Dodgers hoping to further cripple Giants' playoff hopes

Baseball Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Cain tries to make it two straight wins against the club that has given him more trouble than any other team in his young career when the San Francisco Giants continue their three-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers this evening at Dodger Stadium.

Cain is a miserable 1-8 lifetime against the Dodgers with a 3.94 ERA in 15 starts. However, his lone win against them came the last time he faced them back on August 1, when he scattered four hits over 7 2/3 scoreless innings.

"It's obviously been a problem beating [the Dodgers]," Cain said after that elusive first victory. "It's one of those things where definitely I wanted to go out and win."

Cain, who is 10-10 with a 3.11 ERA on the year, did not get a decision on Sunday against Arizona, as he allowed three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings of his team's 9-7 win. He also struck out seven and walked a batter.

Opposing him will be Ted Lilly, who will be trying to rebound from his first loss as a Dodger.

Lilly saw his five-start winning streak come to an end Sunday in Colorado, as the Rockies reached him for seven runs and nine hits in just four innings. It was his first loss cine July 9 and dropped him to 8-9 on the season, while raising his earned run average to 3.59.

The 34-year-old left-hander is 3-1 with a 5.12 ERA in five starts against the Giants.

On Friday, Chad Billingsley was strong through eight innings of work and drove in the game-winning runs at the plate to carry Los Angeles to a 4-2 win in the opener of this set.

Billingsley (11-8) yielded two unearned runs on only two hits while walking a pair and fanning seven, with the right-hander combining with Hung-Chi Kuo to set down the last 10 Giants' hitters as the Dodgers ended a brief two-game slide. Kuo recorded his eighth save of the season.

"I seem to catch the Giants on my good day," Billingsley said. "The first few innings I was ahead on my fastball. As the game progressed, I threw more changeups. I could have gone out for the ninth if they wanted me to."

Rod Barajas continued his hot hitting since joining the Dodgers -- a team he grew up rooting for -- by hitting a home run in last night's triumph. Casey Blake went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored for Los Angeles, which has now won seven of 13 matchups with the Giants thus far in 2010.

Barry Zito's (8-11) misery continued, as the Giants lefty was charged with four runs on four hits and four walks while fanning five in just four innings to suffer the loss. He remained winless in his last 10 games, the longest streak of his career.

San Francisco stayed three games behind NL West-leading San Diego, which lost at home to Colorado Friday night, but fell to three games behind Philadelphia in the race for the NL Wild Card.

The Giants had won in five of their past six meetings with the Dodgers prior to Friday's setback.

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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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