Richard, Padres resume series vs. D'Backs

Baseball Betting Lines

07/17/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clayton Richard was bailed out by his offense the last time he took the mound. The San Diego Padres hope that Richard won't need the help when he gets the nod tonight in the second installment of a three-game series versus the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park.

Richard was on the hill in Sunday's 9-7 victory and luckily did not post a decision after getting rocked for six runs on six hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings. He remained at 6-4 in 18 starts and saw his earned run average go from 3.00 to 3.33.

The left-hander, who is 2-0 in his last four starts with back-to-back no- decisions, has never faced Arizona in his career. Richard hopes his first appearance in this series will push his home record over the .500 mark. He is 3-3 with a 3.02 ERA in 10 starts on the Petco Park mound.

San Diego will try to make sure it won't have a drought in run scoring after posting a 12-1 beating of the D'Backs last night, as Chase Headley finished 3- for-4 with a home run and runs scored to lead the way. Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer for the National League West-leading Padres, who are three games ahead Colorado and 3 1/2 games in front of both Los Angeles and San Francisco in the division standings.

Jon Garland gave up just one run in six innings to take the win. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five.

"I was able to throw all the pitches for strikes," Garland said on the team's site. "That first inning, it just seemed like every guy was on every pitch and putting it in play [and] the pitch count was getting up there. But after that, I started getting ahead of guys, making the pitches I wanted to make and kept them off balance."

The Padres have won two straight and six of their last 10 games.

Arizona, however, has lost eight of its last nine games and looked awful in last night's beat down. Kelly Johnson had two of the D'Backs' four hits and Justin Upton doubled in the only run in defeat.

Diamondbacks starter Dan Haren continued to struggle and fell to 7-8 this season after yielding six runs and eight hits in five innings. Blaine Boyer gave up two runs and Jordan Norberto was reached for three in relief.

"Not a good way to start the second half," Haren said on Arizona's official website. "Hopefully we can bounce back."

Taking the hill for the D'Backs tonight will be Rodrigo Lopez, who is 3-1 with a 3.28 ERA in his last four starts. Lopez last pitched in a 10-4 rout of the Florida Marlins on July 8 and allowed four runs -- three earned -- on five hits through seven innings of work.

Lopez, who improved to 5-7 in 18 starts and lowered his ERA to 4.40, will face the Padres for the second time in his career. The right-hander was a member of the Baltimore Orioles the first and only time he pitched against San Diego back on June 12, 2002 in a 2-0 loss. Lopez went the distance that day but was dealt the loss for allowing both runs and five hits with five K's.

San Diego has won five of seven meetings with Arizona this season and seven of the previous 11 contests between the NL West foes.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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