Giants, Lincecum go for sweep in Arizona

Baseball Betting Lines

07/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tim Lincecum tries to bounce back from a shaky effort his last time out when the San Francisco Giants close out a four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Lincecum escaped without getting a decision on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was hit for five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings of his team's 7-5 win. The National League's reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner is 10-4 on the year with a 3.18 earned run average.

"I didn't bring my game to the table. I found myself battling every inning," Lincecum said after his last outing.

Lincecum did not get a decision in his last start against the Diamondbacks, but is 5-1 lifetime against them with a 2.36 ERA in 10 starts. His .833 winning percentage against them is his highest against any NL West opponent.

San Francisco won its third straight game on Saturday, as Juan Uribe hit his fourth career grand slam and Aubrey Huff stayed hot, helping the Giants to a 10-4 rout.

Rookie Buster Posey also extended his hitting streak to 17 games.

In Friday's contest, Huff went 3-for-5 with two home runs, and he followed that with another 3-for-5 performance Saturday. Huff drove in two runs for the Giants, who have won 10 of their last 12.

Another win today would five the Giants their second four-game sweep of the month on the road, but their first in Arizona since turning the trick from July 26-29, 2003. San Francisco swept the Milwaukee Brewers in a four-gamer from July 5-8 at Miller Park.

Madison Bumgarner (4-2) took the win after limiting Arizona to two runs on five hits and three walks in seven innings. He also struck out seven as he won his fourth consecutive start.

While the Giants won, outfielder Eugenio Velez was injured in the fourth inning while in the dugout, as he was struck in the head by a foul ball off Pat Burrell's bat. Velez fell to the ground and, after being attended to by trainers, was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a hospital, where he will remain overnight.

"CT scan was negative," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. "He took a pretty good shot on the left side of the head. Don't know exactly where, but it hit him pretty good. But he never lost consciousness, and he's doing fine now."

Ian Kennedy (5-8) gave up four runs in 6 2/3 innings to take the loss for Arizona, which has lost six in a row to the Giants.

Arizona will pin its hopes on rookie right-hander Barry Enright, who is 2-2 with a 2.66 ERA. Enright was impressive in beating the New York Mets on Tuesday, as he held them to a run and five hits in eight innings. He also struck out eight, while walking a batter.

"I was attacking hitters from the beginning," Enright said. "The first two guys got on, but I never lost that aggressiveness."

This will be his first-ever start against the Giants.

San Francisco leads the 2010 season series with Arizona by a 6-2 margin, and is 19-7 over the past 26 meetings between the two ball clubs.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

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