Giants target first place as they continue road trip in Arizona

Baseball Betting Lines

09/06/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With first place in the National League's West Division now within their grasp, the San Francisco Giants continue a critical road trip today with the first of three straight meetings with the Arizona Diamondbacks from Chase Field.

San Francisco has taken advantage of San Diego's recent tailspin and closed within a single game of the Padres' lead atop the division with Sunday's 3-0 victory over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. The win was the Giants' fourth in their last five contests, while the Padres have lost 10 straight games following a 4-2 setback to Colorado yesterday.

The Giants used a stellar pitching performance from Jonathan Sanchez (10-8) to top the Dodgers last night, with the left-hander yielding a mere three hits and striking out nine batters over seven shutout innings.

"I was getting ahead on every hitter," Sanchez said. "When they take the first pitch, I took advantage of it and threw strikes. I'm working on my mechanics and feel I can go deep in the game."

Juan Uribe gave Sanchez some breathing room by belting a two-run homer in the seventh inning to give the Giants a 3-0 advantage, one day after the infielder came through with a go-ahead two-run shot in the ninth that lifted San Francisco to a 5-4 triumph over the Dodgers.

The Giants will attempt to continue their winning ways when they head to Phoenix to take on the last-place Diamondbacks. San Francisco swept a four- game series from Arizona in its last visit to Chase Field and has prevailed in eight of 12 matchups between the NL West foes this season.

Madison Bumgarner helped San Francisco record that above-mentioned sweep with a solid showing against the Diamondbacks on July 24, and will be aiming to duplicate that effort when he takes the mound for today's opener. In his first career start versus Arizona, the rookie surrendered just two runs and struck out seven over seven sharp innings.

Bumgarner has struggled since then, however, having gone 1-2 with a 5.17 earned run average in six subsequent starts. The highly-regarded lefty did turn in a good game this past Tuesday, though, holding Colorado to a run on five hits through six innings in a no-decision.

The 21-year-old's best work this season has come on the road, as Bumgarner is 5-2 with a 3.76 ERA in seven assignments at visiting parks.

He'll be taking on an Arizona squad that has won seven of its last 10 games but will be trying to bounce back from back-to-back home losses to Houston over the weekend. Both of those defeats were by a single run, including Sunday's 3-2 setback in which the Diamondbacks couldn't overcome an early three-run deficit.

Hunter Pence smacked a three-run homer off Arizona starter Rodrigo Lopez in the first inning for Houston's only runs of the day. The blast came after Michael Bourn started the game with a walk and Jeff Keppinger followed with a single to put two runners aboard.

Lopez (5-13) allowed just four more hits over the remainder of his six-inning stint, but was still saddled with his sixth consecutive losing decision.

"I had a hard time adjusting from the stretch, especially with a speedy guy (Bourn) on first base," said Lopez about his rough beginning. "It caused me to throw pitches up in the zone. After that I was able to get the ball down and get my game going the way I wanted it to."

The Diamondbacks would pull within a run on solo homers by Kelly Johnson and John Hester, but went scoreless over the game's final five innings.

Arizona hopes to provide a little more support for Ian Kennedy today in the right-hander's 28th start of the season. The former New York Yankees prospect hasn't needed much help lately, though, as he's 3-0 with a 2.77 ERA over his last four outings and pitched into the seventh inning in three of those tests.

Kennedy enters today's clash off back-to-back victories over the slumping Padres, including an August 26 masterpiece in San Diego in which he permitted just one hit and fanned a career-best 12 batters in seven innings. In a rematch at Chase Field this past Tuesday, the offseason pickup was touched for three runs in seven frames to help the D-Backs to a 7-4 win.

The 25-year-old is 1-1 with a 3.05 ERA in three previous encounters with San Francisco this season, with the loss coming in a head-to-head battle with Bumgarner on July 24. The Giants scored four times off Kennedy in his 6 2/3 innings of work that night.

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American Idol Betting Season 6 Strategies  

It's that time of year folks.  Betting on American Idol Season 9.  And we have plenty of American Idol Season 6 strategies appearing below.  With the Top 24 finalists revealed, online gambling sites will be offering betting odds on each of them, including MySportsbook.com.

No other “event” has been growing as fast as wagering on American Idol. It has turned into a huge betting event with reasonably high limits and all sorts of profit-making potential for sharp bettors. Last year, MySportsbook.com experienced unprecedented traffic as a result of the American Idol betting craze.

Every week there will be odds to win American Idol, various elimination props and contestant versus contestant match-ups at the MySportsbook.com website.

Whether a fan of America’s top-rated show or watching only because of a wife or girlfriend, here are some of basic strategies to use when betting American Idol.

Odds to Win

There are a few things to consider when looking for the right win bet. First off, remember that this bet is for the long haul. Many people make the mistake of picking the performer who sang the best the previous week. This strategy leads to an underlay situation – betting a price, which is less than what it should be.

All Idol contestants struggle at some point in the competition, so you should always look for value. In last year’s competition alone, two performers who had some of the best performances early in the series were subsequently bet down to low prices - Lisa Tucker and Ace Young. After just a few weeks, Tucker had already been eliminated, while Young quickly became a huge long shot to win America’s largest talent search.

A better strategy is to look for performers who don’t necessarily get the praise from the judges, but show flashes of the talent necessary to go the distance.

Another important thing to remember when betting any contestant to win is the demographic breakdown of the voters, the viewing public and potential future CD purchasers. Unlike sporting events, American Idol is not decided on the field of play – it’s decided by the American public under the guiding influence of the shows producers.

Understand that the great state of Alabama has a mighty edge when it comes to American Idol. 

Therefore, to be successful betting on American Idol, put any personal opinions or prejudices aside and think like the majority of the voting public. Remember that the typical voter is young, female and quite often, Southern.

If a contestant cannot appeal to this demographic, no matter how much talent he or she possesses, they’ll struggle for votes. Looks, demeanor and charisma are extremely important. And it’s no coincidence that every Idol winner so far has hailed from a Southern state.

Elimination Props

Every week MySportsbook.com anticipates offering a prop on who’ll be eliminated from the show each Wednesday night. A suggestion to handicap this is to gauge an overall feel for who’s the least popular contestant left in the competition. Generally the least popular performers have recently appeared in the bottom three and will have been the target of repeated criticism from the judges.

Last year, resources included dialidol.com and votefortheworst.com. Dialidol.com measures the volume of each contestant’s voting line. While by no means a perfect science, it does give a good indication of who is generating votes and who isn’t. Meanwhile, votefortheworst.com is a site that attempts to build support for the worst competitor to keep them in the competition for ‘entertainment’ value. The site has a proven track record of keeping performers around who most feel should have been voted off a long time ago.

Contestant vs. Contestant Match-ups

The best strategy for doing well on match-ups is to assess how close either of the contestants is to being eliminated. If neither is expected to be voted off of the show in the coming weeks, the value is almost always on the underdog. If both are expecting an imminent exit in the near future, the favorite in the match-up might offer value.

Watch for American Idol betting odds on each of the contestants shortly and good luck with these American Idol betting strategies.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.