Dodgers send Kershaw to the hill in finale with Phillies

Baseball Betting Lines

08/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If the Dodgers plan on leaving the City of Brotherly Love with a series win over Philadelphia this evening, starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw may have to do something he's never done before.

Kershaw is scheduled to pitch in Thursday's finale of a three-game series against a Phillies team he hasn't been able to beat in four career regular- season starts. He is 0-3 with a 6.64 earned run average in his career against Philadelphia, which previously beat him during last year's NLCS.

The left-hander has lost two straight starts overall and three of his last four decisions. Kershaw was last in action during Friday's 6-3 loss versus Washington and yielded six runs and seven hits in six innings. Kershaw, who fell to 10-7 in 23 starts and raised his ERA to 3.19, owns a 4-4 mark in 10 outings as the guest this season.

Los Angeles is still alive in the playoff race and sits 5 1/2 games off the NL Wild Card lead. It's also eight games behind San Diego for the top spot in the National League West Division and suffered a 2-0 loss last night after taking Tuesday's series opener by a 15-9 score. Phils starter Roy Oswalt held the Dodgers in check with seven shutout innings, while Scott Podsednik ended with a team-best three hits for the Dodgers.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley pitched well enough for the win, but allowed two runs with three walks and three K's to absorb his seventh loss (9-7).

"You just can't make too many mistakes in these types of games," Billingsley said after LA's three-game winning streak came to an end.

Philadelphia is in the same situation as Los Angeles and is also fighting for a playoff spot. It is tied with Cincinnati at one game behind San Francisco in the NL Wild Card standings and remained 2 1/2 games in back of Atlanta for NL East bragging rights.

Oswalt was on point in his home debut for the Phils, as he struck out five and walked two batters for the win. Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge both tossed a scoreless innings of relief, with Lidge picking up his 15th save.

"I pitched here before and I like the mound here," Oswalt said of his home debut with the Phillies. "It really wasn't too bad."

Raul Ibanez extended his hitting streak to a career-best 18 games with two hits and an RBI. Ibanez is batting .409 with four homers and 17 RBI during his run. Domonic Brown drove in the other run for the Phillies, who have won seven of their last nine games. The Phillies saw another player go down because of injury after Ross Gload exited the game with a groin problem. Veteran Mike Sweeney replaced him and could start tonight for the Phils, who are already without Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Shane Victorino.

The Phillies would like to see Joe Blanton keep the winning tradition going when he toes the rubber tonight. Blanton has posted back-to-back no-decisions and is coming off a strong start last Friday in a 7-5 win over the New York Mets. Blanton held the despised NL East foes to a pair of runs in seven innings, and remained at 4-6 in 18 starts to go along with a 5.65 ERA.

Blanton is 3-2 in nine home starts this season and will make his fifth career start against Los Angeles tonight. He is 1-0 with a 2.88 ERA in four career matchups -- all starts -- with the Dodgers.

Philadelphia took all three matchups at home in defeating Los Angeles in five games during last year's NLCS, but the Dodgers have won in three of their last five visits to Citizens Bank Park in the regular season.

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FOOTBALL BETTING LINES

NFL Football Sports Betting

Two playoff teams from 2007 take center stage on the NFL Network Sunday night in a Week 2 NFL betting match-up when the (0-1) New England Patriots betting head south to Florida for a contest with the (1-0) Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

New England HC Bill Belichick couldn’t care less about the way his team plays in the preseason. With a chance to tie last week’s game with the Baltimore Ravens betting, He elected to go for the two-point conversion and outright victory. The conversion failed, and the Pats ended up falling to the Ravens by a 16-15 final count.

New England rolled off twelve unanswered points to give it a chance at securing the victory, but it never threatened to cover the 3.5-point spread. NFL bettors saw this one coming, as they bet the Ravens down from +6 to +3.5 as the week progressed. QB Tom Brady didn’t take part in the Patriots first preseason clash, but could see action this weekend.

His three replacements all put up embarrassing numbers. They went a combined 17 for 33, and threw three interceptions and no touchdowns. The New England defense was encouraging, as they held the Ravens to 2/12 third down conversions and surrendered just ten first downs. That ‘D’ should be bolstered with the addition of former Bucs and Denver Broncos betting safety John Lynch, who could make his Patriots debut on Sunday against his former mates.

HC Jon Gruden had to be impressed with the way his Bucs played on both sides of the ball in their dominating 17-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Week 1’s NFL pre-season betting action. Bucs bettors were quite happy with the effort, as they made a mockery of the fact that they were underdogs in the game.

The logjam at the quarterback position didn’t get any easier to separate for Gruden, as all four of his QBs had positive experiences in the first exhibition of 2008. The four combined to complete 28 of their 40 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown, and that was without starting QB Jeff Garcia in the lineup.

RB Michael Bennett had 19 carries and four receptions, totaling 90 yards and a touchdown. Expect to see more of Bennett, Kenneth Darby, and Earnest Graham, as they all compete for playing time with Warrick Dunn in the backfield this season. Defensively, the Bucs recorded four sacks and held the Fins offense in check all day.

First round draft pick Aqib Talib was impressive in the secondary, recording a tackle and two pass defenses in his debut. Don’t be surprised to see Talib in the starting lineup opposite Ronde Barber for the Bucs in ’08.

The betting trends suggest that NFL bettors should be backing the Bucs in this intra-conference exhibition.

These two teams hooked up last year in Tampa Bay, with the Bucs winning that game 13-10. The Buccaneers have only lost one preseason game at home dating back to the beginning of the ’05 preseason. The Patriots have had a mixed bag of results in their recent exhibitions. They have gone 2-2 ATS and SU each of the last three years.

New England currently sits as modest 1-point favorites in this preseason showdown with the ‘total’ now sitting at 34.5.

You can find these lines and all of the NFL betting lines , so be sure to login and get your wagers down before kickoff!

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