New York, which is 7 1/2 games off the pace in the NL East, swept a three-game home series from LA back in late April and has won four of the past six matchups between the teams. The Dodgers won all three meetings with the Mets held at Chavez Ravine last year.

The Mets have lost 10 of 14 games in Hollywood since the 2007 season.

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Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup

September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com.  The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans. 

Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to  name a  few.  Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR.  They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.

The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer.  Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.

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Ryder Cup Odds

Europe
Tie
USA		 4-5
10-1
6-5


Ryder Cup Top US point scorer
Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Chris DiMarco
David Toms
Stewart Cink
Chad Campbell
Scott Verplank
Zach Johnson
Vaughan Taylor
JJ Henry
Brett Wetterich		 9-4
4-1
5-1
7-1
8-1
12-1
15-1
15-1
25-1
30-1
30-1
50-1


Ryder Cup Top European scorer
Sergio Garcia
Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington
Colin Montgomerie
Darren Clarke
David Howell
Lee Westwood
Paul Casey
Henrik Stenson
Jose Maria Olazabal
Paul McGinley
Robert Karlsson		 5-1
5-1
6-1
13-2
8-1
9-1
9-1
11-1
12-1
12-1
20-1
25-1

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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