Giants, Padres begin quick set at AT&T Park

Baseball Betting Lines

04/21/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants have an opportunity to avenge a recent sweep at the hands of the surprising San Diego Padres when the two National League West members begin a two-game series this evening at AT&T Park.

These teams squared off in San Diego from April 10-12, with the Padres taking all three tests and outscoring San Francisco by a 19-7 margin in those games. That series was the first leg of a winless six-game road trip for the Giants, but the club managed to get back on track with a return home this past weekend.

San Francisco started off this homestand by winning two of three matchups with Arizona in which the team received excellent pitching in each of those games. In Sunday's rubber match, Randy Johnson took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and turned in his best performance of the young season to lead the Giants to a 2-0 triumph.

Johnson (1-2), who had given up 11 runs in just 8 2/3 innings over his first two starts of the campaign, yielded only one hit -- an Augie Ojeda double to start the seventh frame -- and a pair of walks in a dominating seven-inning stint to earn his 296th career victory.

Pablo Sandoval led the Giants offensively with three hits in four at-bats, while Bengie Molina went 2-for-4 with a run scored in the win.

Over the course of the three-game set, San Francisco pitchers allowed just two runs and posted a pair of shutouts.

Matt Cain will attempt to extend the Giants' string of strong mound showings when he takes the ball for the home team tonight. The young right-hander has delivered two straight excellent starts to begin his 2009 season, having surrendered just three runs over 13 innings in outings against Milwaukee and Los Angeles.

Cain was last in action Wednesday at Dodger Stadium and held rival Los Angeles to two runs in a six-inning no decision. In his first start of the year, the 24-year-old fired seven frames of one-run ball to defeat Milwaukee at AT&T Park.

The former first-round pick has compiled a strong 2.92 earned run average over 15 lifetime starts against San Diego, but has just a 3-5 record during that span. In those five losses, the Giants have provided Cain with just 16 runs of support.

Cain won his first three career decisions against the Padres, but is 0-5 over his 10 most recent clashes with the club and hasn't defeated San Diego since September 8, 2006.

He'll likely have to be on top of his game tonight, as San Diego will be sending out ace Jake Peavy in the opener. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner already boasts a victory over the Giants this season, having permitted just three runs and racking up 10 strikeouts without a walk over 8 1/3 innings in a 6-3 Padres' win on April 11.

Peavy followed that performance up with a road win over the New York Mets last Thursday, although he was reached for three runs and walked four while laboring through five innings that night.

The two-time All-Star is 12-8 with a 3.30 ERA through 24 lifetime starts against San Francisco and sports an 8-4 record in 12 overall appearances at AT&T Park.

San Diego, a team that lost 99 games a year ago, is off to a strong 9-4 start and is coming off a successful swing through New York and Philadelphia. The Padres won four of six games during the trek and took two of three encounters with the reigning world champion Phillies over the weekend.

The Padres ended the stretch on a sour note, however, with the team blowing a four-run lead in a 5-4 loss to the Phils on Sunday.

Down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Philadelphia avoided the sweep when Raul Ibanez smacked a game-winning two-run homer off fill-in closer Edwin Moreno.

Moreno (0-1) was subbing for regular ninth-inning man Heath Bell, who was unavailable for Sunday's contest after pitching in San Diego's previous three games.

The loss spoiled an outstanding start for the Padres' Josh Greer, who held the Phillies to two runs -- one earned -- over the first seven innings.

Adrian Gonzalez went 2-for-4 and homered for the fourth time in six games during Sunday's setback, while Kevin Kouzmanoff delivered his second straight three-hit game for San Diego.

The Padres and Phillies were slated to play again on Monday, but the contest was postponed due to rain.

San Francisco won six of nine 2008 meetings with the Padres held at AT&T Park and went 13-5 against San Diego last season.

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Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back

With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.

"Barry's going to play in 2007," Jeff Borris of Beverly Hills Sports Council told the Times on Tuesday. "I've had many discussions with Barry and he's going to play. My intentions are to see to it he's in a big-league uniform next season. Those are my marching orders."

Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .

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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.

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