First-place Padres continue trek with trip to Chicago

Baseball Betting Lines

08/16/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After winning a tough series against their division rivals over the weekend, the National League West-leading San Diego Padres will resume a 10-game road trip tonight with the first of four straight games against the Chicago Cubs from Wrigley Field.

San Diego just won two of three matchups in San Francisco to push its lead atop the division standings to 3 1/2 games ahead of the Giants. In Sunday's 8-2 victory at AT&T Park, Wade LeBlanc limited the hosts to a pair of runs and four hits in seven innings for the win, while both Joe Thatcher and Ernesto Frieri tossed a scoreless inning of relief.

Yorvit Torrealba homered and Miguel Tejada ended 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored for San Diego, which has won six of its last seven games and outhit the Giants by an 11-4 margin.

"Before we came here, we told each other that no matter what happens in this series we still have to keep playing good ball," Tejada said on the team's website. "We're going to keep playing the way we're playing."

The Padres will also visit Milwaukee for three games on this trek and are slated to send Kevin Correia to the mound on Monday. Correia has won two straight and four of his last five starts. and is coming off last Wednesday's 8-5 win over Pittsburgh in which he gave up four runs over 6 1/3 innings with seven K's. The right-hander improved to 9-7 to go along with a 4.86 ERA in 22 starts.

Correia is still searching for his first career win over the Cubs, as evidenced by his 0-2 record and 7.50 ERA in seven games (3 starts). He's 4-2 in nine starts away from the Petco Park mound this season.

Chicago just completed a seven-game road trip through San Francisco and St. Louis with a 3-4 mark and won the last two portions of a three-game set against the Cardinals over the weekend.

The Cubs, who will now begin a seven-game homestand versus the Padres and Braves, recorded a 9-7 win in yesterday's series finale in St. Louis. Derrek Lee homered twice and Koyie Hill knocked in a pair of runs for the Cubs, who posted six runs in the fourth inning and won for only the fourth time in the past 18 tries.

Chicago starter Ryan Dempster lasted 6 2/3 innings and yielded two runs on five hits. He also struck out six and walked two to improve to 7-7 over 44 career appearances (18 starts) against St. Louis.

"To be able to come away with a 'W', it was nice," Dempster said. "It was a good series, it was a good road trip for us. We went 1-3 in San Francisco and had a chance to win every single game, and we came here and won two of three against a really tough team."

Marcos Mateo was roughed up for four runs in two-thirds of an inning in relief of Dempster, but Carlos Marmol got the final two outs of the game for his 21st save.

Tom Gorzelanny draws the start for the Cubs in Monday's series opener with San Diego and is 0-1 with a 5.59 earned run average in his last three starts -- all Chicago losses -- since a personal four-game win streak. Gorzelanny did not figure into the decision of last Wednesday's 5-4 loss at San Francisco, as he was reached for four runs and eight hits in six innings to remain at 6-6 in 23 games (17 starts) in 2010.

Gorzelanny, a left-hander, will face San Diego for the fourth time in his career tonight and is 1-2 with a 4.24 ERA over the previous three starts.

The Padres and Cubs are meeting for the first time since San Diego took five of nine matchups a year ago. San Diego, however, was swept in three games at Wrigley Field from May 12-14, 2009 and is winless in its past five visits to the Windy City.

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American Idol Betting Season 6 Strategies  

It's that time of year folks.  Betting on American Idol Season 9.  And we have plenty of American Idol Season 6 strategies appearing below.  With the Top 24 finalists revealed, online gambling sites will be offering betting odds on each of them, including MySportsbook.com.

No other “event” has been growing as fast as wagering on American Idol. It has turned into a huge betting event with reasonably high limits and all sorts of profit-making potential for sharp bettors. Last year, MySportsbook.com experienced unprecedented traffic as a result of the American Idol betting craze.

Every week there will be odds to win American Idol, various elimination props and contestant versus contestant match-ups at the MySportsbook.com website.

Whether a fan of America’s top-rated show or watching only because of a wife or girlfriend, here are some of basic strategies to use when betting American Idol.

Odds to Win

There are a few things to consider when looking for the right win bet. First off, remember that this bet is for the long haul. Many people make the mistake of picking the performer who sang the best the previous week. This strategy leads to an underlay situation – betting a price, which is less than what it should be.

All Idol contestants struggle at some point in the competition, so you should always look for value. In last year’s competition alone, two performers who had some of the best performances early in the series were subsequently bet down to low prices - Lisa Tucker and Ace Young. After just a few weeks, Tucker had already been eliminated, while Young quickly became a huge long shot to win America’s largest talent search.

A better strategy is to look for performers who don’t necessarily get the praise from the judges, but show flashes of the talent necessary to go the distance.

Another important thing to remember when betting any contestant to win is the demographic breakdown of the voters, the viewing public and potential future CD purchasers. Unlike sporting events, American Idol is not decided on the field of play – it’s decided by the American public under the guiding influence of the shows producers.

Understand that the great state of Alabama has a mighty edge when it comes to American Idol. 

Therefore, to be successful betting on American Idol, put any personal opinions or prejudices aside and think like the majority of the voting public. Remember that the typical voter is young, female and quite often, Southern.

If a contestant cannot appeal to this demographic, no matter how much talent he or she possesses, they’ll struggle for votes. Looks, demeanor and charisma are extremely important. And it’s no coincidence that every Idol winner so far has hailed from a Southern state.

Elimination Props

Every week MySportsbook.com anticipates offering a prop on who’ll be eliminated from the show each Wednesday night. A suggestion to handicap this is to gauge an overall feel for who’s the least popular contestant left in the competition. Generally the least popular performers have recently appeared in the bottom three and will have been the target of repeated criticism from the judges.

Last year, resources included dialidol.com and votefortheworst.com. Dialidol.com measures the volume of each contestant’s voting line. While by no means a perfect science, it does give a good indication of who is generating votes and who isn’t. Meanwhile, votefortheworst.com is a site that attempts to build support for the worst competitor to keep them in the competition for ‘entertainment’ value. The site has a proven track record of keeping performers around who most feel should have been voted off a long time ago.

Contestant vs. Contestant Match-ups

The best strategy for doing well on match-ups is to assess how close either of the contestants is to being eliminated. If neither is expected to be voted off of the show in the coming weeks, the value is almost always on the underdog. If both are expecting an imminent exit in the near future, the favorite in the match-up might offer value.

Watch for American Idol betting odds on each of the contestants shortly and good luck with these American Idol betting strategies.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.