Tough task: D-Backs try to halt road skid in Boston

Baseball Betting Lines

06/15/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A big reason for Boston's recent success has been its play at Fenway Park. That's not good news for the Diamondbacks, who will be vying to halt a 10-game road losing streak tonight in the opener of a three-game interleague series against the Red Sox.

The Red Sox have won 11 of their last 16 games in Beantown and are 19-9 as the host since late April. They were in line for a three-game home sweep of the two-time defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, but dropped a 5-3 decision in Sunday's series finale.

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield wasn't able to stymie the Phillies, as he was stuck with the loss for surrendering four runs and seven hits in 7 1/3 innings. Adrian Beltre homered and Dustin Pedroia collected three hits for Boston, which is four games off the pace in the American League East and 10-5 over the previous 15 contests.

"I had a bad fourth inning and just tried to keep us in the game as long as possible," Wakefield said. "We had a lot of chances to score runs and I felt our offense was going to score a lot of runs today. Unfortunately, we came out on the short end of the stick."

Taking the ball for the Red Sox tonight in the continuation of a 10-day, nine- game interleague homestand will be Clay Buchholz, who hopes to get back on track in his 13th start. Buchholz was 5-0 with a 0.99 earned run average in five starts before losing in Cleveland last Wednesday. In the 11-0 loss to the Indians, Buchholz tossed seven innings of three-run ball.

The right-hander fell to 8-4 and raised his ERA to 2.52. He will try to push his home record over the .500 mark tonight, as he is 3-3 in six Fenway Park outings this season. Buchholz has never faced the Diamondbacks.

Arizona completed a successful 10-game homestand with a 6-4 mark and won the last two portions of a three-game set versus the St. Louis Cardinals. In Sunday's 7-5 win at Chase Field, Chris Young clubbed a two-out two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning off of Kyle McClellan.

"He gave me a good pitch to hit. I knew it had a chance," Young said.

Young homered twice and finished with three RBI, while Adam LaRoche drove in three runs for Arizona, which hasn't won on the road since May 17 at Florida and will also make a stop in Detroit on the trek.

Ian Kennedy will try to reverse Arizona's road fortunes when he toes the rubber at Fenway Park tonight. Kennedy is coming off a no-decision last Wednesday in a 2-1 win over Atlanta, as he held the Braves in check with seven shutout innings of three-hit ball. Kennedy struck out six and walked five.

The right-hander hasn't recorded a decision in three straight starts and is 3-3 with a 3.17 earned run average in 13 starts this season. Kennedy was acquired in the offseason as part of a three-team trade with the Yankees and Tigers. He is 2-2 in seven road starts this season.

Boston has won four of the last six meetings with Arizona since losing all three matchups at Fenway Park back in 2002. The Red Sox are 131-104 against the National League, while Arizona is 86-104 all-time in interleague action.

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Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup

September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com.  The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans. 

Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to  name a  few.  Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR.  They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.

The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer.  Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.

Ryder Cup Odds

Europe
Tie
USA		 4-5
10-1
6-5


Ryder Cup Top US point scorer
Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Chris DiMarco
David Toms
Stewart Cink
Chad Campbell
Scott Verplank
Zach Johnson
Vaughan Taylor
JJ Henry
Brett Wetterich		 9-4
4-1
5-1
7-1
8-1
12-1
15-1
15-1
25-1
30-1
30-1
50-1


Ryder Cup Top European scorer
Sergio Garcia
Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington
Colin Montgomerie
Darren Clarke
David Howell
Lee Westwood
Paul Casey
Henrik Stenson
Jose Maria Olazabal
Paul McGinley
Robert Karlsson		 5-1
5-1
6-1
13-2
8-1
9-1
9-1
11-1
12-1
12-1
20-1
25-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com