Padres aiming for more mastery of Diamondbacks

Baseball Betting Lines

08/25/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Padres will try to stay unbeaten at home this season versus the Arizona Diamondbacks when the two National League West inhabitants continue a three-game series tonight from Petco Park.

The Padres are 7-0 this season as the host in this series and have beaten Arizona eight straight times at Petco Park. They kept the streak going with Tuesday's 5-0 victory in the series opener and got a big lift from starter Clayton Richard (12-5), who tossed six shutout innings and struck out eight for his 12th win.

"I was able to mix it up enough and throw enough strikes to keep them off balance enough and just really trust our defense," Richard said on the team's site. "Our defense has been playing great, and [I needed to] understand that if I was going to get the ball over the plate, that they were going to make the plays."

Ernesto Frieri, Joe Thatcher, Tim Stauffer and Edward Mujica combined to allow two hits the rest of the way for San Diego's bullpen.

Will Venable and Chris Denorfia each hit two-run homers and Ryan Ludwick added an RBI for the NL West-leading Padres, who have won 12 of their last 15 games and sit 5 1/2 games in front of San Francisco for the division lead. San Diego also clinched a seventh straight month of winning baseball, dating back to August of the 2009 campaign.

Padres starter Wade LeBlanc will try to keep the momentum going when he takes the mound tonight. He had a personal two-game winning streak stopped and lost for the third time in five starts his last time out. In Friday's 10-6 loss at Milwaukee, LeBlanc allowed seven runs and seven hits in only 3 1/3 innings of work to fall to 7-11 with a 3.85 ERA in 23 starts.

LeBlanc, who is 3-5 in 12 home starts, is still searching for his first career win against Arizona. He is 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA in three career starts in this series.

The Diamondbacks have dropped two in a row and six of their last eight games and received a rough outing from Rodrigo Lopez last night. Lopez was battered for all five runs and nine hits over 4 1/3 innings to fall to 5-12 this season.

Justin Upton had a hit and three walks for Arizona last night and has reached base via a hit or walk in six straight games, batting .381 over that stretch. Adam LaRoche struck out three times in four at-bats, however, after entering the game batting .304 over his last 12 contests.

"From time to time you get into periods where things just don't roll the right way," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. "That appears what's going on with us now."

Taking the mound for Arizona tonight will be Joe Saunders, who is 1-3 with a 4.24 earned run average in five starts since coming over in a late July trade that sent Dan Haren to the LA Angels of Anaheim.

Saunders has dropped three straight starts and previously pitched in Thursday's 9-5 setback versus Cincinnati. He was reached for four runs for the second straight outing and gave up eight hits in six innings. The lefty is 7-13 in 25 starts with both the Angels and D'Backs this season and owns a 1-1 record with a 3.77 ERA in two career starts against San Diego.

The Padres are 9-4 against the D'Backs this season.

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Colts give the ‘D’ its due

The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.

They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.

"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."

Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.

New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.

Not so sound on the ground

If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.

Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com

“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.

Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.

Brees says bring it on

Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.

Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.

Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.

"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."

SportsBooks ready for a shootout

Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.

“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”

New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.

The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.

“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts US credit cards

MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.

Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.