Dodgers try again to continue key divisional set with Rockies

Baseball Betting Lines

07/28/2007 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers will try to gain some more breathing room in the standings when they resume what is now a three-game series with the division-rival Colorado Rockies tonight at Coors Field.

This series was slated to be a four-game set, but Friday's contest was postponed due to rain.

Los Angeles is one game ahead of the surging Arizona Diamondbacks in the division race and recorded a 5-4 win over the Rockies in Thursday's series opener. All-Star pitcher Brad Penny lasted six innings, but left in the seventh with an abdominal strain. He yielded three runs on five hits before suffering the injury while beating out an infield single.

Penny is now unbeaten over his last 12 starts, going 8-0 over that span. He joins Josh Beckett of Boston, Fausto Carmona and C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland and Carlos Zambrano of the Chicago Cubs, for the major league lead with 13 wins.

Takashi Saito pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 26th save.

Rafael Furcal hit a two-run homer and Nomar Garciaparra drove in a pair of runs for the Dodgers, who won for just the third time in eight games.

Taking the ball for LA this evening will be Brett Tomko, who is 2-7 with a 5.42 ERA in 28 games (10 starts) this season. Tomko is 1-0 over his past two starts and did not record a decision his last time out on July 20 against the New York Mets. Tomko was reached for just one unearned run in six innings of a 4-1 loss at Chavez Ravine.

The right-hander will try to improve on his lifetime record against the Rockies, as he is 6-8 with a complete game and a 3.85 earned run average in 24 career games (18 starts).

Tomko faced Colorado on April 10 and failed to record a decision in the 2-1 triumph at Dodger Stadium. He tossed six shutout innings of one-hit ball with a season-best nine strikeouts.

Colorado has dropped four of its last six games to fall 5 1/2 games off the top spot in the NL West. In last night's loss to the Dodgers, starting pitcher Rodrigo Lopez gave up five hits and three earned runs over 6 2/3 innings for the loss. Lopez was taken out in the seventh with tightness in his right forearm.

Brad Hawpe went 2-for-4 with three RBI for Colorado, who left eight runners stranded and lost for the 19th time in their last 25 games against the Dodgers. Los Angeles, which has also won nine of its last 12 in Denver, is 4-2 against the Rockies this season.

Colorado will hand the ball to Jeff Francis, who is 10-5 this season and unbeaten in his last eight starts. Francis, who is pitching to a 4.22 ERA this season, received a no-decision in his last start on Monday against San Diego, as he allowed five runs and 10 hit sin six innings of his team's 7-5 win.

Francis is 2-1 lifetime against the Dodgers with a 2.89 ER in six starts.

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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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