05/09/2008 - (Baseball Betting) - A solid pitching matchup is on tap tonight at Petco Park, where Jake Peavy will lead the San Diego Padres against Aaron Cook and the NL West-rival Colorado Rockies.
Peavy is 4-1 with a 2.22 earned run average in seven starts this season, and won his last outing on Saturday at Florida. He held the Marlins to a pair of runs and five hits over a season-low 5 2/3 innings in a 7-2 victory.
The reigning NL Cy Young winner faced the Rockies on April 17 and did not factor in the outcome of a 2-1 loss, despite yielding four hits through eight scoreless innings.
The right-hander is 4-4 with a 4.05 ERA in 14 career starts against Colorado.
San Diego will try to stop a four-game slide on Friday. It was just swept in three games by the Atlanta Braves and suffered a 5-4 loss on Thursday. Adrian Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with a run scored and Kevin Kouzmanoff drove in a pair of runs for the Padres, who have dropped six of seven overall.
Padres starter Wilfredo Ledezma surrendered one unearned run on two hits in four innings of work. Joe Thatcher absorbed the loss after giving up Matt Diaz's RBI single in the ninth inning.
Colorado will hand the ball to Cook on Friday, and he is 5-1 with a 2.40 ERA in seven starts this season. Cook has won five straight starts and is unbeaten over his past six trips to the hill, last recording a victory on Sunday versus the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Cook limited the Dodgers to two runs on nine hits in 7 2/3 innings. He will face the Padres for the first time in 2008, and has toted an 8-3 mark with a 2.69 earned run average in 16 career appearances (14 starts) against them.
The Rockies just won the last two tests of a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals, and notched a 9-3 win on Thursday at Coors Field. Garrett Atkins and Chris Iannetta each drove in a pair of runs to lead the way.
Matt Holliday added four hits and scored three times for the Rockies, while Omar Quintanilla collected three hits and scored two runs.
Colorado starter Jorge De La Rosa allowed five hits and two runs over 5 2/3 innings to notch the win.
Colorado won two of three games against the Padres from April 15-17 at Petco Park. The Rockies have won seven of the eight most recent matchups in the series.
<< Tribe hopes to solve its struggles at Progressive Field
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Beginning tonight against Toronto, the Cleveland Indians
will play each of their next seven games at home.
While that usually is a blessing for any team, the Indians are just 8-11 at
Progressive Field. Last weekend, they w
<< 2008 All-NBA Teams List
F - Kevin Garnett, Boston (118), 612F - LeBron James, Cleveland (117), 610C - Dwight Howard, Orlando (86), 546G - Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers (127), 635G - Chris Paul, New Orleans (124), 629Second TeamF - Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas (1), 189F - Tim Duncan, S
<< Thursday's NBA Playoff Boxes
CLEVELAND (73)James 6-24 9-13 21, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Ilgauskas 9-12 1-2 19, West 1-5 1-2 3, Szczerbiak 4-11 4-4 13, Varejao 1-5 1-2 3, Smith 2-7 0-0 4, Gibson 0-2 2-2 2, Pavlovic 2-4 0-0 5, D.Brown 1-3 0-0 2, Dw.Jones 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 26-73 19-27 7
<< Customers waiting hours for 23-cent pizzas in Ohio
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) -Wearing a blue Lebron James ``Witness'' T-shirt, Patrick Mone was willing to wait as long as necessary to get a 23-cent pizza in a promotion aimed at apologizing to Cleveland Cavaliers fans for a slam against their bel
O's try to continue dominance of KC >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles will attempt to maintain their
recent dominance of the Kansas City Royals when the two teams continue a four-
game series tonight at Kauffman Stadium.
Baltimore has now won 10 straight encounters wit
Red Sox make trip to Metrodome >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The defending world champion Boston Red Sox make their lone
regular-season visit to the Metrodome this weekend, when the American League
powerhouses start up a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins that begins
this evenin
D'Backs, Cubs start series at Wrigley >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of playoff hopefuls get together for a three-game
series that begins this afternoon at Wrigley Field, where the Chicago Cubs
host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first meeting between the teams since
last year's Natio
White Sox start trip at Safeco >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago White Sox start up a 10-game road trip with
tonight's visit to Seattle's Safeco Field, where the club will begin a three-
game series with the badly-struggling Seattle Mariners.
Seattle has dropped eight of it
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.
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