Santana returns to face Orioles

Baseball Betting Lines

07/03/2009 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have been able to rebound from a rough beginning to the season. The team is hoping one of its most talented pitchers will be able to do the same in tonight's matchup with the Baltimore Orioles at Angel Stadium.

Ervin Santana won a career-high 16 games for the Angels and ranked second in the American League with 214 strikeouts a year ago, earning a spot on the AL All-Star team in the process. The hard-throwing right-hander hasn't been able to achieve the same success so far during an injury-plagued 2009 campaign, however.

Santana has made just six starts for Anaheim this season due to recurring arm issues and has gone 1-3 with a subpar 7.47 earned run average during those games. Opponents are batting a robust .344 off him for the year.

The 26-year-old was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season after being tagged for six runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings of a June 11 loss at Tampa Bay. He appeared quite healthy, however, in a rehab start for the Angels' Rookie League team this past Sunday, when Santana struck out seven over a 3 1/3 scoreless-inning stint.

Santana will be facing the Orioles for the eighth time in his career and owns a 2-2 record with a 4.60 ERA lifetime against Baltimore.

He'll be attempting to pitch the American League West-leading Angels to an eighth victory in 10 games this evening. In Thursday's opener of this four- game set, Bobby Abreu bashed a pair of home runs and John Lackey delivered eight strong innings in Anaheim's 5-2 triumph over Baltimore.

Abreu knocked in four of the Angels' five runs in the game, with Chone Figgins driving home the other with an RBI single en route to a 3-for-4 performance at the plate.

Lackey (3-3) did his part as well, limiting the Orioles to a pair of runs and just four hits while striking out seven. Brian Fuentes closed things out in the ninth to notch his major league-best 23rd save of the year.

"I established the fastball pretty good tonight," said Lackey. "I mixed my pitches well and located my fastball."

Baltimore starter Jeremy Guthrie (6-8) was saddled with the loss after surrendering five runs on nine hits over seven innings of work.

The Orioles, who have now dropped four of their last five contests, received a solo home run from Luke Scott and an RBI single by Matt Wieters on the evening.

Anaheim has gone 14-5 since June 12 and presently holds a one-game edge on Texas for first place in the AL West standings.

The red-hot Angels will get their first look tonight at Baltimore rookie David Hernandez, with the young right-hander set to make his fourth start and fifth overall appearance in the majors.

Hernandez is 1-2 with a 4.19 ERA over a span of 19 1/3 innings during his brief time at the big-league level. The 24-year-old was recently recalled from the minors to fill in for injured starter Koji Uehara and allowed three runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 frames in a loss to Washington this past Sunday.

The California native had started twice and pitched once in relief with the Orioles before being sent down in early June, and earned his first major- league win on May 28 by holding Detroit to one run through 5 2/3 innings.

The Angels swept a two-game series from the Orioles at Camden Yards back in April and went 6-3 against Baltimore last season. The O's are just 4-13 in Anaheim since the start of the 2006 campaign.

Wwwvictorsbingo Baseball Betting News

<< Rays ride hot streak into Arlington
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Rays take their hot streak into the Lone Star State, where the defending American League champions will start up an intriguing three-game series with the Texas Rangers this evening. With wins in 15 of their

<< Cardinals send Pineiro to hill in Cincinnati
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joel Pineiro hopes for some run support tonight when the St. Louis Cardinals begin a three-game set with the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Pineiro lost for the ninth time in his last 11 starts on Sun

<< King Felix goes for Mariners at Fenway
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Seattle Mariners enter the final leg of a challenging road trip with tonight's opener of a three-game series with the American League East-leading Boston Red Sox from Fenway Park. The surprising Mariners have acquitte

<< Road-weary Phils return home to host Mets
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies limp back home tied atop the NL East after a dreadful road trip. Tonight, they try to improve upon their horrific play in front of their own fans when they open a three-game series against

<< Serena and Venus reach fourth Wimbledon doubles final
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The incomparable Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, will appear in their fourth Wimbledon doubles final on Saturday. The fourth-seeded sisters drilled a top-seeded tandem of Zimbabwe's Cara

Greinke hopes to slow down White Sox >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There haven't been many pitchers who have slowed down the Chicago White Sox as of late, but Zack Greinke has shown in the past to be quite capable of such a task. The Kansas City Royals ace will take the mound in tonight

Twins try to gain ground in Central in opener with Tigers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Twins have an opportunity to gain some ground on the division-leading Detroit Tigers when the American League Central rivals begin a key three-game series tonight at the Metrodome. The Twins presently trail

Reeling Indians try to get back on track vs. A's >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cleveland Indians have been playing poorly since mid- June and will try to stop a five-game losing streak tonight in the opener of a three-game series versus the Oakland Athletics at Progressive Field. The Indians have

Rockies to open homestand with last-place Diamondbacks >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies are back home after a lengthy road trip and will open a three-game series tonight against the National League West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. Colorado went 5-4 on a nine-game road swing

Federer reaches record seventh straight Wimbledon final >>
Wimbledon, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Five-time champion Roger Federer defeated Tommy Haas in Friday's men's semifinal action at Wimbledon. The iconic Federer will now appear in a men's record seventh straight Wimbledon final on Sunday.

Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards