Angels visit A's in clash of slumping division foes

Baseball Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of struggling AL West inhabitants get together this evening in Oakland, as the Athletics and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim kick off a three-game series from the Coliseum.

The Angels have dropped four straight and the A's are currently mired in a three-game losing streak. Los Angeles was just swept in all four games by the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field and is coming off Thursday's 1-0 setback in the series finale.

Ervin Santana was outdueled by White Sox starter John Danks, who went the distance and allowed two hits with seven strikeouts for the win. Santana allowed Paul Konerko's sacrifice fly in the first inning and scattered three hits to fall to 8-7 this season. He struck out four and walked three batters in the hard-luck loss.

Reggie Willits and Howie Kendrick had the only hits for the Angels, who have lost six of their last seven games and are 5 1/2 games behind Texas in the division standings. Angels All-Star Torii Hunter went 0-for-3 at the plate and expressed his displeasure after the game.

"We have to play better -- and we will," Hunter said on the team's website "There's too much talent in here to be playing like this. Our pitching has been awesome. We're just not playing the way we're capable of playing, the way we're supposed to play."

Angels starter Joel Pineiro is pitching the way he's supposed to and will take his six-start winning streak to the mound Friday. Pineiro is 6-0 with a 2.08 earned run average during his current run and threw seven shutout innings in an 11-0 beating of Kansas City on Sunday. Pineiro allowed six hits, struck out three and issued four walks.

The right-hander, who is 9-6 in 17 total starts, blanked the Athletics on May 16 in a 4-0 win. He struck out five and walked one to improve to 9-8 in 23 career matchups, 18 of which have been starts, with the Athletics.

Oakland just lost all three contests with the visiting New York Yankees and suffered a 6-3 setback Wednesday in the series finale from the Coliseum. Gio Gonzalez was roughed up in the start and was reached for five runs on eight hits and five walks in four innings of work.

"Just trying to do too much, instead of just going out there and trusting your stuff, trusting your defense and throwing strikes," Gonzalez said. "I should have attacked the zone, right from the get-go. Should have thrown first-pitch strikes."

Coco Crisp and Jack Cust had an RBI apiece for the Athletics, who have dropped six of seven games overall and sit 9 1/2 games off the lead in the AL West.

Vin Mazzaro will try for better luck when he takes the hill for the A's tonight. Mazzaro has won two straight starts and is 4-2 with a 3.81 ERA in 10 games (seven starts) this season. He last took the hill on a July 4 win at Cleveland, where he tossed 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball and fanned seven.

The right-hander was a recipient of plenty of run support against the Angels in a 10-1 win on June 8 at the Coliseum. Mazzaro lasted five innings and permitted one run to push his career mark to 1-1 in three starts in this series.

The Angels have won six of 10 meetings with Oakland this season and are 10-4 in the 14 most recent contests between the AL West foes.

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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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