Slumping Diamondbacks visit Mets

Baseball Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The slumping Arizona Diamondbacks head to New York in hopes of notching a rare road win when they open a three-game weekend series with the Mets at Citi Field.

The Diamondbacks, now 24 games off the pace in the National League's West Division, have lost seven straight games as they head to Queens, including three straight at Philadelphia in a series that concluded Thursday night.

Wilson Valdez helped the Phillies celebrate the acquisition of pitcher Roy Oswalt with an RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning for a 3-2 win.

Miguel Montero hit his third home run of the season and finished with two RBI for the Diamondbacks.

Joe Saunders made his first start with the D'Backs after he was traded to Arizona in the Dan Haren deal on Sunday. Saunders was charged with two runs on nine hits and four strikeouts over seven innings.

Cody Ransom drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the 11th off of Esmerling Vasquez (1-4) and moved to second base when Carlos Ruiz singled. Valdez then stepped to the plate and laced a base hit to center field. The throw from Chris Young partially hit the pitcher's mound, which helped Ransom slide safely into home plate as the Phillies celebrated the victory.

Arizona has won just 13 of 49 road games so far in 2010.

On the mound, right-hander Ian Kennedy makes his second start against the Mets in 11 days.

He earned a 13-2 victory in the initial matchup on July 19 in Phoenix, allowing four hits and a run in five innings to notch his fifth victory of the season.

One start since ended in loss No. 8 for Kennedy, who was touched for six hits and four runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 10-4 defeat against San Francisco.

He is 2-5 in 10 road starts with a 4.70 earned run average.

For the Mets, 6-foot-7 right-hander Mike Pelfrey can erase the bad taste from the aforementioned July 19 game.

The 26-year-old was raked for seven hits and six runs while retiring only four batters and walking two against the Diamondbacks, who handed him his third straight loss since starting the year at 10-2.

Pelfrey, the ninth overall draft selection in 2005, hasn't won since a 5-2 interleague defeat of Minnesota on June 25.

He is winless in six career matchups with Arizona, going 0-5 with a 6.75 ERA. However, he is 6-2 in 11 home starts in 2010.

On Thursday, rookie Ike Davis hit a three-run homer and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey went 8 1/3 innings as the Mets earned a 4-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the rubber match of a three-game home set.

Angel Pagan chipped in two hits including a triple and scored twice, while Carlos Beltran contributed a run-scoring single for the Mets, who won for only the third time in the last 10 games.

Dickey (7-4), who was working on three days rest after exiting his last start on Sunday with a left leg injury after 5 2/3 innings, was sensational. He yielded only four hits, finishing with two strikeouts and a pair of walks. Francisco Rodriguez retired the final two batters in the ninth to pick up his 22nd save of the season.

The Diamondbacks swept a three-game set at home over the Mets from July 19-21 and have won seven of the last eight in the series.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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